Collaboration across the London property market could open up a whole new industry in retrofitting buildings to reduce carbon emissions, according to a leading expert on carbon reduction and business at a GE and London First conference on how London can meet its carbon emission targets.
Leading property experts join the debate at GE sustainable cities conference
Collaboration across the London property market could open up a whole new industry in retrofitting buildings to reduce carbon emissions, according to a leading expert on carbon reduction and business.
Speaking at a session dedicated to the issue of retrofitting at a GE and London First conference on how London can meet its carbon emission targets, Cat Watkins, assistant director for energy and environmental infrastructure advisory at Ernst & Young, said a partnering approach across the property market could set the conditions to allow carbon-reducing retrofitting to take off.
"This kind of London-wide collaboration could liberate retrofit in London," she said. "The retrofit market in London, across all types of property, is an opportunity save 1.5 million tons of carbon a year. We need an innovative funding solution to persuade investors that retrofit is the place to put their money.
"Financiers need a business case. That would be helped by a floor price for carbon. You also need to have scale, to make projects big enough to be worth the investment. And you need to be able to monetise the energy savings." She said collaboration was crucial to creating these conditions.
Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, said there was huge potential in London for making improvements to the city's existing building stock. She said one of London's great attractions was its skyline created by the number and variety of old buildings, and that the imperative for the property industry was to find ways of making those buildings better, both in carbon terms and more generally.
Mike Putnam, chief executive of construction company Skanska UK, told the conference that he believed there was a big business opportunity in green retrofitting. "Eighty per cent of the buildings in London now will still be standing in 2050, so it's a big opportunity," he said.
He said Skanska was working on a number of pilot projects to see how retrofitting for carbon reduction could best be carried out. "The key is being able to verify that what you've done has worked, and the absolute key is being able to guarantee it," he said.
Peter Head, director of engineering, designing and planning firm Arup, said London had an opportunity to become a global hub for retrofitting. He said there were a number of cities around the world, such as Melbourne and Singapore, that were implementing retrofitting schemes, and that London was well placed to combine its property and business skills with leading-edge schemes.
Peter Clarke, chairman of the Better Buildings Partnership, told the conference that landlords were already doing a great deal to retrofit properties and reduce carbon emissions, but that there was a significant funding gap in London. "We would like to take funding for retrofitting out of broader real estate funding," he said.
"We need to have a debate about a funding package that deals with retrofit which is institutionally acceptable. The question is 'Who pays?' That can only be solved by everybody involved understanding that we can only do it by working in partnership."
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Mark Maguire
GE
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Sara Cruz
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