First India Place is a 175,000 sq. ft corporate office complex on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road (near the IGI Airport). The project has Vatika Greenfield Ltd (a venture between Vatika and the Chaterjee Group) as its promoter, with complete development management expertise coming from TCG Developments India Pvt. Ltd and UrbaCon Development UK Ltd. First India Place, which is nearing completion, defies a number of set construction norms, thereby showing promise in several areas. Take, for instance, its notion of the number of storeys in a building. In sharp contrast to all the high-rise buildings in Gurgaon, First India Place is a set of three low-rise buildings around a 20-m high atrium and other public amenities such as restaurant/cafe, health club and shops. Says Aman Kapoor,director, TCG Developments: ``By keeping the building low, we could provide larger floor plates, which provide efficiency at the workplace.'' In a two-storeyed building like First India Place, the maximum waiting time to switch floors is 14 seconds, he says. Compare that with the time taken to travel between various floors in a multi-storeyed building.

The idea behind such a concept is to add as much value as possible, explains Kapoor. Like increasing the floor to ceiling height. He says that by increasing the height per employee, working conditions get more comfortable. Also, because of the increased vertical space (floor to ceiling), the number of people that can be housed in a given floor size also goes up. It follows from the logic that increase in vertical size makes up for decrease in horizontal size to some extent.

Another striking feature of the project is the use of polished granites and stones for cladding. Not only do these make the building maintenance-free, they also provide insulation fromheat. And insulation from heat directly reduces energy costs, says Kapoor.

Variable Air Volume (VAV) system is also an innovation here, by way of which a lot of energy and money can be saved. This system really comes in handy when an entire room doesn't need to be air-conditioned. For example, if one person stays back after office hours to finish his work, he doesn't need the entire room to be cool. With the help of multi-compressors in this system, only a particular working space can be kept cool, in the process saving energy and cutting costs.

Says Kapoor: ``Maybe at the time of setting up a sophisticated system like that, spending goes up 10-15 per cent.'' But consider the savings. According to Kapoor, in the long run, the savings are tremendous. He quantifies it as 25-30 per cent per year. Kapoor adds that a great deal of thought goes into such value-additions in the various phases of construction.

But what about adapting to these methods in the residential sector? Kapoor says these methods cancertainly be used in residential buildings.

Insulation against heat, for instance, is possible in residences and will greatly reduce energy costs. More important, developers should take greater care to use the right material in buildings. Apart from that, value-addition is an essential part of any good construction, he says.

The thing to remember is that only buildings with amenities and value-additions will be successful in business. In the case of residences, the same qualities will add to good living and also cut costs in the longer run. And that can happen only if developers make it a habit to go for good design and construction, apply their mind to the details and finer points of a building, and try to give the end users value for their money.