Net zero rules saddle high street with ‘disastrous’ £90bn upgrade bill
By Paul Homewood
h/t Ian Magness
Another disaster waiting to happen!
The high street is facing a £90bn bill for upgrades as net zero rules force businesses to improve more than nine in ten of Britain’s shops.
New energy standards will make 91pc of all retail space including high street stores and shopping centres across UK city centres unlettable by 2030 without urgent and costly action, according to Savills estate agent.
The Government intends to ban commercial properties from being rented out unless they are assessed as having a minimum energy performance rating of C by 2027, and B three years later.
Experts warned that vast swathes of buildings will be unable to meet this requirement without major improvement work. Victorian town and city centre buildings are likely to need expensive insulation to reach the target.
Tom Whittington, commercial research director at Savills, said: “It’s a disaster waiting to happen. There’s not enough money or enough time."
Savills estimates that it will cost between £55bn and £90bn to upgrade retail stock across Britain, with around £10bn needed in London alone.
Mark Faithfull, a retail analyst said: “Environmentally, it’s hard to argue against stricter energy efficiency regulations.
“The risk is that some properties become what the commercial real estate industry calls ‘stranded assets’, unable to be let as they are but also unable to achieve high enough rents to make investment worthwhile.
“High streets with high vacancies and those in lower property value areas, especially in the North of England, are most likely to fit into those categories, heaping yet more misery on blighted high streets.”
All buildings have an energy performance certificate (EPC) that gives owners and renters an idea of how much it will cost to heat and light a property, as well as its CO2 emissions. Properties are given a reading of A to G and must be rated every 10 years.
Britain was forced to introduce EPCs by EU regulation in 2007. However, what was originally introduced as a measure to give buyers a better idea of running costs is now being used as a tool to force owners to upgrade their properties.
Mr Whittington said: “The Government does not have a real handle of the significance of forcing through these regulations.
“What you can’t do is have a deadline in 2030 that is unviable and leaves you unable to lease around 80pc of shops nationally.”
The majority of high street stores across the UK are not owned by major landlords, who only account for around 40pc of national stock. And while landlords with big portfolios may have the capacity to upgrade their space, many smaller players are likely to struggle.
Moreover, the implementation of the new laws could result in landlords trying to sell their properties to escape paying unaffordable prices for renovations, raising the prospect of fire sales and a commercial property price crash.
The consultancy JDM Retail estimates around 100m sq ft of shopping space will be impacted by the new rules.
Jonathan De Mello, its chief executive, said: “Landlords also face occupational challenges given the structural decline of physical retail in secondary and tertiary locations.”
“It is quite frankly very unlikely that this target will be achieved without Government support for landlords over the next seven years."
It is hard to describe just how crackpot this proposal would be.
High streets have been struggling for years, and there is simply no way that the market would stand the sort of rental increases needed to pay back a spend of £90bn, particularly over a space of just a few years. And where rents go up, it is the public who shop there that will pay the bill.
The likely outcome is that there will be a fire sale of properties, leading in turn to a property market crash. It’s funny how Mark Carney kept droning on about oil companies being stranded assets.
Of course, empty shops don’t need heating or lighting, so maybe the resulting energy savings are part of the government’s cunning plan!
It seems like we get damaging proposals like this proposed every week. It really is time that a moratorium was placed on any new Net Zero policy until the whole thing is fully and properly costed.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
You will own nothing, eat the bugs and be happy.
Anyone who believes in net zero should stop exhaling CO2 right now.
And let sensible people get on with their lives.
The Marxist plan of the WEF and the Climate Cartel is coming to fruition. In seven years the High Street will be but a strip of “stranded Assets” rendered economically untenable by the climate fanatics: And for what? The Sun is now truly setting on the British Empire, brought to heel by the woeful cries of a chubby, petulant, pig-tailed teenage school girl. If you let this happen you deserve your fate, and don’t be looking to this side of the Pond to drag your ass out of the ruins for a third time, cuz homey don’t play dat.
Those “stranded assets” will become squats for the masses on undocumented immigrants coming across the Channel every day.
Billy, Chris in Texas here. We are only a year or two behind the UKs idiotic policies. Not sure we’ll have the wherewithal to help any country. But yes, it is up to us to vote in the folk with the fortitude to pull hard on the yoke
The trouble is Chris, that you can vote for the right people but once they know what the target is, the required ballots are printed or the voting machines tampered with, so the ‘correct’ result is achieved some days later.
I feel you! I am equally cynical
Not just properly costed. More importantly the whole faulty idea of needing to reduce CO2 should be revealed in detail by people free of political motives.
While the majority here know that there is no proof that CO2 is a problem and that it changes the climate or weather, I can see that it is a big step to come out and say it. Therefore, a better policy is to go for adaption to any change that happens, which is basically what has been done for centuries, and as Bjorn Lomborg has shown is a better plan economically.
Disaster capitalism is alive and well in town near you.
But it ain’t no co2 that’s causing that disaster.
> Mark Faithfull, a retail analyst said:
> “Environmentally, it’s hard to argue
> against stricter energy efficiency regulations.
Some ideas for Mark:
1. “What difference will me using 10% less energy make to the environment?”
2. “Wouldn’t it be better to spend that £90Bn on real environmental improvements like building parks, cycle paths & planting trees etc..”
3. “Given the government’s track record on mandating mercury light bulbs, diesel engines and face masks – all damaging to the environment, why should anyone support their latest idiotic dictat?”
4. “I’m not harming anyone, so what business is it of government to dictate how I choose to run my business?”
