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MAKING A RETURN ON INVESTMENT IN PASSIVE TERRACED DEVELOPMENT

Wan Rahmah Mohd Zaki Universiti Teknologi (UiTM) Malaysia E-mail: [email protected]

Abdul Hadi Nawawi Universiti Teknologi MalaysiaQJiTM) Malaysia E-mail: [email protected]

Sabarinah Sh Ahmad Universiti Teknologi MalaysiaQJiTM) Malaysia E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The main feature of a conventional terraced development is rows of rectangular shaped houses with the narrow facade as the frontage. Consequently, this limits natural cross ventilation and penetration into the middle of the houses; and cause for unnecessary consumption on mechanical cooling and artijicial to make the living spaces comfortable for occupants. Such inconsideration is mainly attributed to the optimum configuration of houses which offers the most economic return desired by the developer. Passive Architecture (PA) design strategies can make terraced houses more conducive for occupants as well as gives reasonable returns to the developer. The idea is demonstrated on a hypothetical double storeys terraced scheme in a 2.5 acre site whereby it is transformed intofour types of PA terraced houses development. The Return on Invesfment of the PA terraced houses is ascertained for two situations, ie., (i) fwed sales price for all types of ; and (ii) added premium to PA terraced houses due to the positive unintended effects such as low density housing, etc. If critical criteria for demand and supply in housing remain constant, it is found that PA terraced housing development offers competitive returns to the developer relative to the returns for conventional terraced housing scheme.

Keyworh: Orientation, Indoor Comfort and Operational Energy

1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Housing and Energy

The recent public awareness on calls for housing to not only serves as a basic but also to be energy efficient, i.e., designed to make occupants need low operational energy. Such requirement is an important design consideration because the cost of energy has been increasing and will continue to increase throughout the 's life time. In so far is concerned, operational energy requirement for a house can be low if the house is designed to make occupants feel thermally and visually comfortable, naturally. 1.2 Objective of Paper

This paper propagates a change in the conventional terraced houses design to emulate Passive Architecture (PA) design strategies so that the houses can be naturally comfortable for occupants that they rely less on commercially supplied energy. Based on that notion, this paper intends to demonstrate that PA terraced housing scheme is capable of offering competitive Return on Investment 01) to the developer when compared to conventional housing that rarely addresses energy issue.

2.0 COMFORTABLE INDOOR CONDITIONS

2.1 Thermal Comfort

There are two components of variables that influence thermal comfort. Firstly, the microclimate, namely: air temperature, radiant temperature, humidity and air speed. These are fixed variables and should be considered in the . The second component is highly subjective as it relates to occupant's personal (activity level, clothing), biological (age, gender), environmental (opedclose ) adaptability as well as expectation on thermal comfort (Aulicierns and Szokolay, 1997). Whilst thermal comfort can be generalized by the first set of fixed variables, people's perception of comfort is unique. Nonetheless, there have been many studies on thermal comfort values for people in the hot and humid tropics. Sh. Ahmad (2004) in her of thermal comfort and energy performance of urban multi residential in Malaysia reaffirmed the local thermal comfort is within 2.5K from 26.1°C. La Roche (2001) advised the largest single source of thermal gain for building in the tropical climate is by radiation. Hence, it is wise to aim to reduce heat gain from the sun by minimizing the amount of solar radiation that falls on to the .

2.2 Vical Comfort

Meanwhile, natural visual comfort occurs when occupant feels comfortable doing specific task without the need of artificial lighting, but only using daylight. However, the quality of daylight entering a space depends on both internal and external factors, simultaneously. Whilst external factors relate to the sky and the ground covers; the internal factors are within the scope of built environment. For instance, the size, type and position of the openings; the depth and shape of the ; and the colours of the internal surfaces are main internal factors which affect daylight in a (Majoros, 1998).

