Energy efficiency and residential values: a changing European landscape

The aim of this insight paper is to provide valuers and other interested stakeholders with an overview of the impact of energy efficiency on the value of residential property in Europe, whether that housing stock is owner-occupied, rented within the private sector or social housing. It considers the role of the valuer and how, through their data collection and reporting processes, they can play a part in promoting a more energy efficient housing stock. To achieve these aims, it reviews the context within which energy efficiency is rising up the European regulatory agenda and the impact that this is having on value drivers. Through a review of academic literature and consideration of the wider context, it provides a set of recommendations for valuers of residential properties to assist them with considering how energy efficiency is beginning to influence property values. This understanding can then enhance their advice to client

Decarbonising Real Estate: The Evolving Relationship Between Energy Efficiency and Housing in Europe

Decarbonisation is a global issue affecting all classes of real estate. 27% of total UK carbon emissions is attributed to housing; however great potential to decarbonise this sector rests with the adoption of energy efficiency technologies (Nejat et al, 2015) as the energy savings realised will lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Three main approaches exist to achieve this. The first is to take a mandatory approach in which minimum high level energy efficiency standards are set, enforced and applied to both new and existing buildings by enforcing compliance through retrofits of substandard stock (Wilkinson et al, 2015; Patrick et al, 2014). Option two is a voluntary approach, using mechanisms such as Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) or other rating tools that classify performance to stimulate awareness and action. Third, financial measures, both incentives and taxes, can be applied to ‘nudge’ behaviours. With most westernised countries wedded to neo-liberal governance paradigms, the voluntary fiscal approaches have prevailed over the last 30 or so years. The argument is the market will value more energy efficient properties through increased prices (RICS, 2011. Warren-Myers, 2016). It follows that a premium for energy efficient properties should be apparent (Fuerst et al, 2015. Ferlan et al, 2017). As the time available to take effective climate action diminishes, evaluation of the effectiveness of this approach is imperative. Given the implementation of measures, both voluntary and mandatory over the last three decades, this paper reviews academic literature and case studies of a selection of large-scale consortia projects conducted in Europe. Most of the research reviewed is based on hedonic pricing analyses which have sought a relationship between Energy Performance Certificates and either capital, or rental residential values across Europe. The research sought to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between energy efficiency and the value of residential property over time. Secondly, this study sought to determine whether more action is required to realise decarbonisation in new and existing residential property in Europe. Finally, the research sought to identify whether other approaches need to be considered to accelerate the rate of change

Planning and Regulatory Issues Impacting Sustainable Property Development

Throughout the book, international case studies are used to demonstrate how sustainable property development is applied in practice around the world

Ancient Egypt 1923 Part 4

Part 4 of the 1923 Ancient Egypt books. Contents include the branch on prehistoric ships, early Hittite records, the cave of Macpelah, regnal years and calendar years, and review.https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/kweeks_coll/1025/thumbnail.jp

Pension trusteeship and diversity in the UK: A new boardroom recipe for change or continuity?

Drawing on interviews, this article investigates change and continuity induced by greater diversity among pension trustees in terms of trustees’ involvement in boardroom activities in the UK. Utilizing Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, the authors demonstrate the agency of trustees, and how greater diversity among trustees changes the boardroom decision-making process. However, the authors also reveal forms of continuity by reproduction of educational, corporate and social values within a boardroom context. The findings challenge the assumption that greater diversity may radically transform organizations

UK commercial real estate valuation practice: does it now build in sustainability considerations?

