Sustainable Use
Statement of Intent
The Lease contains a provision aimed at behavioural change. The Landlord and the Tenant will not operate the Premises or the Building so as to increase energy and water consumption above reasonable levels and will use reasonable endeavours to minimize energy and water consumption (with all permitted uses/intensification of use and ambient conditions protected and works not required) and will operate equipment properly so as to maintain the Environmental Performance of the Premises and the Building.
Preamble
The way in which the Tenant uses and operates the Premises and, where relevant, the Landlord manages the Common Parts will be important in terms of the efficient use of the energy and water and the amount of Waste generated. This clause is designed to deal with behavioural matters which can affect the Environmental Performance of the Premises, and (where applicable) the Building or any estate. It is not intended that this clause requires any works to the Premises or where applicable the Building or any estate to improve their Environmental Performance.
The lease will already include a cooperation clause which sets out the parties’ intentions and this clause develops these intentions further.
- At the moment there is only one version of this clause but parties who want to be more ambitious could consider:
- extending the clause to cover other aspects of Environmental Performance such as biodiversity or climate resilience; and
- including specific drafting where they have been able to agree targets for improvements in any of the various environmental metrics discussed in the sections of this toolkit which consider the Co-operation provision and the Building Management Group.
Paragraphs (a) and (b) of this clause require the Premises to be operated in a way which is not wasteful in terms of the amount of water and electricity consumed at the Premises e.g. not running the air conditioning systems with the windows open, turning off the lights, using available shading, not leaving taps running. These paragraphs only address water and energy consumption and not other aspects of Environmental Performance. Recycling of Waste is dealt with in a separate clause of this toolkit.
Paragraph (c) of this clause includes drafting to cover the use of equipment or facilities which are intended to be operated in a particular way so as to maintain or improve Environmental Performance. The clause includes a general reference to the operation of equipment and facilities but the drafting could be adapted to refer to specific equipment or facilities (or other measures) if appropriate including equipment designed to address other environmental issues such as climate resilience.
Many leases contain an obligation on the Tenant to comply with Landlord’s regulations from time to time and such regulations might cover the matters in this clause. If a Landlord has an environmental / sustainability plan for the Building, consideration could be given to more focused drafting based on that plan.
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Light Green Clause:
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Medium Green Clause:
Driving Transformation with your Green Lease Journey
Dark Green Clause:
Suggested Drafting
Suggested Drafting
The Tenant must
- a) not operate the Premises in a way which increases the consumption of energy or water above that which would be reasonable for the specific purposes for which the Tenant uses the Premises in accordance with the Permitted Use; and
- b) use [all] reasonable endeavours to ensure the efficient use of energy and water in the Premises [and in respect of its use of any Common Parts of the Building] [; and
- c) operate any equipment or facilities within the Premises (or which exclusively serve the Premises and are the responsibility of the Tenant to operate and/or maintain) in accordance with the reasonable recommendations and requirements of the Landlord in order to maintain the Environmental Performance of the Premises
Provided always that nothing in this clause will:
- a) prevent any change of use or the intensification of the Tenant’s use of the Premises provided that
- i) where the Landlord’s consent to such change or intensification is required by this Lease, that consent has been obtained; and
- ii )in all cases, any other necessary consent has been obtained; or
- b) prevent the maintenance of acceptable ambient conditions for the Permitted Use of the Premises; or
- c) require the Tenant to carry out any work to the Premises or to improve any equipment or facilities
The Landlord must
- a) not operate the [Building][Common Parts] in a way which increases the consumption of energy or water above that which would be reasonable for the specific purpose for which the Landlord uses the [Building] [Common Parts];
- b) use [all] reasonable endeavours to ensure the efficient use of energy and water in the [Building] [Common Parts];
- c) operate any Building Management System so as to ensure the efficient use of energy and water; and
- d) properly operate any equipment or facilities in the Common Parts the purpose of which (in whole or in part) is to maintain the Environmental Performance of the Building
Provided always that nothing in this clause will:
- a) prevent:
- i) any lawful use or intensification of use of the [Building][Common Parts]; or
- ii) the maintenance of acceptable ambient conditions for the [Building][Common Parts] [and where relevant the Premises] for those uses; and
- b) require the Landlord to carry out any work to the [Building][Common Parts] or to improve any equipment or facilities
Drafting Note
The relevant version of the provisions above would be inserted into the Sustainability schedule (Schedule 7) of the MCL.