
12 March, 2025
Market Pulse: UK Property Insights (Q1 2025)
by Jon Neale
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13 March, 2025 · 3 min read
Launched in September last year and currently in a pilot phase, the UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard (NZCBS) establishes a single agreed methodology for measuring and verifying the achievement of a net zero carbon building in the UK. I can say ‘agreed’ because it is the product of an incredible level of pan-industry collaboration. Hundreds of people were involved in its development, including many industry bodies (e.g. BRE, BBP, CIBSE, RIBA, RICS) and developers (e.g. British Land, Landsec, Related Argent, Derwent London). At a high-level, the standard includes:
Figure 1: NZCBS summary (source: UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard)
Notwithstanding this, NZCBS administrators are looking at agreeing equivalence with other industry schemes/standards in places where there is overlap, such as NABERS UK.
We’ve done a lot recently on office obsolescence through our research and RetroFix campaigns, and are keen to comment on the NZCBS in the context of this issue.
Given that the standard is new and in a pilot phase, we do not foresee any major impact in the short term. However, in time, assuming at least a fair level of uptake in the prime segment, we can see it adding yet more weight to the ‘flight to quality’ scales; driving further polarisation between the top and bottom of the market as it becomes established as a criterion of high rent-paying occupiers at the top, whilst those at the other end of the spectrum struggle to fold the cost of NZCBS into business plans where rents and occupier demand don’t support it.
Also, for adopting segments of the market and because the embodied carbon performance limits are tougher on new builds, it may impact new development viability and deliverability through higher build costs and technical challenges in meeting its requirements. This may further the trend towards refurbishment/retrofit, where embodied carbon and operational energy performance limits are less stretching and presumably more affordable.
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