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The purpose of this paper is to establish how UK offices and double skin façade (DSF) technologies can be best matched for refurbishment purposes.

This research uses a mixed methodology including primary and secondary data collection, analysis and interpolation through document analysis, comprehensive critical literature review, and case study approach.

In total, 22 benchmarks have been developed to represent 75 per cent of the existing office stock in the UK. Through a comparison with 36 case studies of European buildings refurbished with DSFs, two benchmarks showed to be most suitable for a DSF refurbishment and most appropriate configurations for a successful DSF refurbishment have been identified. Findings have been also checked against a large sample of DSF buildings in the UK.

The benchmarks delivered in this study can be developed further into parametric models, where variations can be obtained by changing the parameters provided. A follow-up study can be designed to help define the exact share of existing stock represented by each benchmark and to foster research where a more typological or statistical approach might be intended.

Findings from this research can be of practical use to academics and practitioners alike involved in research related to office refurbishments, DSFs, and the UK existing office stock. The design for this research can also be adapted to similar studies on its own or further developed to suit different contexts.

Improvements to existing buildings can preserve established communities, with a clear social advantage.

This paper represents the first attempt to systemically shed light on how existing UK offices and DSF technologies can be best matched in refurbishments. The benchmarks developed, the DSF case studies, and guidelines for suitable DSF technologies in UK office refurbishments represent the original contribution of this research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the experience of the UK office market in embracing green buildings. The empirical analysis considers the spatial pattern and growth of green buildings in cities since 1990. It examines the perceived industry wisdom that the establishment of a green premium for occupation is the key to greening the office stock.

The paper begins by looking at the concept of a green office and then examines the evolving attitudes towards these offices and the issues for local market dynamics. The empirical analysis examines the current spatial pattern of green office buildings in the UK and then their impact on city office markets, where there is a major concentration. The latter part of the paper examines the growth of green offices since 1990. It begins with national trends and then examines the evolution of green development in individual cities.

The initial adoption of green offices was slow. There has been a dramatic rise in green offices at the peak of the past decade’s development boom and in the immediate years that followed. Market acceptance of the importance of greenness appears still to be in the melting pot with limited market transactions since 2008. Green offices represent only 2.7 per cent of office buildings and 12 per cent of total space in the market. Most green offices are in the principal cities with the largest concentration in London. London represents the only potential locality where a green market could have been established so far.

The paper provides an empirical assessment of the growth of green offices in the UK.

This is the first paper to consider the development and scale of green offices in the context of local markets. It challenges the perceived wisdom that a green premium is central to the green transformation to date.

The built environment is a major source of carbon emissions. However, 80 per cent of the damage arises through the operational phase of a building’s life. Office buildings are the most significant building type in terms of emission-reduction potential. Yet, little research has been undertaken to examine the barriers faced by building operators in transitioning to a green operation of the office buildings in their care. This study aims to identify those barriers.

Building facilities managers with between 7 and 25 years’ experience in operating primarily Melbourne high-rise office buildings were interviewed. The sample was taken from LinkedIn connections, with ten agreeing to participate in semi-structured interviews – out of the 17 invitations sent out. Interview comments were recorded, coded and categorised to identify the barriers sought by this study.

Seven categories of barriers to effecting green operation of office buildings were extracted. These were financial, owner-related, tenant-related, technological, regulatory, architectural and stakeholder interest conflicts. Difficulties identifying green operation strategies that improved cost performance or return on investment of buildings was the major barrier.

Government, policymakers and facilities managers themselves have been struggling with how to catalyse a green transition in the operation of office buildings. By identifying the barriers standing in the way, this study provides a concrete point of departure from which remedial strategies and policies may be formulated and put into effect.

The uptake of green operation of office buildings has been extremely slow. Though barriers have been hypothesised in earlier works, this is the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that categorically identifies and tabulates the barriers that stand in the way of improving the green operational performance of office buildings, drawing on the direct knowledge of facilities experts.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze patterns and causes of structural vacancy in Dutch office buildings focusing on investors perceptions in the context of behavioural economics issues.

The location and typological characteristics of structurally vacant office buildings were identified using data from the first quarter of 2007 of the Jones Lang LaSalle office supply database. Structured interviews of those investors responsible for decisions about structurally vacant office buildings in their portfolio were conducted and the results analyzed.

The analysis finds that structural vacancy is not distributed but concentrated more in distinct smaller buildings owned by non‐institutional investors and that these are found more often in office parks. It also shows that irrational optimism about the office market combined with overconfidence and the disposition effect limit the rationality of investor decisions about structurally vacant office buildings.

Further research focusing on behavioural economics factors in real estate could improve selection and sampling and the construction of questions.

Because they appear to understand functional obsolescence least of all, real estate investors would benefit from knowledge about diagnosing it.

Most research investigating behavioural economics in real estate has focused on the work of professional valuers, appraisers. This may be the first paper to show that real estate investors exhibit decision patterns consistent with beliefs and preferences described in behavioural economics and finance.

This paper identifies the importance of key factors influencing the quality of CBD office buildings. An office building quality index (BQI) is constructed and its relationship with net rent assessed.

The importance of 30 property‐specific CBD office building attributes on the quality of CBD office buildings is assessed using a survey of property industry respondents. The analytical hierarchy process procedure is used to determine weights for each of these attributes to construct an office BQI.

Findings indicate that functionality (31.0 per cent), services (22.6 per cent), access and circulation (16.4 per cent), presentation (13.1 per cent), management (11.5 per cent) and amenities (5.4 per cent) are the order of importance in assessing office building quality. There was found to be a strong functional relationship between office building quality and net rent.

