Firm plans to buy eight more buildings

Developer Stanhope plans to use its green retrofitting fund to buy up six to eight more buildings this year and is hunting for contractors to carry out its planned wave of refurbishment.

Launched a year ago, with investor Threadneedle and the Carbon Trust, the Low Carbon Workplace fund is aimed at refitting energy inefficient buildings for carbon-conscious occupiers.

Rob Watts, Stanhope’s sustainability director, said that four buildings had already been bought but six to eight more would be snapped up this year.
“A whole group of occupiers are now expecting sustainability,” he said.

When it launched the fund, Stanhope said it could grow to £350m, but Watts said it could now hit £500m over the next three to five years.

He said the firm was on the lookout for contractors to carry out the retrofitting.

“We are looking for a supply chain of main contractors who we believe have demonstrated they are able to deliver sustainability, rather than just having something on a website,” he said.

In other news, climate change minister Greg Barker has rejected industry demands to provide detailed targets for the amount of carbon cut by retrofitting homes, branding the question of detailed targets a “New Labour” one.

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