An industry survey
Introducing our client survey on environmental and social sustainability goals in UK real estate decision-making.
Eight key findings:
1
Driven by organisational values, regulation and brand positioning, respondents’ sustainability strategies have good coverage of climate change and health issues – but there are other gaps.
Our four recommendations
Keep it practical: firms mostly know that they have to take action. But getting the right data, reducing the complexity of decisions, and better understanding the balance of costs and benefits are now crucial tasks.
4
Refine your decision-making systems: while processes for making decisions are increasingly taking wider factors into account, those factors are not taken into account systematically enough.
3
Collaborate with your counterparties: mismatches of understanding between landlords and occupiers suggests collaboration and communication will continue to be important.
2
Review your strategy's real estate orientation: many respondents had gaps in strategies which make it more difficult to justify action.
1
Refine your decision-making systems: while processes for making decisions are increasingly taking wider factors into account, those factors are not taken into account systematically enough.
3
Collaborate with your counterparties: mismatches of understanding between landlords and occupiers suggests collaboration and communication will continue to be important.
2
Review your strategy's real estate orientation: many respondents had gaps in strategies which make it more difficult to justify action.
1
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Sustainability in UK real estate:
Sustainability is being factored into real estate decisions – but sustainability factors are more likely to be underweighted than overweighted.
2
The big challenges which clients said they face are practical: data, cost and complexity.
3
Among social issues, avoiding controversial counterparties was the biggest concern for clients.
6
Today’s climate change decisions in real estate are focusing on regulation, improving the flow of data and adaptation.
5
Cutting energy and water use, and securing sustainability-related certifications, were the biggest environmental priorities for real estate decision makers.
4
Occupiers were slightly more willing than landlords thought to pay the full cost of environmental improvements to buildings – and much more willing when it came to reducing waste and water consumption, suggesting for a genuine ‘green premium’ relating to these types of building improvements.
7
Although clients told us that regulation was less of a driver for their sustainability strategies than their own values and purpose, simply complying with environmental regulations turned out to be a bigger pre-occupation in practice.
8
• Switching to a green or renewable electricity tariff.
• Reduced water or energy consumption.
• Increasing facilities within buildings to sort, store and recycle waste.
Sustainability improvements for which more than half of occupiers were willing to pay at least as much as it cost the landlord (indicating potential for a ‘green premium’):
Our four recommendations
Keep it practical: firms mostly know that they have to take action. But getting the right data, reducing the complexity of decisions, and better understanding the balance of costs and benefits are now crucial tasks.
4
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Looking for a PDF of this content?
Sustainability in UK real estate:
Sustainability is being factored into real estate decisions – but sustainability factors are more likely to be underweighted than overweighted.
2
The big challenges which clients said they face are practical: data, cost and complexity.
3
Cutting energy and water use, and securing sustainability-related certifications, were the biggest environmental priorities for real estate decision makers.
4
Today’s climate change decisions in real estate are focusing on regulation, improving the flow of data and adaptation.
5
Among social issues, avoiding controversial counterparties was the biggest concern for clients.
6
Occupiers were slightly more willing than landlords thought to pay the full cost of environmental improvements to buildings – and much more willing when it came to reducing waste and water consumption, suggesting for a genuine ‘green premium’ relating to these types of building improvements.
7
Although clients told us that regulation was less of a driver for their sustainability strategies than their own values and purpose, simply complying with environmental regulations turned out to be a bigger pre-occupation in practice.
8
Sustainability improvements for which more than half of occupiers were willing to pay at least as much as it cost the landlord (indicating potential for a ‘green premium’):
• Increasing facilities within buildings to sort, store and recycle waste.
• Switching to a green or renewable electricity tariff.
• Reduced water or energy consumption.
download
Looking for a PDF of this content?
220 UK clients give their views