GMCA takes steps to ramp up retrofit drive
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority has partnered up with CBRE to develop a how-to guide for commercial landlords to encourage them to improve the energy efficiency of their assets.
It is hoped that the retrofit guide will help the city region on its way to achieving its ambition of being carbon neutral by 2028 and “get ahead of the climate curve”, according to Lucinda Lay, associate director of ESG Consultancy at CBRE.
“Sustainability and real estate trends are accelerating. We have investor demands expanding, increasing sustainability and climate change regulation, and we have tenant demands evolving.
“It’s all coming together to actually need greater consideration of ESG and sustainability in the built environment. That’s why guides such as this commissioned by the GMCA are crucial.”
The guide aims to help commercial occupiers understand the actions they can take to play their part.
The guide focuses on two areas:
- Best practice certification, giving an overview of current market certifications and the benefits related with each, as well as guidance on landlord engagement and green leases.
- Circular economy solutions, covering design principles for the future based on the dynamic of reduce, reuse and recycle. This part of the guide will also highlight the “direct cash impacts” of decarbonisation, including lower energy bills, reduced operating costs, and improved wellbeing and talent retention.
An estimated 80% of buildings that will be in use in 2050 already exist and commercial buildings account for 6% of Greater Manchester’s total carbon footprint, underlining the pressing need to ramp up efforts to make buildings.
“To achieve our ambitious environmental aims, we must not only build better, greener buildings, but must also improve the quality of our many existing buildings across the city-region,” said Cllr Tom Ross, Greater Manchester lead for green city region.
“Local authorities are already leading by example, with 240 public buildings having been fitted with energy efficiency measures and low carbon heating systems over the last four years. But improving public sector buildings will only get us so far – we need to encourage commercial building owners and occupiers to do the same.”
