Wednesday 18 March 2020

Demand for green offices in London ‘will soar to meet net zero targets’

At least eight million square feet, the equivalent to more than 2,800 tennis courts, is needed in central London by 2030 to accommodate all the net zero buildings for businesses with net zero goals.

That's according to a survey conducted by property consultancy company JLL, which calculated the demand for net zero carbon buildings coming from businesses with carbon emissions commitments - the research demonstrated the growing occupier demand for sustainable offices in central London that will need to be met in the next decade.

Sophie Walker, UK Head of Sustainability at JLL, said: “Clearly the urgency to build and redevelop these offices in central London to support corporate environmental and people goals is only speeding up.

"The first developers to undertake the task will reap the rewards of high levels of demand and the intrinsic higher performance of their product. This opportunity to provide sustainability as a point of differentiation and to appeal to forward-thinking occupiers will really play out over the next decade.

“Beyond 2030, tougher building regulations will drive a reduction in energy consumption and carbon emissions and mandated sustainability performance will become more defined – this may mean that the premium associated with it will disappear and buildings that don’t comply will underperform, leading to the displacement of tenants and lost rents due to costly retrofits.”