In alliance with the College of Estate Management (CEM), the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) is aiming to see property sector operators get behind a scheme dubbed the Sustainability Training and Education Programme (STEP).
The aim of the programme is to ensure that industry professionals and major office space users around the country are aware of issues surrounding sustainability and the built environment.
“The construction and property sector has a massive impact on the UK’s carbon emissions and use of natural resources,” said Paul King, chief executive of the UK GBC.
“The key for industry is to have the tools it needs to manage the risks and profit from the opportunities,” he added.
Dr Ann Heywood from the CEM went on to suggest that the tough economic climate should not be enough to discourage the property sector and office space businesses from focusing on sustainability issues.
According to the UKGBC, the built environment is responsible for more than 40 per cent of the UK’s overall carbon emissions.
Editor’s notes: Office developers are increasingly building environmentally friendly offices that are accredited by bodies such as BREEAM, LEED and NABERS as part of their commitment to creating space that helps the planet move towards the net-zero commitment by 2050.
In June 2026, it was observed that there was a continued flight to quality by occupiers seeking best-in-class office space with excellent sustainability and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials.
However, this demand was against a backdrop of limited supply in all office markets in the UK, and indeed globally, due to a number of challenges that developers faced due to global economic uncertainties.
This created high levels of competition for the best-quality space that had been developed or was yet to be developed, and upward pressure on prime rents. So much so that it was predicted that prime office rents across all major UK regional office markets would reach £60 per square foot per annum by 2030, equating to an average rental growth of 4.58 per cent per annum.
In many markets across the UK, the Grade A vacancy rates were in the low single figures. However, the vacancy rates for second-hand space with poor ESG credentials continued to rise.