01 / Current situation in the sector

Fit-outs have shorter lives than the shell and core of a building. As they are typically tied to specific tenants, carbon-intensive office elements from flooring to lighting, ceilings to air-conditioning systems are often discarded and replaced far earlier than their natural operational lifespans would require.

Office tenancies are getting shorter, compounding the problem of high levels of fit‑out churn. In Q1 2024, the average lease length in central London was 5.5 years. This was down 5% on the long-term quarterly average, part of a long-term trend towards shorter leases: 20 years ago, the average lease was 9.3 years. A decade ago, it was 6.8 years. It is not unusual for a tenant to use a fit-out for only a year before vacating, and the fit-out process then begins again.

These rapid replacement cycles mean that the embodied carbon emissions, raw material demand and waste arising from fit-outs can compete with those of the shell and core over a building’s life.

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