Bye, Felicia. I mean, hydrogen ??
After a little holiday break last week, I’m back with another Real Green Estate Bites: your weekly-ish download of sustainable built environment goodness.
The UK Government has been flirting with using hydrogen to decarbonise home and industrial heating for a little while now, but just like when you started leaving your last Tinder date on read, it looks like it’s not gonna work out. Most recently, they decided to shelve a third pilot project for household hydrogen heating, which was aimed at exploring the feasibility of using hydrogen as a low-carbon alternative for home heating. Parking for a moment the fear that residents have about their homes blowing up when they turn on their stove, it just can’t compete with the efficiency of electricity to heat homes. Ben James wrote a great deepdive on hydrogen a couple of weeks ago, and he summarises it nicely with a thoughtful observation: “caution! Sometimes hydrogen is shit!”. Highly recommend giving it a full read, and also recommend checking out Heat Geek’s video on hydrogen vs. heat pumps.?
The other thing about hydrogen is that it’s (probably a bit unfairly) got a dodgy label attached to it due to the fossil fuel funded lobbyists that keep pushing for hydrogen to be used in places where it just shouldn’t be used at all (like home heating). It reminds me of the ‘Hello, fellow kids’ meme, where hydrogen supporters keep trying to fit in with renewables, although not quite as funny seeing as the Government keeps spending money on trials that go nowhere.
Just half a mile from the M&S flagship that’s been stirring up drama with its demolition plans, the former House of Fraser store is proving that the cool kids refurb. While M&S wants to knock down and rebuild, causing a huge carbon footprint estimated at releasing 40k tonnes of emissions into the atmosphere, the House of Fraser project is instead keeping most of the building's original structure and facade.
Instead of starting from scratch, developer Publica Properties is turning the old House of Fraser into a mixed-use space with retail, offices, a gym, and even a swimming pool. They’re doing this by making the most of what’s already there, which is not only better for the environment but also respects the building’s heritage. Meanwhile, M&S’s keeps insisting that their setup of three buildings isn’t workable, all the while remaining stuck in planning purgatory: “The most likely outcome is that the refurbished former House of Fraser, renamed The Elephant, will be finished and occupied while the [M&S] arguments continue raging just up the road.”
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Did you know that the healthcare sector alone is responsible for 4–5% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 2% of all plastic waste? I’m only just getting up to speed with this now, after receiving an early version of a white paper from 3PM, GXN, and Oxford Properties’s research initiative: Transforming to Zero. The paper will be published more widely soon.?
The qualitative research highlights that environmental concerns and climate anxiety are increasingly affecting scientists, especially younger ones. They’re frustrated when their workplace’s actions don’t match green values, leading to some cases of scientists quitting their jobs. The good news is that there’s also a lot of energy and creativity among those who want to make a difference, showing that making labs greener could be a great way to keep and attract talent, and reduce labs’ outsized impact on the environment.
“25 years ago, 85% of real estate investment was offices and retail, now it’s 42%”
“We are going through structural change in real estate, not just a cyclical downturn”
“Landlords will need to become operators selling space as a service”
All the more reason to make sure those spaces are sustainable and not affecting a tenant’s scope 2 emissions, right? ??
Thanks, as always, for reading ??
Principal Consultant @ Cherry Pick People | Talent Solutions - Real Estate, Proptech & ESG ??
6 个月A good update as always, hope you had a nice break last week ??