Hillbreak is pleased to release a further date for its highly-regarded “Real Estate Fundamentals” training course for sustainability and responsible property investment professionals.
The intensive one-day course is open for registration now and is exclusively available for those with an Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance focus working within property companies and real estate investment management organisations. The course is designed to enhance the confidence and ability of delegates to engage with their colleagues and stakeholders in the furtherance of positive ESG outcomes, and to enhance their contribution to the strategic, operational and financial goals of their employer organisations and investor clients.
The training will be held in central London on 11 December 2017 and will include coverage of topics including: the current state of the UK property market and its challenges; the property investment process; property value, valuations and appraisals, including the integration of sustainability factors.
The training, which has received excellent feedback from organisations including LandSec, Intu, The Crown Estate, Capital & Counties and Peel Land & Property, will be delivered by Hillbreak co-founders Miles Keeping MRICS and Jon Lovell.
The unique course, tailored specifically for real estate sustainability professionals, will be run in a roundtable format with a combination of classroom-style teaching, Q&A, individual and group exercises and facilitated discussions. In this way, it is hoped that all participants will learn by having the opportunity to steer content whilst interacting with each other and the facilitators.
Places are limited to 12 delegates and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
https://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/real-estate-fundamentals.jpg682955Jon Lovellhttps://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/hillbreak-green.pngJon Lovell2017-09-29 12:43:252019-08-06 13:55:14Real Estate Fundamentals for ESG Professionals – New Course Date Announced
Hillbreak was privileged to be invited to participate in the inaugural GRESB Spring Conference at Siemens’ inspiring building, The Crystal (dual-rated BREEAM Outstanding and LEED Platinum), in London earlier this month. Miles Keeping, co-founder of Hillbreak, was asked to join the first panel of the day, to discuss Climate Risk & Resilience, a session moderated by Sarah Ratcliffe of the Better Buildings Partnership. Specifically, Miles was asked to provide a challenge to the industry on what more needed to be done to ensure that climate factors are better incorporated into investment and asset management decisions, and professional practice across the sector more broadly.
That’s not the sort of invitation that needs extending to us twice! We were more than happy to oblige with a no-punches-pulled provocation to a number of key industry actors: investors; owners and managers; vendors; and industry bodies. Our headline messages to each are stated clearly in our short slide-deck, which you can view by clicking on the image below. The headline warning to all concerned was that disinterest in climate risk now amounts to a form of professional negligence and/or incompetence; those failing to give it due regard or demonstrate the capabilities necessary to address it are simply not providing the duty of care that is required of them.
Hillbreak Slides for GRESB Spring Conference
Miles was joined on the panel by Professor Sven Bienert from the University of Regensberg, who discussed his research for the Urban Land Institute on climate change and extreme weather, their effects on property values and the so-far inadequate response of the real estate sector to factor these into strategic asset allocations. Tatiana Bosteels, Director of Responsible Investment at Hermes Investment Management, discussed a number of key industry initiatives which have sought to bring better decision-making frameworks to bear in the market, whilst Andrew Rich, Fund Manager for TH Real Estate‘s flagship European Cities Fund, talked candidly about how sustainability and climate risk are integrated into the Fund strategy and its decision-making processes.
Miles Keeping, Hillbreak on the Climate Risk & Resilience Panel
Potential £10bn rental bombshell just twelve months away in buildings failing green standards
Research on the impact of new green standards has estimated the value of failing commercial property in England and Wales could be as much as £10bn in annual rents.
The estimate is based on data included in a major new report by global advisory, broking and solutions company Willis Towers Watson, which calls for radical policy measures to green the UK’s building stock.
Willis Towers Watson – Real Estate Climate Risk Report 2017
The report, to which Hillbreak was a principal contributor, contains research by big data firm DealX showing that nearly a fifth of commercial properties in England and Wales are currently failing the Minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) due to come into force from April next year.
The research has found over 115,000 commercial buildings – 17.5 percent of those rated – in England and Wales have Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) rated F or G. Landlords will be forbidden from re-letting commercial buildings with EPCs below E from next April.
Analysis of the figures by property consultancy Daniel Watney LLP based on the EPC data and the new business rates valuations estimates that the equivalent annual rental value of F or G-rated commercial buildings could be as much as £10bn. Figures released by the Investment Property Forum last year estimated the annual 2015 value of UK commercial property rents to be £55bn.
