What if the future of sustainable buildings lies in what we already have?

A fascinating discussion at the CPA Financing the City’s Future event on Thursday, 24th October, reviewing the intersection of finance, sustainability and the built environment!

As an architect, one point particularly stood out for me: transforming London’s existing buildings isn’t simply a design challenge. It’s about balancing energy performance, evolving regulations, occupier expectations and commercial viability.

And perhaps the current market uncertainty presents an opportunity! Rather than seeing stagnation as a constraint, could we use it as a catalyst to rethink, reposition and reinvest in existing assets?!

The discussion around Property Linked Finance (PLF) was particularly interesting — exploring how linking long-term finance to the property could help overcome the familiar “landlord pays, tenant benefits” dilemma and unlock investment in retrofit.

But successful retrofit goes beyond finance and EPC ratings. It should create resilient, adaptable and commercially attractive buildings while enhancing the quality and vitality of the neighbourhoods they form part of.

My biggest takeaway: sustainability is no longer just an environmental objective. It is increasingly a long-term investment and asset strategy.

Perhaps the future of sustainable development is less about building new and more about intelligently transforming what we already have, extending the life, value and relevance of our existing buildings.

Many thanks to Alexander Jan for chairing such an insightful discussion and to Laura Bretheton, Mark Clacy Jones, Emma Harvey-Smith, Michael Kovacs and Simi Shah for sharing their perspectives.

Thinking Piece by Manjiri Joshi