3.0 PASSIVE ARCHITECTURE

Passive Architecture (PA) describes a building that is designed with climate factors in mind to provide comfortable indoor conditions, naturally. The aim is to make building occupant need less of operational energy. In hot and humid tropics like Malaysia, PA design strategies mainly aim to avoid heat from the sun, promote breeze f~omthe prevailing wind and ensure daylight into the building (Hyde, 2000). The above-described idea is not new. Local Malay traditional houses have large overhangs on the east and west sides to alleviate heat gain. There are also air outlets at level to allow lnternotiono~.~?n~posiumbl 5cvclopin.g Economies: Ci~tllrnorrillitics~?n~c~~~{)Di~srrities ~~... hot air to escape. Coupled with raised and double volume , such traditional houses provide indoor comfortable conditions, naturally (Figure 1).

Figure 1: 'Climate Design of a Malay House' by Ghazali, M. (2007)

Abroad, others had documented the same 'thought since 1960s. Then, it was believed that a building designed with climate in mind, instead of against it would make occupants healthy (Olgyay, 1960). Subsequently, this approach was experimented and realised by other researchers such as Hyde (2000) as being a commonsensical act towards sustainability due to its direct relationship with .

3.2 Terminology

Various terminologies were used to describe buildings that are designed with climate and it is notably expressed as 'passive' to portray a 'defensive' or 'protective' attitude against climate (Table 1). Regardless the terminologies, their aims remain the same - to promote building independence from commercially supplied energy. In this paper, the term PA is applied to reflect the endeavour as being a basic responsibility of .

Table 1: Terrainologies for Climatically Designed Buildings

Terminology 1 ~uthor,year Bioclmatic Design Olgyay, 1963 CIimatic Responsive Design Hyde, 2000 Climate Sensitive Design Emmanuel, 2005 Building Buchanan, 2005 Passive Solar Design ~ain-bedet al., 2002 Rohracher, 2005 Passive System Design Szokolay, 2006

564IPage 4.0 TERRACED HOUSES

4.1 Local Residential Market

A report by National Property Information Centre (NAPIC) in 2008 stated that the bullc of housing developments offered in the local residential market are 2 to 3 storeys terraced houses. In the third quarter of 2008, from the total 4,158,232 units of housing completed, 876,948 units were terraced houses, i.e. about 21% of the local residential properties market. A physical survey at the Malaysia Property Exhibition (MAPEX) 2008 supports this fact whereby fiom 85 residential developments offered at that time, terraced houses formed the largest type of property on offered (Figure 2) (Mohd Zaki, et al., 2008).

SmsTitie Residences

Sem-Detached Houses

Figure 2: Four Types of 85 ResidentiaI Developments Offered at MAPEX 2008

As such, making terraced houses to be less dependent on commercially supplied energy will have a significant impact in lowering the domestic energy demand at national level.

4.2 Typical Floor Layout

A typical two storeys terraced house has a frontage measuring 18 to 22 feet (ft)' wide with depth varies from 40 to 70 feet. A close look at these typical terraced houses and the housing layouts reveal that there are two design issues that would result for uncomfortable indoor conditions and the subsequent use of operational energy to make the spaces falls into the acceptable comfort range.

4.2.1 Deep Floor Plan

Firstly, a typical two storeys terraced house has deep floor plan which centre has no access to external opening. Typically, this space is assigned to be the dining on the ground floor; whereas on the first floor it is usually the area. As such, regardless the orientation of the house, these two areas will not get much daylight and may result for the use of artificial lighting. As a result, these spaces need mechanical cooling because the deep floor plan deprives the areas from natural cross ventilation (Figure 3). GROUND FLOOR v! 1 Lack of claylight and mtud uoss ventiMi011

