Property firm achieves industry first with zero carbon buildings

Manchester property firm Peel have become one of the first in the UK to have buildings to achieve net zero carbon status.

Offices across Greater Manchester, Liverpool and an historic building in Glasgow have been third party verified against the UK Green Building Council’s 2019 definition.

Eleven properties, ranging from 25,000 sq ft to over 120,000 sq ft, including buildings in TraffordCity and MediaCityUK are the first in the UK to demonstrate net zero carbon status based on their operational carbon emissions, action taken to reduce those emissions and their renewable energy use.

Princes Dock at Peel L&P’s Liverpool Waters development has also achieved the status of net zero emissions.

Peel has a track record of leadership on sustainability being the first developer to achieve the BREEAM communities standard at MediaCityUK in 2011 and the first major property company to achieve the energy management standard ISO 50001 in 2015.

The most important action has been to reduce energy demand.

Last year Peel invested £859,000 in 66 energy efficiency projects in these offices to benefit tenants by reducing their carbon emissions from energy use by 13%.

Any remaining emissions from the newly verified buildings will be offset through a Verified Carbon Standard tree-planting project in the North West to absorb the same amount of carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere.

The announcement has been welcomed by the mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham who agrees that the verification plays an important role in the city region’s 2038 target response to the climate emergency.

He said: “Our homes and workplaces are responsible for a huge proportion of Greater Manchester’s carbon emissions, 33% and 32% respectively.

“If we are to deliver on our carbon neutral commitment for 2038, published in our five-year environment plan, we need to urgently make deep cuts in emissions from our building stock.

“In this announcement, Peel L&P have shown that those deep cuts are not only possible, they’re also good for business. The message to others now is pretty clear: no excuses, if Peel L&P can pull this off, then so can you.”

Peel L&P’s Sustainability Director Jo Holden, said: “The region has set itself ambitious targets for achieving carbon neutrality and we want to demonstrate how we are playing our part by taking action to mitigate climate change.

“We will re-assess these properties annually, talk to our tenants about their role in reducing carbon emissions and look to increase the number of net zero carbon buildings in our portfolio.”

Whole buildings verified as Net Zero Carbon:

• The Venus, TraffordCity
• The Vic, MediaCityUK
• The Alex, MediaCityUK
• Quay West, MediaCityUK
• Digital World Centre, MediaCityUK
• 16 Robertson Street, Glasgow

Office space verified as Net Zero Carbon:

• Peel L&P head office, intu Trafford Centre

Landlord’s emissions verified as Net Zero Carbon:

• Princes Dock, Liverpool Waters – includes No.8, No.10, No.12 Princes Dock and Princes Dock Multi Storey Car Park.