Commercial mortgage holders 'will be pushed to retrofit by tenants'

02 February 2011

Written by Gavin Elley

Commercial mortgage holders are likely to be driven to make their properties more energy efficient by tenant demand for retrofitted real estate.

This is according to Michael O'Doherty, head of climate change for building and energy at Manchester City Council, who spoke at the Retrofit Salford 2011 event on January 26th and 27th.

He explained that it is going to be more challenging to make environmentally-friendly changes to commercial property than housing stock and this is the area in which more needs to be done to encourage retrofitting.

However, landlords are most likely to be spurred on to make such modifications when occupants become aware of the advantages of green buildings.

"When tenants understand the benefits and are prepared to pay a premium for retrofitted, highly energy-efficient buildings, that is when the market will move," he said.

His comments follow the release of a report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which called for more cost-effective methods of construction with a smaller impact on the environment to be used in order to tackle the UK's housing crisis.

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