A fifth of developers planning retrofits in 2013

One in five commercial property investors are planning a retrofit in 2013, according to the latest figures released by commercial property advisor GVA.

The study, ‘Green to Gold: Sustainable investment attitudes’, shows 85% of commercial property developers within the UK intend to re-assess the energy efficiency of their portfolios in 2013, with 20% planning to dispose of inefficient properties, and 20% planning a retrofit.

In April 2018, new government measures will come into effect, making it illegal to let commercial or residential property which does not cover the environmental requirements set out in their minimum energy performance certificate (EPC) rating. Currently, a fifth of commercial properties within the UK are below this standard.

In addition, the GVA survey found that property investors were placing more emphasis on a buildings environmental sustainability than they were in 2007. It claims that the sustainability of a building has become more of an influencing factor for investors in 2012 than it has ever been.

Worryingly, 55% of survey respondents still did not assign monetary values to sustainability in their investment assessments, with 80% saying that valuers do not take sustainability into account correctly in their reports.

In the survey, 69% of respondents said building sustainability was of ‘some importance’ with only 10% stating it was ‘very important’, - a 20% decrease from 2010.

Senior director of investment at GVA, Mark Rawstron said: “The difference we’ve seen since our previous survey two years ago is that investors and landlords have demonstrated a level of action is being taken. More investors have recognised that these legislative changes to meet energy efficiency targets will have a major bearing on the future capital value of their stock.

“Despite that, we estimate over 55,000 commercial units around the UK still remain below the required standards and if not updated will become unlettable in 2018. Therefore a huge exercise remains in ensuring this doesn’t happen.”