South

FIRST FLOOR

Figure 3: Typical Terraced House Floor Layout

4.2.2 Orientation

Secondly, the site layout of a conventional terraced housing scheme is pegged against commercial return whereby maximum no. of housing units gives the highest Return on Investment (ROI). Since ROI takes precedence in a housing development and in the quest to fit in the maximum number of houses, several units receive tremendous heat gain into the indoor spaces due to poor site orientation. With reference to Figure 3, the fiont of a typical double storeys terraced house is normally assigned as the living area on the ground floor and master on the first floor. For a house with west frontage, the living area and the bedroom are exposed to heat gain in afternoon; and at , the heat absorbed by the bricked facade is released into these spaces. As a result, occupants become thermally uncomfortable in the afternoon and at night. Consequently, they would make adjustment that involves mechanical cooling and the use of commercially supplied energy. International Sytrrposirzz Itt Devr?lo(;DtgEcorromies: Cornrrrontriities Aozong 5iversiticr.s

5.0 RETURN ON INVESTMENT (R01)

ROI is a common tool used to ascertain the economic viability of almost any investment from the investor's viewpoint. Literally, it determines whether a proposed investment is wise; and how well it will repay the investor (Investopedia, 2008). ROI is calculated as the ratio of the amount gained (taken as positive), or lost (taken as negative), relative to the basis (Eq. 1).

ROI = (Gain from Investment - Cost of Investment) X 100% Cost of Investment ... (1)

Basically, if the value of the return rate is greater than the cost of capital, then the project can be considered viable. Similarly, if it is less, then the project is typically rejected. Simply put, any investment at a time period comes with a hope of getting more money back later and ROI measures that return. Due to its simple formula which allows for a quick checking on the financial viability of a potential investment, ROI is widely used in other trades as well. In the housing context, the ROI formula is as per Eq.2.

ROI = Total Sales -Total Develovment Cost X 100% Total Development Cost

6.0 METHODOLOGY

6.1 Simulation of Conventional Terraced House to be PA Terraced House

A typical double storeys terraced house (Type A) offered at MAPEX 2009 is being transformed into four types of PA housing schemes (Types B, C, D and E) in various sizes but maintaining the basic space requirements, i.e., the size and no. of , , living area, dining area and . The main differences are the area for internal circulation, landscape, car and the subsequent built-up area as well as the size of land per house. Each type of PA terraced houses (Types B, C, D and E) is simulated onto a 2.5 acres site to ascertain the no. of housing units possible for sales.

6.2 Calculation of ROI for Various PA Terraced House

The cost of for each type of housing development (Types A, B, C, D and E) is directly proportionate to the build-up area in the respective developments. The total land cost for the 2.5 acre site is treated as a constant but it is divided with the no. of housing units in each development so that all land cost is transferred equally to house buyers. This means housing development with less no. of houses will have to bear higher land cost compared to housing development with more no. of houses. Consequently, based on the anticipated total sales and costs, the ROI for various types of PA housing can be deduced and compared to the ROI for the conventional terraced housing development. In order to make a level comparison, all critical criteria for the demand and supply of local housing is treated as constant. The paper presents two ROI situations. In the first ROI comparison, the sale price of each house type is fixed at RM250,OOO regardless the design. This is to compare how the ROI for PA terraced house (Types B, C, D and E) fairs against conventional terraced house if the developer needs to meet a certain price ceiling (Type A). A second ROI comparison adds a percentage of premiums to PA terraced houses (Type B, C, D and E) due to several unintended positive effects. 7.0 RESULTS: PA DOUBLE STOREYS TERRACED HOUSE DESIGN

7.1 Transformation of Conventional Terraced Houses to be PA Terraced Houses

The approach maintains the basic grid order of terraced houses development but makes a fundamental change in the orientation. The rectangular form and layout of a conventional terraced house is oriented by 90' so that the 20-feet fiontage of the house becomes the party (Figure 4). As a result, the long sides of the conventional terraced house become the fronthack of the PA terraced house and have external openings and access to outdoors. However, these elevations must face south and north to optimise the daylight. Since the local prevailing wind does not have high velocity, the slender building form would also encourage natural cross ventilation. If trees are sparsely planted on the north and south sides, the prevailing wind entering the house will be cooler and f?esher.

