What we do

Sustainability

The development and operation of buildings has a significant impact on the environment. Specifically, buildings consume natural resources, such as water and building materials, generate waste, and produce pollution directly through onsite fuel use as well as indirectly through electricity consumption and transportation.

There are approximately 1.8 million non-domestic buildings in the UK and 24 million dwellings. Together, these buildings account for:
• 44% of CO2 emissions
• 62% of waste generated
• 60% of water used

We are supportive of carbon performance targets for new buildings, but we believe that the Merton rule (which requires that all new buildings provide a set percentage of their energy use solely through onsite renewables) should not be the only route to making buildings more sustainable.

This section of the site is designed to help companies in the property industry integrate sustainability into their businesses.