The Willis Towers Watson Real Estate Climate Risk Report brings together major listed firms and high street names including British Land, Land Securities, Lendlease, NatWest and the John Lewis Partnership to examine how to best bring property up to standard and help the UK meet the targets enshrined in the Paris Agreement, the world’s
The listed firms say that while they can leverage their economies of scale and the latest technology to achieve substantial energy efficiency gains, the key challenge will be to get smaller businesses to green their buildings.
Recommendations in the report for greening real estate include:
Government funding for a mass retrofitting programme
Ratcheting up the minimum energy efficiency standard to an EPC D rating by 2020
The industry-wide adoption of Display Energy Certificates
Potentially combining DECs with science-based targets in future legislation to drive ongoing emissions reductions
The report also details the potential harm to real estate if action is not taken to limit climate risk, proposing tougher stress testing and increased translation of climate risk to balance sheets. Many firms are not adequately insured against extreme weather events, as seen in the wake of the UK’s 2015/16 winter floods, which caused £600m in uninsured damage.
Paul Chetwynd-Talbot, managing director of the real estate practice at Willis Towers Watson, said:
“Buildings create 40% of carbon emissions and the fact than one in five properties are falling short of standards is worrying. Investors – many of whom are pension funds – increasingly recognise the risks associated with climate change. But we need to see more affirmative action from Government to help retrofit older buildings and drive forward take up of renewable energy.”
Miles Keeping, co-founder and director of sustainability consultancy Hillbreak, said:
“It is of course impossible to identify the precise value of the total rents at risk due to MEES. But relying on rateable value data gives us a very tangible sense of the money landlords are putting at risk if they do not attend to their EPC-related risks appropriately and very soon.”
Martin Siegert, co-director of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London, said:
“The need to decarbonise our economy is critical. It is going to be a profound change: the developed world will need to have no net carbon emissions by 2050. Ending emissions from our electricity system, manufacturing, transport and supply chains will be challenging enough for our larger companies, but we will need all of our smaller companies to achieve this too.”
Sarah Cary, head of sustainable places at British Land, said:
“Retrofitting old buildings on a mass scale requires a far more complex solution than simple tax incentives to replace boilers or windows. Retrofitting should be set as a priority for a national infrastructure programme.
“The benefits would be twofold: it would be a boon for job creation, and it would work wonders in helping reach energy goals.”
Paul King, managing director of sustainability at Lendlease Europe, said:
“We need to make sustainability easier for everyone to engage with – both in terms of consumers and companies. An industry-wide agreement to have LCD screens on the front of every building showing real-time energy use would be more than welcome. Just as with the example of energy labelling on white goods, while it may not directly cause many consumers to switch from one business to another, the incentive to a CEO to avoid having a negative label compared with a competitor could generate real results in driving businesses to retrofit their buildings.”
Caroline Hill, head of sustainability at Land Securities, said:
“Changes in technology and the ability to access growing pools of data have allowed us to set increasingly ambitious commitments to reduce both energy intensity and emissions by 40% per square metre by 2030. If more leading businesses agreed to using 100% renewable power, this could provoke a serious step-change in how society approaches the challenges we face.
“Giving property owners a hard stop deadline to improve buildings or lose the right to rent them out has clearly had some positive effect. Ratcheting MEES so all buildings must be at least D grade by 2020 would provide the impetus for inefficient buildings to get the investment they need.”
Andrew McAllan, managing director of Oxford Properties Group and chairman of the Canadian Green Building Council, said:
“Most ‘Tier 1’ companies – those with the greatest capital reserves and profits – are by and large already taking the necessary action on making their buildings greener and making more efficient use of energy. It’s that next level down of ‘Tier 2’ companies that need engaging and support. Mandatory reporting of energy consumption would be useful: what gets measured gets managed.
“The best sustainability strategies are built on a foundation of good data, and there are ways of bringing in these measures without making them onerous for smaller businesses. Once you have that compulsory recording in place, smaller businesses then see the easy efficiencies they can make on their utility costs. Combined with something like carbon pricing to add impetus to the need to invest in more efficient installations, that is how we can effect the change we need.”
Richard Garner, head of commercial agency at property consultancy Daniel Watney LLP, said:
“As our research into the value of England and Wales’ F and G rated buildings shows, many investors in commercial property face a ticking timebomb with their properties being potentially unlettable from April next year – this is particularly the case in the office hotspots of Westminster, Kensington and the City, which have commercial space with a collective annual rental estimate of nearly £800m currently not up to standard.
