Sustainable office design 'faces investment issues'

Office design news from Morgan Lovell

Published on 01-02-2011

More firms would be inclined to improve sustainable office design should greater levels of public funding be available for this type of work, it has been claimed.

Speaking at the Retrofit Salford 2011 event, Mike Reardon, strategic director at the Greater Manchester Environment Commission, said that an absence of public funding is making it more difficult for businesses to improve their green credentials in the present financial climate.

He commented: "There are some real challenges and I think you don't appreciate the challenges until you get very close to delivery - first of all, securing investment [...] in the absence of public funding."

Meanwhile, Dr Will Swan from the Centre for the Built Environment at the University of Salford - also speaking at the event - recently claimed that the coalition government's Green Deal agenda is set to have a significant impact on sustainable office design in the UK.

He argued that small changes in behaviour by firms can have as great an impact on improving green practices.

Posted by Ian Johnson