Knowledge on ESG & sustainability.
Strategic articles touching on esg & sustainability, selected for boards preparing a workplace investment.
ESG has moved from a reporting exercise to a hard constraint on real estate decisions. Since 2023 Dutch office buildings that are let must hold at least energy label C, and label A is on the horizon for 2030. A building that meets the current threshold but has no credible route to the next one exposes the organisation to a forced move or an unplanned capital expenditure halfway through the lease.
For boards the relevant question is not which certificate to pursue but where the certificate sits in the decision sequence. BREEAM or WELL ambitions influence building selection, installation strategy, material specification and commissioning. Setting them after a lease is signed usually means paying twice: once for the fit-out and once for the retrofit that the certification actually requires.
Reporting obligations tighten the same loop. Under CSRD the energy performance and emissions of the office portfolio become part of audited disclosure, which means the assumptions used in a workplace investment need to be documented at the moment the decision is taken, not reconstructed two years later for an auditor.
Our position is deliberately unglamorous: the largest sustainability gain in most workplace investments is using fewer square metres for longer, in a building whose installations do not need to be replaced within the lease term. Certification confirms that outcome, it does not create it.
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Frequently asked questions
- Which energy label do we need in the Netherlands?
- Let office buildings must hold at least label C today, and label A is expected to become the norm by 2030. Any building assessment should therefore test the route to A, not only compliance with C.
- Should we pursue BREEAM or WELL?
- Only when the ambition is set before building selection. Both frameworks influence installations, materials and commissioning, so a decision taken after the lease is signed tends to trigger rework rather than added value.
- How does CSRD affect a workplace investment?
- It brings the energy performance and emissions of the office portfolio into audited reporting. The practical consequence is that assumptions and calculations behind the investment need to be documented at decision time.
- What is the largest sustainability gain in practice?
- Occupying fewer square metres for longer in a building with a sound installation lifecycle. Space efficiency and building selection outweigh most material-level choices.
Before the first decision is made.
A strategy session is the moment to clarify your context and the strategic choices around your workspace investment, before design and construction set the direction.