All the evidence demonstrates that adding sustainable features to offices adds value and drives worker productivity and satisfaction, advantages that will serve landlords well over the long term.”
Jon Lovell, co-founder and director at sustainability consultancy Hillbreak, said:
“It is important that that the government clarifies some of the glaring gaps in the confusing regulations. Many large fund managers and REITs are on top of them, but we have a real concern for the long tail of smaller landlords, businesses and family trusts, who own a disproportionate amount of F&G rated properties and will suffer if they don’t get their acts together very quickly.”
— ENDS —
Contributors to the Willis Towers Watson Real Estate Climate Risk Report 2017 included Hillbreak, British Land, Land Securities, Lend Lease, Oxford Properties, John Lewis Partnership, Nattiest, Hermes Investment Management, Blackstock, Grantham Institute for Climate Change & the Environment and DealX.
For more information, please contact Blackstock Consulting / Tyron Wilson / tyron@blackstockpr.com / 07725 197364
Notes for editors
Daniel Watney LLP is not a contributor to the report, but their research on the value of F + G-rated property is based on the DealX data within the report. The rental estimates are based on the latest rateable values used to calculate business rates, calculated using the average rateable value in each local authority and the number of F + G-rated buildings in each district.
About Willis Towers Watson
Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ: WLTW) is a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company that helps clients around the world turn risk into a path for growth. With roots dating to 1828, Willis Towers Watson has 40,000 employees serving more than 140 countries. We design and deliver solutions that manage risk, optimize benefits, cultivate talent, and expand the power of capital to protect and strengthen institutions and individuals. Our unique perspective allows us to see the critical intersections between talent, assets and ideas – the dynamic formula that drives business performance. Together, we unlock potential. Learn more at willistowerswatson.com.
About Hillbreak
Hillbreak is a unique training and advisory firm that helps organisations seeking competitive advantage in a changing urban world. Its mission is to expedite the transition to a sustainable policy, business and investment environment by bringing intelligence, challenge and inspiration to its clients and stakeholders. Please visit hillbreak.com for further information or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
The Government recently published its guidance to landlords on Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for non-domestic property, a matter on which much confusion and uncertainty has prevailed. So, have the outstanding issues now been resolved, or do material unknowns continue to cast a headache for the real estate industry? Miles Keeping, who chaired the succession of commercial property groups which advised Government on the regulations, provides his comprehensive take on the new guidance.
Brief background
The Energy Act 2011 (the Act) introduced the concept of MEES in England & Wales. As we know, this introduced a timetable to make unlawful the letting of privately rented property which failed to meet a minimum energy standard of efficiency. In its wisdom, the government decided that energy efficiency should be measured by virtue of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating, and the minimum standard would be an E (on a scale of A (most efficient) to G). The timetable is:
1st April 2018 New non-domestic leases and lease renewals
1st April 2020 All residential privately rented properties
1st April 2023 All existing non-domestic leases
New guidance was issued by the government on 23rd February 2017.
Uncertainty & doubt
At the time of the publication of the Act, there was a deal of uncertainty as to whether subsequent regulations would actually be enacted – that it would all be too difficult to organise and that the necessary political will would fall away in response to business opposition. Indeed, at the time, there was seemingly a lot that needed to be arranged if regulations were to be forthcoming. The then Department for Energy & Climate Change (DECC) reached out to the commercial and residential property sectors to ask how best to frame the regulations. I was asked the chair the commercial property group and, with significant support from Patrick Brown at the British Property Federation, populated the group with a range of environmental, commercial, legal and technical specialists. The group worked hard, efficiently and openly to support DECC officials.
The regulations (inconveniently named the “Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015”) arrived and, barring certain issues, were a decent attempt to incorporate a balance of policy intention and commercial practicality. What was clear, however, was that guidance was certainly required in order to put some flesh on the bone in terms of how the regulations should be applied – to get Rumsfeld about it, there were definitely some unknowns, both known and unknown. Some of those concerns related to factors such as how the regulations might apply with regard to Listed Buildings, buildings with whole or partial EPCs and where voluntary EPCs had been registered. There was also confusion as to how MEES might be affected by other law, e.g. the 1954 Landlord & Tenant Act and would MEES apply to licences or just leases?