NORTH C mi

l3

FIRST FLOOR

.. . .. Figure 4: Transformation of Conventional Terraced House (lei?) to be PA Temced House (right)

PA terraced house ensures all rooms and spaces get daylight and natural cross ventilation. However, PA terraced housing development causes for less no. of units compared to the conventional housing layout on the same land area (Figure 5). This immediately suggests a drop in the ROI because total sales are directly proportionate to the no. of housing units; and at this point of the paper, PA terraced houses appears unattractive to the developer. Internrrtiorlul Syrrtposinl irl Deve1lnfiill~.Econ~mie.~: CommoncrfitiesAillrror(q Diversities

~ ~

Figure 5: Comparison of Hypothetical Housing Layout for Conventional Terraced Houses (left) and PA Terraced Houses (right)

7.2 Basic Specifications

A typical terraced house in Figure 3 is transformed into four types of PA terraced houses using the approach as described in section 7.1 (Figure 6).

FRSTRODR

WPEA lYPEC TYPED WEE

Figure 6: Transformation of Conventional Double Storeys Terraced House (Type A) into PA Double Storeys Terraced Houses (Types B, C, D and E) lrrtrrr~utionulSvnrpr~sit~lnill Developing Ect>ngmies: Cr,,irmurrtrlitiesAnrorrg DivrrsifLs . - In this paper, the reference case is known as Type A which is a conventional 20 feet wide double storeys terraced house in Selangor offered at MAF'EX 2009. It has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms with total land area of 1,400 sq ft (square feet). The PA terraced house in Type B is a transformation of conventional terraced house in Type A. It is basically the same house layout but the elongated facades face north and south. There is a 10 feet wide landscape area on the north and south that acts as a buffer between the adjacent property and the main road, respectively. The car park area is at the side of the house, i.e., either on the east or west sides. Similar to Type B, Type C is also a transformation of Type A and it has the same layout and floor area as in Type A. However in Type C, the car park area is located at the front of the house, i.e., either on the north or south sides, making the landscape area to be only 5 feet wide. Nonetheless, the landscape area is 10 feet wide as in Type B. Both Types D and E are also a transformation from Type A, but the floor plans are made narrower by 5 feet and longer by 10 feet on the pound floor creating spacious kitchen. In Type D, the first floor is made longer by 25 feet to cater for an extra bedroom. The car park area and landscape area in Types D and E imitate the ones in Types B and C, respectively. From design point of view, having car park area at the front of the house as in Types C and E may be less attractive compared to the car park design at the side of the house in Types B and D. Nonetheless, in reality the car park area in Types C and E is the same concept as in the conventional design Type A - abutting the living area Basically, the main spaces in all types of houses, particularly the no. of bedrooms and bathrooms have remained the same throughout the transformation, except in Type D. The main differences between the conventional terraced house Type A and PA terraced house Types B, C, D and E are the attribution of landscape area and size of land (Table 2).

Table 2: Comparison of Basic Provisions in Conventional and PA Terraced Double Storevs Houses

Type A Type B Type C Type D Type E (conventional) (PA) (PA) (PA) (PA) Bedrooms (unit) 4 4 4 5 4 Bathmoms (unit) 4 4 4 4 4 Built-up (sq ft) 1800 1800 1800 1875 1650 Landscape (sq ft) 0 1050 575 1250 725 Car park (sq ff) 500 450 550 375 650 Land Area (sq ft) 1400 2400 2025 2450 2200

7.3 Housing Layout Configurations

73.1 Conventional Terraced House Type A

56 nos. of conventional terraced houses Type A can be fitted in a 2.5 acres site measuring 350 feet by 320 feet (Figure 7). The configuration also includes four rows of 14 units of houses; three 1-way back lanes; two 2-way roads fronting the houses; and two 2-way road serving two sides of the development on the east and west. Irrtcrnnlioflal Syrnposiftt irt Develof?if

TYPEA Figure 7: Optimum Housing Layout for Conventional Terraced Houses Type A

7.3.2 PA Terraced House Type B

35 units of PA terraced houses Type B can be configured tightly on the same 2.5 acres site measuring 350 feet by 320 feet (Figure 8). Without the back lane, seven rows of five units of Type B houses require three 2-way roads and one I-way road serving the final row of the houses. There is little space lei? for two I-way roads serving the development on the east and west sides, respectively.

