Green leasing standard launched by Better Buildings Partnership

The Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) — a collaboration of major property owners, building managers and the City of Sydney — has released a new commercial green leasing standard to help landlords and tenants benchmark their agreements against others and save on power and water bills.

The leasing standard has been developed in response to a growing appetite from businesses to connect with like-minded landlords on operating their workplaces sustainably. As noted by City of Sydney CEO Monica Barone, “We are increasingly seeing businesses of all different sizes with a desire to operate out of buildings that complement their green focus.”

The leasing standard identifies 20 categories that help classify a lease as ‘green’ and provides an online tool that enables leases to be assessed, generating a lease scorecard and rating badge. The scorecard and badge make it easy to identify the strength of sustainability of the proposed lease and compare it against other leases.

“While owners and tenants may not be able to build all 20 categories into the lease, they have the option to work together and agree on a set of clauses achievable by both parties over the life of the lease,” Barone said.

DEXUS Property Group, one of the BBP’s founding members, launched its Simple and Easy Lease in 2016, which incorporates green lease provisions. The company’s head of group sustainability and incoming BBP chair, Paul Wall, noted that the lease has been “scored as gold under the BBP leasing standard, which is the highest level available”.

“DEXUS is committed to optimising the environmental performance of its buildings and the BBP leasing standard helps us communicate this to our customers,” said Wall.

The BBP leasing standard has been further applauded by Property Council of Australia Chief Executive Ken Morrison, who claimed that the initiative could be rolled out around Australia.

“It’s an example of business and government working together to achieve strong outcomes in terms of energy usage, waste, standards and compliance,” Morrison said.

“It recognises that the leasing of most commercial properties is not a case of ‘set and forget’, but it is an active partnership between landlords and tenants. These clauses can fit easily into standard lease agreements.”

For more information on the standard, visit http://www.betterbuildingspartnership.com.au/projects/leasing/.