The commercial property sector reached out to government and offered to pen some guidance. I again chaired the working group which delivered draft guidance to government, after which there was a long hiatus that inevitably refuelled the doubters into voicing opinions that the regulations wouldn’t be implemented. And then, last week, the guidance was published unheralded.
So what does this new guidance tell us that we didn’t already know?
Perhaps the key question to ask is whether the guidance addresses the known unknowns? Well, it does a bit. Let’s have a look at issues settled by the guidance… and where some confusion still exists…
The guidance sets out its stall early on by noting that a property which fails to meet MEES is to be known as “sub-standard property”. A small point perhaps, but it’s a phrase which would no doubt stick in the craw of most letting agents; how many landlords would want to go to market with sub-standard properties?
MEES relies on EPCs
Yes, I know you know that, but what some still perhaps don’t appreciate is that MEES only apply to properties where a valid EPC is in place for the property in question and that this has implications in the following situations:
Voluntary EPCs: Some buildings have EPCs which were commissioned for general asset management purposes (i.e. were not procured because they were legally required such as for a letting of a property). The guidance states that in such circumstances, the existence of a voluntary EPC will not trigger a MEES compliance requirement. Clearly, this will only be relevant at the 2023 trigger date.
Where whole building EPCs exist but only part of a building is being let: Some buildings, e.g. shopping centres, have EPCs to cover the whole asset as well as for individual units. In such cases, the guidance states that where a whole building EPC exists, only the property being let (e.g. a retail unit in a shopping centre) needs to be improved.
I know you know that too, but what constitutes a letting? The guidance is both clear and unhelpful when it states: “the PRS Regulations only apply to properties which are let under a tenancy, non-domestic properties which are occupied under other arrangements, for example properties let on licence, or ‘agreement for lease’ arrangements, are unlikely to be required to meet the minimum standard”. “Unlikely”… What makes it “unlikely”? We need to know whether marketing a property for occupation under a licence would trigger MEES or not? I think we can take it that licences are out of scope of MEES. But what about tenancies at will, for example? Again, our discussions with legal specialists suggest that these would also be out of scope, but a more definitive line from government on such matters would be welcome.
Other exemptions
Other exemptions from MEES exist and it had been thought that an exemption of any nature could negate any need to comply with MEES. The guidance carefully explains that this is not the case – a thread running through various of the exemption categories is that exemptions must be considered as individual issues, rather than in blanket terms. For example, if a suggested improvement measure to a building would have the effect of devaluing the property sufficiently to trigger that exemption, other measures which would not have that effect would have to be undertaken (provided no other exemption applied). Whilst we’re on devaluation, the guidance makes it clear that claiming devaluation will be a rarity.
Another exemption exists when legally required third party consent to undertake improvements cannot be received, such as from a planning authority, superior landlord or tenant; some leases require landlords to obtain a tenant’s consent to undertake improvements within their demise. In such circumstances, the guidance states that landlords must “make, and be able to demonstrate to enforcement authorities on request, ‘reasonable effort’ to seek consent” and thereafter register the exemption in that they “could not carry out the proposed improvements without the consent of the tenant or tenants of the property, and one or more of the tenants refused to give consent”.
Such an exemption would only be temporary, lasting for up to five years or until a tenancy change enabled a new tenant to be approached regarding the improvement. A question which landlords would need to ask themselves is whether the lease provides for them to be able to enter the property to make improvements – presumably, if so, such an exemption would be negated.
Part 2 of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 provides security of tenure provisions to tenants at lease end. The guidance is clear that sub-standard property status does not provide a complete exemption from MEES in such circumstances but does allow for a six months exemption from renewal for necessary works to be undertaken. Equally, landlords cannot refuse a renewal nor tenants prematurely terminate a lease because the property is sub-standard.
Landlords and tenants seeking to let or sublet sub-standard properties will need to be aware that whilst any measures which fail the seven year affordability payback test will not need to be undertaken (but registered as such, with three quotes from suppliers and calculations which prove that point) but any measures which do meet the affordability test will have to be undertaken. In other words, one expensive measure does not negate the need to undertake cheaper measures, so landlords will need to ensure they check all potential measures included in their energy assessor’s reports. Furthermore, assessors may suggest that measures which individually fail the affordability test be packaged together such that they then pass the affordability test. However, landlords are not required to install packages if they opt to install a discrete measure instead.
