The Business Case for Sustainable Office Buildings

Whilst the profile of sustainability has increased substantially in the wider property market, relatively little attention is placed on the business case for sustainable development. In the commercial property market this remains one of the largest barriers to sustainability. For example, a substantial proportion of the stock is owned by institutional investors who are unconvinced by the need to improve their stock and pass on running costs to tenants (Callender & Key, 1997). Capital values are not greatly affected by sustainability and owners react by doing little or nothing to improve their property assets. Other barriers include poor information and professional conservatism (Scrase, 1999); the effect is to limit sustainability related investment and undermine efforts to deliver sustainability in the sector. In efforts to improve sustainability in the built environment many previous and existing government led programmes have focused on the domestic sector, which is characterised by a large proportion of owner occupiers who have a vested interest in maintaining the capital value and condition of the property (Scrase, 2001). Much of the property and surveying research has previously adopted an illustrative case study approach advocating the benefits of ESD and energy efficiency. This research examines the business case for sustainability with regards to commercial office buildings. The attention is placed in identifying sustainable attributes of buildings that have the potential to either positively or negatively affect a discounted cashflow.