. . -. ' 'I' .I18. . I13 1. "E... . , . -1 21 (22 1 ,( 23 124 1' '.= Legen& C] Buliupforhauseonly Harrkcape cum carpark CI Lanckcapelgeenarsa 1 TYPE B

Figure 8: Optimum Housing Layout for PA Terraced Houses Type B 7.3.3 PA Terraced House Type C

36 units of PA terraced houses Type C can be configured on the same 2.5 acres site measuring 350 feet by 320 feet (Figure 9). Similar to Type B, Type C housing do away with back lanes. Effectively, six rows of six units Type C houses require only three 2-way roads serving as ingresslegress to the houses. There is however, excess space for another Zway road at the south and two 2-way roads serving the development on the east and west sides.

Legend: 0 EDUiltupfwhousemly a Hardscape am carpark 0 Lan-alea I TYPEC Figure 9: Optimum Housing Layout for PA Tenaced Houses Type C

7.3.4 PA Terraced House Type D

Compared to Type B and C, only 28 units of PA terraced houses Type D can be configured on the same 2.5 acres site measuring 350 feet by 320 feet (Figure 10). Although Type D house is slender, only seven rows of four units' houses can be arranged in the site with four two-way roads fronting the houses. Similar to Types B, C and D, there is no back lane in this housing development; however, there is excess space for two 2-way roads serving the development on the east and west sides. 320 feet

Legend a Builtupforhwsemly a Hardscapecumcarpark 0 landscapeiseenarea

Figure 10: Optimum Housing Layout for Type D PA Terraced Houses

7.3.5 PA Terraced House Type E

The housing configuration for PA terraced house Type E is similar to Type B. 35 units of Type E house can be configured on the same 2.5 acres site measuring 350 feet by 320 feet (Figure 11). Without back lanes, Type E requires three 2-way roads and one 1-way road serving the final row of houses. However, unlike Type B, Type E has excess space for two 2-way roads serving the development on the east and west sides, respectively.

1 TYPE E

Figure 11: Optimum Housing Layout for PA Terraced Houses Type E 8.0 RESULTS: ROT'S FOR TYPES A, B, C, D AND E

8.1 Assumption and Constants The assumption in calculating the ROI is that all critical criteria for demand and supply in the housing market including the developer's pricing and sales strategy are constant. The construction costs for built-up area, car park area and landscape are taken to be RM70 per sq ft, RM20 per sq ft and RM5 per sq ft, respectively. The design, management, legal, financial and marketing costs are assumed at 25% of total construction cost. It is also assumed that the land price is RM20 per sq ft including infrastructure and that the total land cost for the development area sized at 112,000 sq A is distributed equally among the no. of housing units; transferring all the land cost equally among the house buyers.

8.2 ROI at Fied Sales Price Table 3 shows that at a fixed selling price of RM250,OOO per unit as offered in the conventional design Type A, the highest ROI is for Type A (25%); followed by Type E (17%); C (13%); B (12%); and D (4%). Nonetheless, all PA terraced houses in Types B, C, D and E give a positive ROI showing that PA housing scheme is not a loss on investment. Type D offers the least ROI because the built-up area is more than the conventional Type A by 75 sq ft, i.e., 5 bedrooms; hence more construction cost. Making car park area parallel to the house frontage as in Types C and E results for effective utilisation of land area that gives higher ROIs, i.e., at 13% and 17%, respectively; compared to having the car park area at side of the house as shown in Types B (12%) and D (4%).

