The green office revolution: How cities (& The City) tackle net zero

Big 4 accounting firm Deloitte’s latest Office Crane Survey¹ shows business tenants across the capital are prioritising greener, more sustainable spaces in their search for the perfect office. Eager to attract new staff and to lure their existing workforces back into the office, swathes of companies are seeking to relocate to newer, more sustainable – and therefore, more desirable – workspaces. To keep up with this demand, and to entice a new wave of corporate tenants, developers across the City have undertaken a record number of refurbishments in 2023, according to the survey.

The drive for greener, cleaner office spaces has pushed developers to invest in major office renovations – everything from making buildings more energy efficient to switching to renewable heating sources – in the hope of attracting new businesses to their real estate, as well as meeting the capital’s net zero targets. 

London is already leading the way across a number of greener energy solutions - from greater data visualisation to see the where and when of how much energy is being used across multiple sites, to producing sustainable heating, power and cooling to the city with more advanced tri-generation and heat pump systems like our Citigen energy centre, in the very heart of London’s Square Mile.

The capital has an ambitious sustainability agenda with the eventual aim of becoming a zero emissions city by 2030. The challenge for London, and its developers, lies in both supplying reliable, cost-effective energy solutions to buildings, whilst also reaching tough carbon reduction targets for the future. One answer to the challenge are energy networks like Citigen.

This hidden power station buried in the heart of London supplies a lower carbon and more cost-efficient source of energy through a district heating network right into the heart of the City; an area where almost half of the capital’s corporate refurbishment is taking place. Citigen can call on a range of geothermal, heat pump and gas combined heat and power engines to supply the equivalent energy needs of 13,600 homes through a network that snakes for more than 11km through the City, connecting to commercial and residential properties such as the Guildhall and the Barbican arts centre.  

One way to tackle the heat challenge is through heat networks. Heat networks transfer heating and/or cooling from a central source to connected buildings such as homes, businesses, even hospitals and universities. They are uniquely able to unlock large-scale renewable and recovered heat sources such as waste heat from industry or heat from sewage works, rivers, even old coal mines.

Heat networks currently provide 3% of UK’s heat demand, with estimates that with government support and new heat network zone regulation, they could provide as much as 20% of heat demand by 2050 in a least-cost pathway to meeting carbon targets.

Making best use of heat networks involves the creation of ‘heat network zones’ – designated areas of a city within which heat networks are the lowest cost, low carbon solution for decarbonising heating. Within such a zone, certain types of buildings must connect to their local heat network in a given timeframe. 

Despite the rise in working from home post-pandemic, it’s predicted another 135,000 office jobs in London will be created between now and 2026, which developers believe equates to an extra 15 million sq. ft of office space being needed³.

It’s clear that businesses’ – and office workers’ – priorities have shifted. Businesses want to their staff back in the city, and both bosses and workers are enticed back by offices that are green, clean and energy efficient.

Undertaking such a vast amount of refurbishment is a big commitment to developers but it’s driven by their confidence in the demand for premium office space. Construction work suffered over the pandemic as developers delayed projects, thus creating a backlog of new office buildings. Now, the capital is seeing an increasing number of companies opting to secure buildings pre-emptively, committing to green, clean spaces before construction even starts to guarantee access to prime locations.

It’s clear city energy transformation is a key way to achieve net zero carbon, at pace and at scale. As the city develops more intelligent energy solutions, designed with a focus on social responsibility and reducing our impact on the environment, it becomes a better place to live, learn and work.

It’s a step in the right direction towards making London a sustainable city and helping it meet its net zero goals. 

^{1.  Deloitte: London Office Crane Survey Winter 2023}

^{2. Deloitte: London Crane Survey Summer 2023}

^{3. The Times: London lardlords race to bring their offices up to date}