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The mid-1990s marked a paradigm shift in the way physical activity is promoted, and walking is now considered the most suitable type of physical activity for widespread promotion. Accurate measurement underpins public health practice, hence the aims of this chapter are to: (1) provide a typology for the measurement of walking; (2) review methods to assess walking; (3) present challenges in defining walking measures; (4) identify issues in selecting instruments for the evaluation of walking and (5) discuss current efforts to overcome measurement challenges and methodological limitations. The taxonomy of walking indicates that secondary purpose walking is a more complex set of behaviours than primary purpose walks. It has many purposes and no specific domain or intensity, may lack regularity, and therefore poses greater measurement challenges. Objective measurement methods, such as accelerometers, pedometers, smartphones and other electronic devices, have shown good approximation for walking energy expenditure, but are indirect methods of walking assessment. Global Positioning System technology, the ‘Smartmat’ and radio-frequency identification tags are potential objective methods that can distinguish walkers, but also require complex analysis, are costly, and still need their measurement properties corroborated. Subjective direct methods, such as questionnaires, diaries and direct observation, provide the richest information on walking, especially short-term diaries, such as trip records and time use records, and are particularly useful for assessing secondary purpose walking. A unifying measure for health research, surveillance and health promotion would strongly advance the understanding of the impact of walking on health.

Investigates the extent and possible causes of variance in property investment valuations for commercial lending purposes within the UK. A literature review was undertaken and a questionnaire survey was circulated to individuals involved in the commercial property valuation process in order to gauge professional opinion. The survey revealed that the main cause of variance was found to be a result of the individual valuer’s “behavioural influences”. The survey also found that parties to a valuation instruction widely accept the margin of error principle, the legal manifestation of valuation variance, as a test of negligence.

Publishes some of the findings of a research project that examined whether valuers and valuations have a role in the provision of more strategic property advice to business occupiers. The research consisted of a postal questionnaire survey of over 250 businesses that examined the role of property and the use of valuations in strategic business decisions. The survey was supported by the findings from 18 structured interviews and an analysis of over 70 sets of company accounts. The results revealed that, despite valuers becoming increasingly involved in measuring corporate efficiency and valuations being used for this purpose, business occupiers do not recognise valuers in a strategic role. Instead, many firms see valuers as providing a single valuation service, the estimation of market value for purchase/sale decisions and corporate disclosure. The research suggests that valuations do have a role to play in the provision of more strategic business advice but the valuer will need to understand the client’s wider business needs and how property plays a part in the client’s business. Valuers need to convince clients that they are not overly technical in their outlook, have broad business skills that include strategic thinking and an awareness of business issues.

In the past property research has been constrained by inadequate technology and unavailable data. In recent years, however, significant advances have been made in both of these areas. To an extent they are closely related – as technology improves the ability to collect and handle large volumes of property data becomes more achievable. This is evident as many surveying firms computerise their property files and commercial data suppliers collect, integrate and market increasing volumes of property data. Furthermore, in the public sector, the Ordnance Survey, Land Registry, Valuation Office, DETR, utilities and local authorities are custodians of substantial property data sets which are increasingly held in digital form. This paper describes the key issues that arise when property information is recorded in a database and, in particular, a geo‐referenced database. Some of the issues have been addressed in the British Standard for a National Land and Property Gazetteer but there is flexibility built into this standard which inevitably leads to disparity between gazetteers created by local authorities. There are also particular concerns when the standard is applied in a commercial rather than public sector environment. These issues are fundamental to the ability to integrate property data from disparate sources for property research purposes. The paper draws on experience of the use of the Land and Property Gazetteer in the National Land Information Service pilot in Bristol and the development of land and property gazetteers by local authorities and private practice. The impact of the National Land Use Database and the UK Standard Geographic Base initiatives are also considered.

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.

BASF Coatings + Inks has announced the management team for this newly formed company. All members have extensive experience of the coatings and inks industry and were previously senior management members of companies within the BASF Group.