8.3 ROI at 10% Premium Sales Price There are several unintended positive effects of PA terraced houses as shown in Types B, C, D and E that can cause for a higher selling price compared to the conventional design in Type A. Firstly, Types B, C, D and E result for low density development and this is preferred by house buyers. Secondly, PA terraced house has substantial amount of green area making it conducive living environment. Thirdly, in types B and D, the terraced houses are akin to semi-detached houses that give more privacy to the owners. Fourthly, the back lane which is associated with negative social irks like access for thieves and unattended rubbish area has been made redundant. Based on these arguments and the compounding opportunity for low operational energy as offered by PA design strategies, PA terraced houses in Types B, C, D and E should command a certain premium compared to the conventional terraced house type A. To support the claim for premium in PA terraced houses, this paper refers to Yong's (2006) study on buyers' requirements within districts in Selangor that identified popular basic qualities and features of terraced house preferred by different ethnic groups of buyers in the residential market. His study concerns 94 house buyers predominantly Malay and Chinese in Selangor with income between RM3,000 to RM5,000 per month. According to Yong his respondents recognised low density terraced housing area; innovativelcontemporary house design concept; rectangular shape house layout; and southlnorth facing house as among the top 20 features desired by house buyers. It is therefore assumed that PA terraced houses can fetch a better selling price than the conventional houses in Type A, say at'lO% more. Simulating this idea to types B, C, D and E, the ROIs rise by 10 to 12 % (Table 4). By factoring 10% sales premium to PA terraced houses, ROI for Types B and C can match the ROIs for conventional design (Type A) and ROI for Type E exceeds the conventional ROI (Type A) by about 4%. Table 3: Comparison of ROI's for Conventional Terraced House Type A and PA Temced Houses Types B, C, D and E TYPE A TYPE B TYPE C TYPE D TYPE E construction Cost

Built-up @ RM70 per sq ft (RM) 126,000.00 126,000.00 126,000.00 13 1,250.00 115,500.00 Hardscape @ RM20 persqft(RM) 10,000.00 9,000.00 10,998.00 7,500.00 13,002.00 Grassed area @ RM5 per sq ft - 5,250.00 2,875.00 6,250.00 3,625.00 Design, Mgmt, Legal, Fiance & Marketing Cost @ 25% of Total Construction Cost (RM) 34,000.00 35,062.50 34,968.25 36,250.00 33,031.75 Total Construction Cost (RM) 170,000.00 175,312.50 174,841.25 181,250.00 165,158.75 I I I I I

Land Cost Total Land Area (sqft) 112,000.00 112,000.00 112,000.00 112,000.00 112,000.00 Land Cost include Infrastructure

Sales Fixed Selling Price per Unit 250,000.00 250,000.00 250,000.00 250,000.00 250,000.00 Total Sales 14,000,000.00 8,750,000.00 9,000,000.00 7,000,000.00 8,750,000.00 Return on Investment (ROO (%) 25.00 11.95 12.86 3.63 17.28 1nternuti:ionul.Svniposiurn in Developing Economic.?: Co~~~mu~i~tliLics.~lniu~igDi~~crsitirs

~ ~ . ~ . ~ Table 4: ROIs after Adding Premium 10% of Sales Price to PA Terraced Houses

TYPE A TYPE B TYPE C TYPED TYPE E Fixed Selling Price 0 250,000.00 250,000.00 250,000.00 250,000.00 250,000.00 Premium at 10% sales price (RM) - 25,000.00 25,000.00 25,000.00 25,000.00 Total Sales 0 14,000,000.00 9,625,000.00 9,900,000.00 7,700,000.00 9,625,000.00 Return on Investment (ROI) (%) 25.00 23.15 24.15 13.99 29.01

9.0 CONCLUSION

PA design strategies transform a conventional terraced house to be more conducive living spaces. The paper put forth that making PA terraced houses development is not a loss in investment. In addition, the "90° rotation" of the conventional house layout (Type A) to be PA terraced houses (Types B, C, D and E) has caused for low density housing area that effect for premiums on the sales price. With this premium, PA terraced housing scheme offers competitive ROI, if not better, compared to the conventional terraced houses development. This paper shows that PA terraced housing scheme makes economic sense to encourage developer to invest in such development and contribute to creating low operational energy houses.

REFERENCES

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