Making offices fit for the future: retrofit or redevelopment?

Offices around the world are transforming. Take Singapore’s 18 Cross. Originally constructed in the early 2000s, the building has been upgraded to meet Grade A office standards in a mixed-use retrofit project that maximises natural light and includes a 20-metre ‘green wall’.

Sustainability was at the heart of the scheme, which incorporates features such as solar energy, rainwater harvesting, and electric-vehicle charging and bike parking facilities.

It’s a project that reflects two key trends preoccupying the owners of older commercial buildings. First, the decarbonisation goals of national governments have pushed regulators and cities worldwide to ratchet up sustainability requirements for offices. Second, occupiers, faced with their own net zero commitments, increasingly require offices with high environmental performance and are often willing to pay a premium to get them.

As a result, landlords with underperforming buildings face an imperative to decarbonise, both to ensure regulatory compliance and to maintain their assets’ appeal to tenants. The question is how: should they optimise their existing offices, carry out a retrofit or opt for a sustainable redevlopment?

Read More: Making offices fit for the future: retrofit or redevelopment? | Savills Impacts