Each month we take a look at what’s been happening in the world of commercial real estate. From new reports, industry trends, new technologies and future outlooks we aim to keep you in the loop with some of the changes that are happening in the industry.
Today we take a look at what’s been happening in the final month before Christmas 2020, in what has been a landmark year that has reshaped the way we think about Real Estate and Cities.
Much of the trends we see have been accelerated by the pandemic and none more so than the focus on sustainability and the environment.
Buildings contribute between 30%-40% of global carbon emissions and often significantly higher in large cities like London so it is great to see leaders in the world of Commercial Real Estate publicly commit to reducing carbon emissions from their building portfolios.
In the past month, we have seen Dan Labbad, CEO of The Crown Estate share his reflections on the steps they are taking to become a net-zero carbon business by 2030.
See his reflections here: https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/en-gb/media-and-insights/stories/a-commitment-to-become-a-net-zero-business-by-2030/
This follows hot on the heels of similar public commitments to become a net-zero carbon business by 2030, from Great Portland Estates (see their roadmap to net-zero here) and Landsec (who have been one of the first movers in this initiative).
Sticking on the green theme, developer Fabrix has just been granted planning permission for London’s first office building which incorporates an urban forest. The fantastic looking renders show 385,000 sq ft of contemporary and sustainable office, commercial and community space.
Roots in The Sky as it’s known aims to open up access to the sprawling urban forest rooftop to the local community and the public – with community gardens and collaborative neighbourhood uses a rooftop restaurant, bar and swimming pool, as well as private terraces for the office space below.
Clive Nichol, CEO of Fabrix says ‘It’s a commercial building that aims to be a ‘good citizen’, offering a genuine place for community uses, contributing to the ongoing regeneration of Bankside and to London’s wider greening targets.’
We look forward to seeing the progress on this as they plan to complete in Q3 2024.
Learn more: https://www.mixinteriors.com/project/londons-first-office-building-with-urban-forest-granted-planning/
Renowned architects Fosters + Partners have also submitted plans for a 22-storey zero-carbon office building in London, this time built on stilts to allow trees & open public space to run beneath. 👀
Just 3 weeks ago, the UK PropTech Awards took place, for the first time as a virtual event (for obvious reasons) and was a resounding success. The online format via Hopin allowed for a fast and efficient ceremony from the comfort of your own home and also offered quick video networking with attendees.
At Incube we were delighted to be named as a finalist for the ‘Most Innovative PropTech Business’ Award alongside some great names. Congratulations to eventual winners, our friends at SenSat.
You can see the full list of winners here: https://ukproptech.com/event/ukproptechawards2020/
Following on from that, the UK PropTech Association also announced their new Board of Directors, chosen by UKPA members. The 4 newcomers are Matt Partridge, CEO of Infabode and current UKPA Chairman was re-elected for the board with newly elected board members, Dominic Grace, Director, Head of London Residential at Savills, Ami Kotecha, Co-Founder & Head of Venture Investments at Amro Real Estate Partners and Alex Edds, Director of Innovation at JLL. They join 4 existing board members: Helen O’Reilly of Colliers International, Kristjan Byfield of The Depositary, Louisa Dickins of LMRE and Sammy Pahal of the UK PropTech Association.
Together they will look at how they can further support the UK’s PropTech companies fulfil their potential!
Meet them here: https://ukproptech.com/news/ukpa-board-of-directors-2020-21-election-announced/
Finally, PropTech VC PiLabs partnered up with Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford to prepare a report looking at Technology and the future of real estate investment management.
Some interesting points to note as extracted by PlaceTech:
- Owners who embrace operational real estate will better align their product with occupiers, leading to enhanced returns
- Data integration is needed
- Negotiations will be the most resistant to technological disruption
- Companies without a digital data strategy are already behind (Only 25% of real estate investment organisations currently boast an established data strategy.) 😱 we are in 2020!
Hope you’ve enjoyed this read. If you have any interesting industry news we’ve missed or that you’d like to share do send us an email team [@] incube.space
ABOUT INCUBE
Incube is bringing flexibility to the built world with Cubes, smart modular partition walls.
Cubes panels are standalone and can be connected to create rooms or dividing walls integrated with sensors to provide you with insights into how your space is being used. CubeOS provides recommendations on how you can optimise and use Cubes to reconfigure your partition walls to adapt to occupier needs and demand.
If you’re interested in a more adaptable office, get in touch.