Registration of exemptions
All exemptions must be registered on the publicly available PRS exemptions register – importantly, this must be undertaken prior to an exemption being relied upon. It is also worth noting that should an affordability exemption be relied upon, its registration must be made before any price changes (e.g. in energy or potential improvement measures) have the effect of making potential measures affordable.
Those registering exemptions will need to provide evidence to support their view that an exemption is appropriate and in some cases this might be quite extensive. For example, exemption from undertaking potential measures because they would fail the seven-year payback affordability test will require the submission of a spreadsheet of calculations for all suggested measures and quotations from three suppliers/installers with cost information to support the exemption case.
So where are we now?
The new guidance does give us some clarity relating to how MEES will need to be implemented but it also throws up some new uncertainty. I feel certain, for example, that landlords with listed buildings will be rightly unsettled by the guidance which reminds us of the poorly drafted EPC regulation: It’s a nonsense, impractical and open to differing interpretations. I’m also sure that the uncertainty in the guidance about licences being “unlikely” to be required to meet MEES will delight the legal profession but not landlords and tenants. There will no doubt be some confusion about which EPCs might be considered as “voluntary” and those relying on exemptions will perhaps be surprised by the amount of work which will have to be undertaken for these to be able to be relied upon.
What should landlords be doing?
Example of a Hillbreak dashboard highlighting F&G rated properties within an investment portfolio
As in most circumstances where there is uncertainty or doubt, landlords facing the prospect of MEES will be best placed if they can reduce the potential impact of uncertainties. In this regard, ensuring that they have as much relevant information as possible will be vital and to do that, landlords must review their portfolios with a view to understanding where there MEES risks lie at individual asset level. Having high quality information is vital, as is drawing upon sufficient expertise to undertake risk-based thinking which accounts for EPC data in the context of factors such as rental income at risk due to lease events, lease types and provisions as well as forthcoming asset management activities. Savvy landlords will also review their leases to better understand how they can provide protection of rental income from MEES risks.
Final thoughts
The MEES regulations rely upon EPCs which are not an ideal basis for such regulations given their all-too-frequent inadequacies. The blame for this can be spread far and wide but should in part land on those who procured EPCs very cheaply and got sub-standard results – they are now reaping what they sowed. There is a role for landlords, the property industry generally and for government in dealing with inevitable mess:
Landlords must attend to the risks in their portfolios by procuring high quality advice and data reviews;
the property industry, principally professional and accreditation bodies, must ensure that EPC provision improves radically and quickly; and
the government must clarify outstanding and confusing issues with competent guidance, keeping an eagle eye on how MEES is rolled out.
https://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/building-1210022_1280.jpg549600Miles Keepinghttps://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/hillbreak-green.pngMiles Keeping2017-03-03 17:10:072017-03-24 12:02:43Hillbreak verdict on Government “MEES” guidance
Jon Lovell, co-founder of Hillbreak, was recently interviewed by ULI Connect, the official newsletter of the ~40,000 worldwide members of the Urban Land Institute (ULI). He discusses the impacts of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change for the global real estate industry, the risks and competitiveness drivers of climate change and evolving market expectations, and what motivates him to challenge convention in the industry.
Hillbreak recently concluded its first year of business, during which we’ve been fortunate to work with some of the best clients the real estate market has to offer. We’ve been engaged on an array of truly fantastic engagements, from global responsible investment strategies to the cultural envisioning of regeneration schemes; from coaching a new wave of graduate talent into the profession to helping the Boards of worldwide and pan-European organisations to understand and respond to the impacts of a changing urban world. We’ve spearheaded industry initiatives with worldwide reach, and have contributed to projects with an inherently local focus.
We wanted to share with you the story of an impactful and enjoyable first twelve months, captured in this short document:
Our First Year in Numbers
As proud as we are of the projects we’ve worked on, the clients we’ve worked with and the initiatives we’ve supported, we’re very much focused on what lies ahead.
If you would like to find out more, we’d love to here from you.
We’re just getting started!
https://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/fractal-1390553_640.jpg480640Jon Lovellhttps://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/hillbreak-green.pngJon Lovell2016-11-11 10:10:052016-11-28 14:20:21Just Getting Started
Hillbreak was the principal author on a major new report on the global real estate implications of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, published today by the Urban Land Institute. The publication of the report coincides with the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations in New York, during which progress on the ratification of the Paris Agreement gathered significant pace.