Purpose This paper investigates the extent to which commercial property valuers in the UK refer to Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) professional standards and guidance on the inclusion of sustainability in valuation reports. Data collection, analysis and reporting related to sustainability attributes is examined, as well as the perceived importance of these attributes to clients and any value impacts that are associated with them. Design/methodology/approach An online survey of UK commercial property valuers was conducted from July to September 2019. The survey included both structured and open-ended questions. Findings Reference to RICS standards and guidance on sustainability has improved since earlier research. However, progress on data collection is still limited. At the time of the survey, UK valuers indicated that sustainability attributes were of more importance to owner-occupiers than investors and lenders. UK valuers also indicated that, out of a range of sustainability attributes, only certification was influencing market value (MV) and investment value (IV) to any great extent. Research limitations/implications The online survey had 53 responses and this limited the ability to draw definitive conclusions. Hence, whilst the results may be indicative of the perceptions of some valuers of the significance of sustainability-related matters in the UK, the sample is not large enough to be considered representative of the opinions of property valuers per se in the UK. Practical implications Explicit reflection of sustainability in market or investment values is still limited in the UK valuation practice, but there are challenges faced by valuers that need further investigation, including difficulties in pricing sustainability attributes. Originality/value This is the first empirical investigation of the perception of sustainability by valuers in the UK commercial property market since the 2012 survey reported by Michl et al. (2016)

The UK market for energy service contracts in 2014–2015

This paper provides an overview of the UK market for energy service contracts in 2014 and highlights the growing role of intermediaries. Using information from secondary literature and interviews, it identifies the businesses offering energy service contracts, the sectors and organisations that are purchasing those contracts, the types of contract that are available, the areas of market growth and the reasons for that growth. The paper finds that the UK market is relatively large, highly diverse, concentrated in particular sectors and types of site and overwhelmingly focused upon established technologies with high rates of return. A major driver is the emergence of procurement frameworks for energy service contracts in the public sector. These act as intermediaries between clients and contractors, thereby lowering transaction costs and facilitating learning. The market is struggling to become established in commercial offices, largely as a result of split incentives, and is unlikely to develop further in this sector without different business models, tenancy arrangements and policy initiatives. Overall, the paper concludes that energy service contracts can play an important role in the transition to a low-carbon economy, especially when supported by intermediaries, but their potential is still limited by high transaction costs

Viva Survivors – the effect of peer-mentoring on pre-viva anxiety in early-years students

Viva voce exams are used in many disciplines as a test of students’ knowledge and skills. Whilst acknowledged as a useful form of assessment, vivas commonly lead to a great deal of anxiety for students. This anxiety is also apparent for vivas in phonetics, where students must produce and recognise sounds drawn from across the world’s languages, and pervious work has shown that viewing a video of a mock-viva does not reduce this anxiety. To address anxiety prior to phonetics vivas, 63 students, across three cohorts, engaged in a brief, isolated, peer-mentoring session with previously successful students (‘viva survivors’). Anxiety about the viva was measured before and after the mentoring experience, using the short form of the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. There was a significant reduction in anxiety after mentoring, and a significant correlation between anxiety before mentoring and the decrease in anxiety after mentoring. Short-term mentoring is posited as a time- and cost-effective method to decrease viva-related anxiety across disciplines

Linking Grain Legumes Research in Asia Summary Proceedings of the Regional Legumes Network Coordinators' Meeting

The coordinators of the Asian Grain Legumes Network (AGLN) met with representatives of donor groups, regional organizations, and ICRISAT staff in order to: • Review the progress of the AGLN since its establishment • Re-examine country problems and research priorities for groundnut, chickpea, and pigeonpea • Inspect the resources available to help provide solutions to priority problems • Examine existing work plans involving the exchange of genetic materials, training, and collaborative research • Develop future work plans in the light of the resources and priorities earlier identified • Reconsider the objectives and scope of the AGLN in the light of new developments in the region, and make recommendations for the network's future developmen

Laughing at lunacy: othering and comic ambiguity in popular humour about mental distress

Jokes and humour about mental distress are said by anti-stigma campaigners to be no laughing matter. The article takes issue with this viewpoint arguing that this is clearly not the case since popular culture past and present has laughed at the antics of those perceived as ‘mad’. Drawing on past and present examples of the othering of insanity in jokes and humour the article incorporates a historical perspective on continuity and change in humour about madness/mental distress, which enables us to recognise that psychiatry is a funny-peculiar enterprise and its therapeutic practices in past times are deserving of funny ha-ha mockery and mirth in the present. By doing so, the article also argues that humour and mental distress illuminate how psychiatric definitions and popular representations conflict and that some psychiatric service users employ comic ambiguity to reflexively puncture their public image as ‘nuts’