Occupier Perceptions of Sustainability

There is a hesitance in the property industry to actively pursue the interests of sustainability. Property industry stakeholders blame each other for the lack of development, construction and investment in more sustainable buildings. Occupiers are the consumers or end users of real estate and may therefore be regarded as the market drivers of demand. They are central to the sustainability agenda. This paper investigates the importance of property and sustainability issues for office occupiers from various organisations in a typical UK city. The research focuses on buildings of 10,000 square feet or more that have been constructed in Bristol over the past 50 years. These buildings are located in the city centre and on out-of-town business parks. In late 2008 a questionnaire was sent out to organisations that were occupying these buildings to ask them about their attitude towards several sustainability issues This paper explores the results of this questionnaire by analysing the views of Bristol office occupiers on sustainability, the importance to them of various sustainability issues and the perceived impact of different sustainability drivers. The willingness of office occupiers to pay more for offices that possess green building features is also investigated. The results are set against existing literature and findings and placed into context. Gaps between the perceived and the actual requirements of office occupiers are addressed. The paper discusses a series of common misconceptions about occupiers that currently pose significant barriers in moving the sustainability agenda forward.