Facilities and property teams are carrying rising energy bills and tightening efficiency standards on the same buildings, with disclosure duties expanding underneath both.
Energy is the largest controllable overhead, and commercial buildings waste roughly 25 to 30% of it, with heating, ventilation and cooling alone accounting for about 54% of use. Every wasted kilowatt is margin and carbon you are paying for twice.
Minimum energy efficiency standards are tightening from EPC E today towards a proposed EPC C by 2027 and EPC B by 2030. Around 58% of central London office stock already sits below EPC B, and the share of commercial property failing the standard could rise from 10% to 85% under an EPC-B minimum. A building that cannot be let is a stranded asset.
At the same time, carbon and energy disclosure is expanding, from SECR, already mandatory for around 11,900 companies, to the new UK Sustainability Reporting Standards from the 2026 financial year. What you cannot measure, you now have to report.