The central element of the Paris Agreement is the aggressive scientific objective of holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and of pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C. The agreement is expected to have significant and far-reaching implications for national and municipal policy making and for business and investment decisions.
Here’s today’s press release on the report:
REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY MUST ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE TO MAINTAIN COMPETITIVENESS, SAYS NEW RESEARCH FROM THE URBAN LAND INSTITUTE
Paper analyzes the real estate implications of UN Paris Agreement on climate change
WASHINGTON (September 21, 2016) – As world leaders gather at the United Nations this week to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change, a new paper released today by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) argues that many real estate organizations are not adequately prepared for the implications of the agreement, which was made at last year’s 21st annual Conference of the Parties in Paris (COP-21).
Entitled L’Accord de Paris: A Potential Game Changer for the Global Real Estate Industry, the paper provides an overview of the key issues that arose from the COP-21 agreement and outlines steps that the real estate industry can take in response. Since buildings account for nearly one-third of global climate-changing carbon emissions, the agreement could trigger significant changes in requirements for building design, development, operations and management. In order to remain competitive, the industry must proactively limit and respond to the effects of climate change, the paper says.
It notes that from a business perspective, taking action to address climate change can help real estate organizations manage risks and capitalize on new opportunities. Investors and developers who proactively respond to impacts of the Paris agreement can ensure that their buildings remain competitive within changing policy, market, and climate conditions. They are also likely to see bottom-line benefits, as improving energy efficiency to reduce the carbon impact of buildings is one of the most cost-effective solutions to mitigating climate change.
“As leaders in the responsible use of land, ULI’s global members have a pivotal role to play in addressing some of the greatest challenges facing our rapidly urbanizing world, including the pressing threat of climate change,” said Patrick Phillips, ULI’s Global Chief Executive Officer. “The Paris Agreement on climate change will have important implications for both developed and emerging real estate markets, including new business and investment opportunities. ULI has published this paper to support our members in navigating the implications of this agreement, and charting strategies for success.”
ULI leader Jon Lovell, cofounder of Hillbreak and principal author of the report, said, “the Paris Agreement was undoubtedly a landmark diplomatic success, but was only possible because of the groundswell of demand, action and support from business leaders, investors, mayors and industry bodies from across the world.” He added, “Given the value at stake and the weight of evidence collated by this paper, it would be naive to think that investors, tenants and regulators won’t all begin to turn the screws on real estate companies and asset owners. The message is clear — act now to address the implications of the Paris Agreement or face irrelevance in the market.”
According to the paper, the Paris Agreement has catalyzed a change in attitudes and expectations surrounding the real estate market. Organizations are under increasing pressure to divest from carbon-intensive companies and assets, and to engage with policymakers and stakeholders on sustainability issues. Furthermore, they are expected to demonstrate a heightened disclosure of carbon performance and the risk posed by climate change to their assets, and to retrofit development standards through new technologies and financing models. Assets that do not conform to these new standards risk low demand and suppressed value.
The first priority for real estate organizations, says the report, should be to audit their resilience against post-COP-21 impacts. The audit should include a review of the risk exposure of their assets and the capabilities and expectations of their stakeholders. The paper suggests a list of specific questions on the topics of climate risk, client and stakeholder expectations, competitor approaches, policy change, asset performance, value chain, people and processes.
L’Accord de Paris: A Potential Game Changer for the Global Real Estate Industry is a precursor for a more detailed report, including case studies, scheduled for release in October.
About the Urban Land Institute
The Urban Land Institute is a nonprofit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to provide leadership in the responsible use of land and in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has nearly 40,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines. For more information, please visit uli.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
For more information, please contact Trish Riggs Senior Vice President of Communications at 202-624-7086 email: trisha.riggs@uli.org or Peter Walker, Vice President of Strategic Communications: +44 (0)20 7487 9586 or e-mail peter.walker@uli.org
About Hillbreak
Hillbreak is the new name in training and advisory services for organisations seeking competitive advantage in a changing urban world. Its mission is to expedite the transition to a sustainable policy, business and investment environment by bringing intelligence, challenge and inspiration to its clients and stakeholders. Please visit hillbreak.com for further information of follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
For more information, please contact Jon Lovell, Co-Founder & Director at +44 (0)7825 531031 or e-mail: jon@hillbreak.com, or Miles Keeping, Co-Founder & Director at +44 (0)7971 457959 or e-mail miles@hillbreak.com
https://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/urban-city-1245777_1280.jpg400600Jon Lovellhttps://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/hillbreak-green.pngJon Lovell2016-09-21 12:00:502017-08-04 15:24:40Real Estate Industry Must Address Climate Change to Maintain Competitiveness
Hillbreak has been appointed by the British Council for Offices (BCO) as part of a consortium led by Sweett Group, the provider of professional services for the construction and management of building and infrastructure projects, to provide multidisciplinary professional services on a 4-year research study on the Civil Service Government Hubs Programme. Other specialists in the consortium include Workplace Strategy, Ramidus and Unwork.
