Green Horizons Launches Quality Mark
Green Horizons, a division of property network Blue Horizons, is launching the GREEN Building Standard to allow prospective property buyers anywhere in the world identify whether that development is being built to the highest "green" standards.
The rating system will give consumers the opportunity to choose carefully and buy from the world's most eco-friendly builders. Developments will be awarded a bronze, silver, gold, or platinum rating depending on its environmental credentials and will be allowed to display the standard on its brochures and on the building itself.
The standard has been designed in response to a major shift in the attitudes of international property purchasers who have become much more environmentally conscious when buying property overseas. In November 2007, Green Horizons conducted a poll of 181 clients who have recently either bought or have considered buying a property overseas. Of those polled, 92 percent said that they would prefer to buy a property built with environmentally friendly features.
Sky TV research conducted in 2006 also revealed that almost three quarters of people contacted were convinced that climate change had been proven beyond any doubt, and almost the same percentage believed that if everyone did their bit to act consciously with regards to the environment, the damage could be repaired.
The standard system has been running for 10 weeks on a pilot basis and has already gained the support of some significant developers worldwide. The first development to gain the "Platinum Award" is "Visionaire," which sits prominently on the Manhattan skyline in Battery Park City.