A property industry body today launched the first industry-wide guide on how to measure and report on the sustainability of buildings.
A report from the Green Property Alliance, Establishing the Ground Rules for Property gives investors and tenants a set of industry-agreed metrics that can be used to measure and compare energy use – and its associated greenhouse gas emissions – water use and waste generation in commercial buildings.
The report is intended to encourage property owners and occupiers, advisors, sustainability framework providers and government, to agree on a common language of measurement and reporting in order to drive greater sustainability from commercial and non-domestic buildings, which account for almost one-fifth of UK carbon emissions.
Paul Edwards, head of sustainability at Hammerson, chair of the British Council for Offices Environment and Sustainability Group and chair of the Green Property Alliance Working Group said: “Accurate, meaningful measurement of sustainability impacts is vital if its performance is to be effectively managed.
“A vast array of sustainability tools and frameworks are available to the industry with subtle variation between each.
“The publication of today’s report will hopefully encourage convergence in the basic building blocks of the main frameworks the industry uses so that buildings can be compared no matter which framework they use.
“We hope it will also provide some simple guidance to organisations who have yet to report, and that it will encourage them to do so.”
The Green Property Alliance, an offshoot of the Property Industry Alliance, comprises the Better Buildings Partnership, British Council for Offices, British Council of Shopping Centres, British Property Federation, British Retail Consortium, CoreNet, Investment Property Forum, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and UK Green Building Council.
1 Readers' comment