Centre for Cities

Greening UK cities' buildings

The debate on climate change and the built environment has so far focused mainly on new housing. Just look at all the noise around eco-towns.

Much less attention has been focused on our existing commercial buildings - offices, shops and factories - which together account for about one-fifth of carbon emissions in the UK. That's about the same as 90m people's annual car use.

The Government aims to make new commercial buildings carbon-neutral by 2019. Which is fine, but only about 1% of buildings are replaced each year - and most of our existing offices and shops will still be with us in 2050.

This week's report from the All Party Urban Development Group called for more action now to green our existing commercial buildings. Instead of focusing on making new buildings carbon-neutral, the Group said we need to shift the focus to existing buildings. A lot can be done fairly easily and cheaply. The Group, chaired by Clive Betts MP, made these recommendations:

• Central government should lead by example, and do more to reduce energy use in their own buildings. (Switch the lights off, Ministers.)
• Whitehall should also streamline the 160 different bodies that are involved in delivering the green agenda.
• Introduce one single measurement framework for energy use in commercial buildings, so that businesses can compare one building with another.
• Clearer advice for landlords and tenants, on how to reduce energy use and make easy savings. And tighter building regulations.

David King - the Government's former chief scientific adviser - offered up some intriguing ideas at the Group's report launch this week. He said that reducing carbon emissions was as important as controlling inflation, and called on Mervyn King to take charge of the Government's target of 60% carbon reduction by 2050. And he called on Whitehall to introduce an internal cap and trade scheme between departments. Tongue in cheek, I'm sure, but not bad ideas.

More seriously, King praised Gordon Brown's big speech on climate change last November - when he pledged to put the UK at the forefront of the global fight against climate change. But King was now worried about the Government's ability to deliver.  

Cross-party inquiry: greening existing buildings

Did you know that existing shops, offices and warehouses together account for one-fifth of the UK's total carbon emissions?

The Government has already committed to make new commercial buildings carbon-neutral by 2019. Which is fine, but only 1 to 2% of commercial stock is replaced each year. That means existing stock is the bigger problem.

The All Party Urban Development Group today held an inquiry on "Climate Change and the Urban Built Environment", looking at exactly this issue - how best to "green" existing non-domestic buildings.

The Group, chaired by Clive Betts MP, heard evidence from a range of expert witnesses - including the UK Green Building Council, London Climate Change Agency, Carbon Trust, and John Lewis Partnership. They were asked about:

• how to improve the energy efficiency of existing urban buildings
• the barriers to reducing emissions from urban buildings, and
• the policy response needed to address these barriers - including tax incentives and penalties.

So far, most of the debate and policy attention (e.g. eco-towns) has focused on the residential sector and on new-build. Today's inquiry will help to re-balance that focus.

Existing commercial buildings should be a much bigger priority for Ministers. But this is a tricky set of issues.

• It's easier for Government to influence the standards of new buildings - but more difficult to regulate and retro-fit existing buildings.
• It's hard to convince landlords why they should do up their buildings, when the tenant stands to benefit most.
• And it's hard to make progress on this, when data on the energy performance of commercial buildings is so thin.

The property industry can already do a lot to improve its energy efficiency - e.g. by switching off all those office lights at night. But to do a major retro-fit of existing commercial stock, the British Property Federation and others are calling for tax breaks to help finance the cost - such as enhanced capital allowances and stamp duty concessions. These would cost the Treasury quite a bit of money, in a tight fiscal climate - so a strong case will need to be made.

The Group's report will be published in July, so look out for that. In the meantime, here's Clive Betts on the Today Programme this morning (fast forward to 6.25am).