The property industry is still some way from being able to provide definitive cost comparisons for energy efficient buildings because of the lack of agreed definitions for measurement and consequently the availability of data.

The findings are from a new report released by CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) which investigates the true costs of buildings going green.

The research undertaken by CBRE shows that achieving the more basic levels of sustainability certification may raise development costs by 2 - 3% above those for a standard building.

Development of a building to achieve higher standards of sustainability accreditation is likely to add between 5 - 7.5% to construction costs.

Because of the higher development costs associated with developing green buildings, it should be expected that the developer will receive some reward for pursuing this course. CBRE's research indicates that green buildings can attract higher rents than conventional ones and also enjoy higher rates of rental growth, albeit much of this evidence is based on US data where energy information is more readily available.

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This evidence now includes analysis based on contractual lease rents, as opposed to anecdotal or engineering-based estimates.

With the Department of Energy, and Climate Change due to launch draft legislation for the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) by April, energy consumption, energy efficiency and how payment is dealt with are firmly back on the agenda for landlords and tenants.

The scheme starts on 1 April, 2010, and will be mandatory for businesses that spend around £1m a year on electricity (6,000 MWh) – approximately 5,000 participants.

With legislation such as the CRC coming into force, the real estate sector is at the forefront of the shift to sustainable technologies with a focus on the energy used in the operation of buildings.

The most common measurement tools for assessing the environmental sustainability of buildings are BREEAM and LEED which cover a range of impacts, at different stages of the buildings lifecycle.

Charlotte Eddington, CBRE's Energy and Sustainability Director for EMEA said: "Even though there are almost 100,000 buildings which have been BREEAM certified in the UK, there is still no single agreed definition that covers all aspects of measurement and consequently that can provide benchmarks at the design, development and use stages of individual buildings, making it very difficult to provide true cost assessments for investors and portfolio owners so that they can inform their decisions."

(GK/JM)