The real estate investment trust (REIT) British Land has backed the drive to deliver more sustainable office buildings in the UK.
Strategies have been devised to encourage the company’s tenants to monitor their energy consumption more closely and for business managers to make efficiency improvements.
British Land has suggested that automated recording of energy use within its dozens of office buildings in London and elsewhere in the UK will help raise tenant and building manager awareness of the issue.
Ultimately, The aim is to illustrate the cost-saving and environmental benefits that can be gained through collaboration between all relevant stakeholders regarding reducing office space energy use.
Part of British Land’s plan is also to encourage and foster a sense of competition on the issue of energy use among tenants across its office portfolio. Similar efforts have reaped considerable cost-saving benefits among its retail occupiers.
A recent event staged to support the new emphasis on energy management within the UK’s overall office stock saw the company backed by research from University College London. This research has shown convincingly that behavioural changes can significantly affect a building’s sustainability performance.
“There is a win-win opportunity for landlords and occupiers,” said Justin Snoxall from University College’s London Energy Institute. “In our experience collaboration and effective management literally means more comfortable occupants in buildings and less hot air being wasted,” he added.
The scale of British Land’s portfolio of office space to rent in the UK is genuinely vast and includes several million square feet of property in the West End and in the City of London. It is working with Oxford Properties to deliver the Leadenhall Building in central London via a joint partnership.
Editor’s notes: The Broadgate Estate was one of British Land’s most high-profile developments in the City of London. In 2015, the 700,000-square-foot 5 Broadgate was completed, and UBS took occupancy.
It was certified as ‘Excellent’ by Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM), was a Structural Awards winner in 2016 in the ‘Sustainability’ category and was shortlisted for ‘Best Corporate Workplace in London’ in the 2017 British Council for Offices awards.
The Leadenhall Building was completed in 2014 and attracted international occupiers, including AON.