Commercial and Office Buildings in the Climate Economy: a follow-up from the panel discussion

Two sides of one price signal

Stefan de Goeij’s opening presentation put numbers on both sides. Certified offices across European markets carry a green premium of roughly 6–11 %; weakly rated stock carries a brown discount of 7–20 % off rent and value. The direction is the same everywhere — London +10 % / −12 %, Paris +8 % / −9 %, Amsterdam +7 % / −8 %, Prague +5 % / −6 %.

Prague is the interesting case. Record-low supply and vacancy under 6 % currently mask the discount, so it does not show up in headline rents. It surfaces first on uncertified secondary stock — as longer voids, heavier incentives and a smaller pool of buyers. Lenders, meanwhile, have already moved: half of European lenders apply minimum asset-level sustainability criteria before they will lend at all, and 42 % price a more sustainable asset more favourably. As de Goeij put it: an asset that cannot be financed cannot be sold at the price you are holding it at.

→ minutes · presentation, “The Cost of Standing Still”

Certification: from "whether" to "how well" 

Simona Kalvoda, Executive Director of the Czech Green Building Council, argued that the value does not sit in the certificate but in the better-functioning, lower-risk building behind it — around +6 % average rental premium on European offices and +20.6 % on capital value in the UK, alongside lower operating costs and vacancy. Prague is past the tipping point: some 56 % of modern office stock is LEED- or BREEAM-certified, up from 28 % in 2019. CZGBC is now updating its “top 15 %” study — the threshold that decides EU Taxonomy alignment for existing buildings, and with it access to green financing.

→ minutes · presentation, “Green Buildings. Real Value.”

What valuers and banks actually look at

Jakub Chmelík MRICS, Head of Valuation CZ at iO Partners, was candid that the brown discount cannot be precisely quantified here — transaction details are not public, so ESG enters valuations through the assumptions used. What is visible: higher contracted rents, lower vacancy, higher WAULT and lower yields on the better stock, and a widening spread — prime office yield at 5.0 % against 7–8 % for 2000–2010 buildings in weaker locations. On the occupier side he tempered expectations: for many tenants, one euro per square metre off the service charge beats one level up on certification.

→ minutes · presentation, iO Partners section

Jiří Zlámal of Greenometer explained why the EPC has become the gate to cheaper money: only a fully Taxonomy-aligned loan may be called green, full screening is expensive, and EPC A/B is the one label a relationship manager can grant on their own. Across 214 office and mixed-use assets, occupancy falls as primary energy consumption rises — 84 % below 150 kWh/m² against 74 % above 300 kWh/m². His advice to owners was refreshingly small-scale: one internal KPI, primary energy per m² across the portfolio, reported quarterly to the board. The first KPI is worth more than the first Taxonomy report.

→ minutes · presentation, “How banks see your building”

Heritage renovation protects asset value

Jon Hale, Group Board Director at Chapman Taylor, closed with Palác Dunaj — a 1928–1930 building on Národní třída, reconstructed for Zeitgeist Asset Management. Ninety per cent of demolition material was sorted for recycling or reuse, and the travertine façade, original window frames, terrazzo, glass blocks and the 1936 ČKD paternoster stayed. Heritage protection capped envelope improvements, so the building compensates through technology — heat recovery, smart controls, night purging, predictive pre-warming. The result: LEED Gold and WELL Gold, a green roof over 31.5 % of the roof area, and tenants including the European Commission and the European Parliament.

→ minutes · presentation, Palác Dunaj case study

The takeaway

The panel converged on a single point: the economics of renovation have inverted. In the Czech Republic the brown discount is still hidden behind tight supply, but it is already present in letting times, in incentives, in financing terms and in how many buyers will look at an asset. For banks and investors, the EPC class is the decisive number; certification adds quality and the evidence international capital asks for. Efficiency, lower running costs and a building that still works in twenty years are no longer a cost centre — they are what keeps an asset worth owning.

Materials from the seminar 

Minutes  ·  Full presentation  ·  Photo gallery  ·  Programme