A better understanding of the factors influencing CBD office building quality is determined, with a more effective and practical office BQI developed for benchmarking purposes in property portfolios.

Importance of CBD office building attributes is determined and a new CBD office BQI is developed for practical implementation in the property industry.

Purpose — This study seeks to investigate the degree to which energy efficiency is incorporated into office building refurbishment and capital expenditure with the emphasis placed on a cost‐benefit analysis from the owner’s perspective. Design/methodology/approach – In order to develop a research framework, a thorough literature review was conducted of three disciplines being construction technology, building refurbishment and property management. The study identifies differences between varying levels of capital expenditure to ensure an existing building is more energy efficient, with the emphasis placed on the cost of implementation and the potential for tenants to acknowledge the increased energy efficiency via higher rents. Findings – Office buildings have been identified as a contributor to global warming during the construction phase, however during the building lifecycle there is a greater contribution to CO₂ omissions. Whilst various building designs and construction techniques have evolved to improve energy efficiency, the focus has largely been placed on new buildings where it is easier to incorporate change and innovative approaches. However, the proportion of new buildings constructed each year is relatively small in comparison to existing building stock, which requires regular capital expenditure to maintain and attract new tenants within a competitive marketplace. Practical implications – The increasing importance of energy efficiency affects the office market in a variety of different ways. Originality/value – This paper identifies important links between the environment and the built environment, and the implications for office building owners.

The purpose of this research was twofold. First, to investigate the views of occupiers in a typical UK city on the importance of various sustainability issues, their perceived impact of different sustainability drivers and willingness to pay. Second, the environmental and social performance of existing buildings in that city was examined.

The research focuses on buildings of 10,000 feet² or more that have been constructed in the Bristol city‐region in the UK over the past 50 years. The buildings in the sample are located in the city centre and in out‐of‐town business parks. A questionnaire survey investigated the views of occupiers and follow‐up interviews looked more closely at the sustainability performance of the existing stock.

The findings indicate that, as far as occupiers are concerned, the strongest drivers are consumer demand and staff demand. Green features of a building appear to rank low in the overall building selection preference structure and a willingness to pay a premium for green features was indicated. The interviews uncovered barriers to progress as well as initiatives to reduce both energy consumption and the environmental impact of office space.

The paper identifies progress and issues which could form obstacles to improving the environmental performance of office buildings. It is argued that there is a need to focus on energy efficiency.

This paper explores the linkage between the perception and use of office space by occupants and how this affects the environmental performance of this space.

The purpose of this paper is to search for a modernization model of functionally obsolete office buildings, taking into consideration the different needs of potential users.

An analysis of possibilities of adapting existing buildings to a contemporary conception of office space.

The paper presents a practical adaptation possibility of an object from the 1970s to contemporary conceptions of “cell”, “den”, “hive”, “club” and “office like a city” type of offices.

Despite investigations being confined to Poland, a wider application of the method described in the paper seems possible in modernizing corridor‐system buildings constructed using prefabricated technology.

The solution proposed in the paper, based on contemporary knowledge bound with the design of office buildings, may allow better consideration of users' preferences in future modernization activities.

Analysis shows the possibilities for the conversion of technically and functionally obsolete buildings at the pre‐design stage. Based on the model's results, it is possible to integrate the program of modernisation efforts with an appropriate strategy of renting, which from the very beginning may be adapted to the requirements of companies of various organisational structures and needs.

The purpose of this paper is to quantify fitout churn in office buildings to more accurately evaluate the recurrent embodied energy in life cycle assessment studies.

Three research methods were used in the context of Central Business District (CBD) office buildings in Sydney. Method 1 involved leasing records from 528 office buildings; method 2, a leasing history from a selective sample of three prime grade office buildings; method 3, a targeted survey of 21 property professionals concerning fitout churn cycle estimates.

Prime buildings are the area of most interest to fitout churn because they represent a large proportion of total office floor area. The churn rate differs according to office tenancy type (as defined by small, medium and large leased areas). Large tenants occupy the majority of floor space. Lease duration as obtained from Method 1, offers a reasonable proxy for predicting fitout churn. Using this method coupled with weighted-average calculations, the data indicate a fitout churn rate of 8.2 years.

Variability concerning the situational context of Sydney CBD office buildings restricts broad generalisability of the findings. However, the research method used in this study would enable broad-based comparison and the potential for verification.

The main contribution of the research is to improve the ability to accurately predict fitout churn cycles as previous work only involves limited case studies and arbitrary estimates, thus lacking a strong evidence based.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the important property specific criteria for office occupation decision making by tenants of purpose built office buildings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It attempts to provide more definitive information on office space occupation to prospective property marketers, managers, owners and investors.

A questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the important criteria which were earlier selected by expert panels. The outcome was then analysed through the principal component analysis and importance factor index adopted from an earlier study. The findings from the survey can then be used to examine the relative importance of the identified criteria through the use of a multi criteria decision making (MCDM) technique.

Four main criteria could be identified under the property specific criteria. Six of the “building features, services and management” attributes have higher rankings than the attributes under the “financial” considerations, mainly rent. the high rank attributes under the main criteria of “location” relate to the prestige and accessibility of the building while the high rank criteria under the main “lease” criteria relate to the monetary considerations of the lease arrangement. The high rank criteria under the main criteria of “building features, services and management” relate to the management and building services rather than the design/space provision.

The study area is confined to Kuala Lumpur city centre commercial area and covers prime office buildings.

Office occupation studies have been established in developed countries but are very limited in Malaysia. This study attempts to relate to the current office market developments and to seek the preferences of the various categories of tenants at a later stage.