THE IMPACT OF GREEN CERTIFICATION BREEAM ON OCCUPANCY RATES OF COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS IN THE UK

Abstract

It is still a lively debate on whether Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) certification has a significant increase on the capital cost of a building. There is a previous study mentioned about half of the investors or developers said there is a significant extra cost in BREEAM certified building, but BRE said otherwise. Undoubtedly, the capital cost is one of main considerations for investor and developer to construct a building. Yet, business industry sector consumes about 49% of energy consumption in the UK. Achieving higher financial return then become one the solution to encourage BREEAM certification on the commercial building. Higher financial return often associated with the health of cash flow into the company. In a commercial building, occupancy rate is vital for a company to predict their cash flow. Nevertheless, occupancy rate is also influenced by the rent and sale’s fee. Even with low occupancy rates, the building owners still have to pay the building operating cost and property taxes. However, there is little or no study about BREEAM certification’s impact on occupancy rates in UK’s commercial buildings. The main aim of this research is to increase the BREEAM certified buildings, especially the excellent and outstanding rating, by demonstrating whether BREEAM certification has impacts on Occupancy Rates in the UK’s Commercial Buildings. Research method employed in this study is a mixed research method. The result of the analysis from the questionnaire will be complement by interview analysis from experts who are from BREEAM related field. The findings showed that BREEAM certification has positive impacts on occupancy rates in the UK’s commercial buildings.