Let’s work together on sustainability at UKREiiF

The race to net zero is one of the biggest priorities across property. Next week’s UKREiiF event in Leeds provides a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and expertise on how we can decarbonise our industry.

The briefest glance at the programme signals that the environment and climate change will be centre stage. Exhibiting is tied to a mandatory Sustainability Pledge and the agenda is packed with debates and workshops looking at issues from green finance through to the technicalities of building standards.

We need to capture this shared enthusiasm for a more sustainable built environment – and to break down silos within the industry. UKREiiF presents the perfect opportunity for us to collaborate and work through the biggest challenges facing us.

At the Government Property Agency, we want to lead the way for the rest of the sector. We’re here to make the government’s estate greener – matching the UK’s world-leading climate change ambitions while creating excellent workplaces for the civil servants that are serving communities throughout the country.

What does this look like in action? Through the Government Hubs Programme we’re creating industry-leading, state-of-the-art buildings that are pushing above NABERS 5* rating: our One First Street hub in Manchester will be the greenest building in the city. We’re also proud to lead the way on retrofit too, improving the energy efficiency of our existing workspaces ranging from heritage assets in Westminster to 1960s blocks in Truro. Our 3-8 and 55 Whitehall buildings were taken from an EPC E to A as part of the refurbishments we delivered.

A big focus for us – and no doubt a live debate in Leeds – is on making sustainability work for everyone. In our case this means acknowledging and working alongside the specific needs of government departments, while still setting industry standards. We have targets of BREEAM Excellent for new builds and BREEAM Very Good for refurbishments but safety, security and employee experience are also non-negotiables for us too.

Our objective at UKREiiF is to share and to listen. I’ll be diving into our approach towards embodied carbon, occupier engagement and partnership across the supply chain during the roundtable on Tuesday at 12.30pm looking at decarbonising at scale and speed, as well as in the ‘Tackling Scope 3’ session on the Newsroom Stage at 1:15pm on Thursday. Please come and join the debate.