_Manchester embarks on five-year green plan; can developers, landlords and tenants make an impact?

Nearly half of the 15 million tonnes of CO2 the council hopes to eliminate will need to be lost by 2023 with a further 3.6 million to go between 2023 and 2027.

With such a short time frame to achieve this objective, there is no doubt huge emphasis will be placed on the impact of commercial property.

Emissions from buildings account for around 34 per cent of total UK greenhouse gases. You can see why the property sector is going to be expected to lead the way.

We expect the more enlightened developers to embrace this challenge, Bruntwood has already agreed to be a pathfinder company and the commercial property sector must play its part in the region’s carbon ambitions.

Windmill Green on Mount Street is set to become the first multi-let office block in Manchester to achieve an ‘Outstanding;’ BREEAM rating for sustainability.

To help achieve this the developer, FORE Partnership, used the most innovative solar PV panels ever installed in the UK which power the seven-storey block’s lights.

Above: Manchester

Alongside this, highly efficient glass and low wattage LED lighting has been installed that uses only 4 watts to light each square meter – a traditional fluorescent system in an office consumes 15 to 20 watts per square meter.  There is also ultra-modern water saving measures, and the ability to monitor energy consumption to feed back to tenants in real time.

All new developments – commercial and residential - will have to follow this example and be Zero Carbon by 2028.

That’s probably the easy bit, the real challenge will be how to manage Manchester’s stock of existing buildings.

This is likely to be led by further changes to the Energy Performance Certification (EPC) system.

Since April 2018, it has been unlawful to grant a new tenancy in commercial buildings with an EPC rating of F or G as part of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) – assuming the property doesn’t fall within some of the potential exemptions outlined here.

We expect more people to begin questioning why Manchester can’t lead the way by pushing the required EPC ratings further up the alphabet.

Another expectation is that Manchester’s landlords will need to work closely together and developers may have to agree to a voluntary standard on sustainability.

Bruntwood and the other pathfinder companies are helping the city council find a way forward. Even if this proves unpopular with developers, the chosen route may be determined by the end users of commercial property – the tenants themselves.

With each passing day, month and year, we deal with tenants with far greater corporate social responsibilities and sustainability of workplaces is right at the top of the agenda for most.

It will be interesting, as Manchester embarks on the next five-year green plan, how much of an impact tenants will have on driving the agenda for landlords to act fast on increasing efficiencies in their properties.

For more information, please contact David Porter, Partner, Manchester Office Head.