The government estate comprises around 8.6M m² and offices make up approximately half of this space. The rationalisation programme will create multi-departmental hubs in around 18-20 strategic locations across the country. The requirement for space will fall between 25,000m²-60,000m² and the new hubs will typically be Grade A office space which meets BREEAM Excellent standard.
In addition to the financial savings from consolidating into large, strategically located office hubs, a key aim is to provide buildings which enable and promote new and collaborative ways of working across government. The objective is to minimise the long-term cost of occupying the government’s office estate whilst obtaining modern fit-for-purpose accommodation which will be a positive influencer in the drive to reform the Civil Service.
Jenny MacDonnell, Director of Research and Policy at the BCO said: “We are delighted to work in partnership with the Government Property Unit (GPU) on this extensive research study. The BCO recognises this project has the potential to be the largest and most influential study of its kind within the UK and, potentially, globally”.
Miles Keeping, Director & Co-Founder of Hillbreak, said: “We’re absolutely delighted to be involved in this exciting and influential project which offers a rare opportunity to assess excellent case study information on the effects of property decision-making on organisational efficiency and the wellbeing of workforces. Hillbreak’s involvement will focus on identifying how the wellbeing of office workers is affected by decisions made about the buildings they work in. Working with GPU and the BCO on this great programme will hopefully enable us to help the property industry to play a fundamental part in improving the effectiveness of organisations.”
Sweett Group Regional Managing Director for London and the South East, Alan Manuel said: “We are enormously proud to play such an integral role on this major research study that will add immense value to the government’s estate across the country. The transformation project will not only influence significant cost savings, but it will also have a positive impact on health, wellbeing and productivity in the workplace.”
https://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/dandelion.jpg527740Miles Keepinghttps://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/hillbreak-green.pngMiles Keeping2016-08-09 15:47:342017-01-26 18:11:53Hillbreak appointed by BCO to research Civil Service Government Hubs Programme
Miles Keeping, co-Founder of Hillbreak, features in a new and detailed Property Week article on key limitations and failures in the building energy assessment market. The role of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), historically treated by many as merely an administrative licence to transact, has been brought into much sharper focus in the commercial and domestic real estate markets by the forthcoming Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) regulations.
Miles comments on Hillbreak’s experience of advising clients in both transaction and portfolio risk management contexts, where examples of negligent energy assessments undertaken by third party assessors have been found. It’s a common problem in the market, the risk being for property owners that their Energy Performance Certificates will be challenged by potential purchasers and occupiers, leading to delayed deals and chipped prices. Assessors who issue inaccurate EPCs may also find that they face claims for damages arising from their negligence.
The article also announces that Keeping has been appointed to lead an industry group convened to provide the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) with advice on additional guidance on EPCs and MEES, as well as to deliver training to civil servants in DECC and Department for Communities & Local Government.
https://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/miles_keeping.jpg557835Jon Lovellhttps://www.hillbreak.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/hillbreak-green.pngJon Lovell2016-05-30 15:13:162016-06-10 07:34:40Addressing market failures in the building energy sector
Miles Keeping delivered a presentation at the annual breakfast seminar of the Investor Property Forum on recent changes to the policy and regulatory landscape in the UK relating to sustainability. These included an overview of:
• Budget 2016 – What can we expect?
• Business Energy Tax Reform – Where will it take us?
• Future of environmental regulation – What hope is there?
The IPF has published a synopsis of the key topics covered during the event, which also included an update on valuation matters from Philip Parnell of Deloitte Real Estate.
A copy of Miles’ presentation slides can be viewed here:
We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
Essential Website Cookies
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
Google Analytics Cookies
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
Other external services
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
Other cookies
The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:
Privacy Policy
You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.