On 1 December, an industry workshop was held to introduce to all stakeholders a new approach to office development which promises to deliver radical improvements in the energy efficiency of prime office buildings. It is based on the ‘design for performance’ concept pioneered in Australia.

New UK prime office buildings can use four times more energy than their best Australian counterparts.   An extensive group of industry professionals is investigating the Australian approach, where developers and their teams sign a Commitment Agreement at project conception to design, construct and manage new office buildings to agreed levels of actual in-use energy efficiency.  The buildings are certified using the NABERS scheme to verify lower running costs. And the success of the scheme is underpinned by market demand for more energy efficient office space.

The workshop explored how such a virtuous circle might gain traction in the UK market.

BBP is supporting the project. Legal and General kindly hosted the event. The agenda of the day is available here.

Project team and funders