Diesel engines have never been “mandated” , been subsidised or exempt from taxes. Same with petrol. Both get hammered with extortionate taxes, regulations and even threats of bans.
Diesel driver detected. You can’t deny that there was a big gov push for diesel bassed on its lower CO2/mile and as a result the roads are still clogged with clattering oil burners. Another great government success.
Suggesting that people buy diesels is NOT the same as bribing them to do so, exempting them from taxes and hampering the competition. Compare that with the push for the less practical and simultaneously more expensive EVs.
The market should decide, not politicians.
>>gov push for diesel
It seems you’ve failed to notice that practically without exception every lorry, bus and delivery van on the road and quite a chunk of railway locomotives are diesel fuelled too and were so long before the campaign for its use in cars, Chilli.
There are a great deal more reasons than its CO2/mile advantage for the use of diesel as a fuel.
As to “clattering oil burners”, as a result of catalysts, urea injection and diesel particulate filters the exhaust of modern diesels is cleaner than the air going into the engine, especially in towns, and they are no more noisy mechanically than most petrols.
The business of the government–all governments–is control. Even Max Weber spotted what he called “The Iron Cage of Bureaucracy” 100+ years ago. Small men with small minds and a big impression of themselves want to tell other people what to do. period.
> Mark Faithfull, a retail analyst said:
> “Environmentally, it’s hard to argue
> against stricter energy efficiency regulations.
Business plan please.
Wasn’t one of our latest PMs promises to reviralise British high streets?
So this is how he plans to do it
Online ordering is already king, shops don’t need another kick in the teeth
Agree a and b. I’ve walked around the centres of Derby and Bolton recently and half of the shops are behind closed shutters. These centres were once happy, bustling and optimistic, nowadays they are quite depressing places. Hard to imagine how it can get any worse but these energy performance rules will do just that.
The actions of many local authorities lead to the deterioration of many town centres e.g. deliberately impeding those who wish to travel by car.
I live near to two towns, I can’t recall the last time I shopped in either; easy driving and free parking might tempt me to ssssspend some money supporting local businesses, but I won’t be travelling by bus.
Sushi also made many other promises during his leadership campaign that he hasn’t kept.
You knew he was telling lies, his lips were moving
As Net Zero kills the economy, there won’t be any customers on High Street. No need to spend £90bn when you will be closing soon, anyway.
That £90B needs to be multiplied by the HS2 constant to get a closer approximation. Even then, it will still only be an approximation.
We have an internal contradiction if the shops are all going to have to close. How is a 15 minute city even possible in those circumstances? Would they even be permitted to open in summer with no heating? Perhaps we can understand the real reason why so many retailers and banks are already closing. Caught between the Scylla of outrageous energy prices and the Charybdis of unaffordable and probably infeasible insulation upgrades.
The only escape may be in a listed building that gets an exemption from the rules. Not that I would want 60s brutalised architecture to become listed.
You do realise that the concept of ‘joined up thinking’ is not something government or bureaucrats do at any level?
“It really is time that a moratorium was placed on any new Net Zero policy until the whole thing is fully and properly costed.”
Why would you need to cost something that is a nugatory and unnecessary scam?
It really is time that a moratorium was placed on any new Net Zero policy and the whole fake answer to a fake emergency is scrapped. Fixed it.
What I find sad is that some people actually believe in EPCs. In my experience many of them are a work of fiction, based on a cursory look at the property, and without any proper survey. They should be abolished as part of Brexit.
“What I find sad is that some people actually believe in EPCs.” I have to concur, EPCs are a joke. I have 3 properties I let. I TOLD the EPC assessors what to fill in and, as they didn’t know how to argue with my science, they just did what I said and took the money! (n.b. no brown paper envelopes required in my case but, to be frank, I am confident EPCs will become the new MOT certificates open to “buy” in the 70’s…and beyond.)
” In my experience many of them are a work of fiction, based on a cursory look at the property, and without any proper survey.”
To my certain knowledge, some EPCs are based on Google street view (not by me!)
Does anyone actually check the veracity of EPCs? I am sure you can easily write you own.
We should start by asking if CO2- driven climate change is happening anyway, and what evidence there is for it…
I don’t think it is – and if you look around e.g. Daily Sceptic there is evidence that it isn’t happening – e.g. how can half the Antarctic be warming and half cooling at the same time if it is CO2 driven? Why are Japan and Uruguay showing no warming?
But, as with the folly of lockdowns, – those who promoted it will go silent and never admit they were wrong.
Science progresses one funeral at a time (Max Planck)
Strange that these EPC rules and regs were first introduced by the EU in 2007. Now that we’ve left the EU the government could, of course, ditch them rather than strengthen the rules for a different purpose. Twas ever this, our civil service seemed to take pleasure in adding to EU rules while the rest of Europe looked the other way if they didn’t like them. I despair of this government and the conservative party and I’m a Tory voter, or was. They’re all one and the same now.
Riya Makwana appears not to of bothered with quality here.
There has been zero investigation into how these upgrades will tie into the 15 minute neighborhoods council’s wish to impose on us up and down the country.
If businesses close down people through necessity will travel further.
Just one example of why cheap reliable motor cars are essential.
E.g. my preferred stores are not always 15 minutes away and often in old buildings.
It is as if along with people, the authorities aim to destroy all small businesses.
A good journalist might of addressed some of these blatant attempts at control; along with the unlooked for destruction of our culture. All in the name of the lie known as man made climate change.
In my three quarters of a century, the weather has got less extreme and (slightly)more benignly warm. These old bones appreciate that.
I have long since realised that there is no science involved, just politics and managerialism.
You forgot graft and corruption.
Question. What is the energy efficiency rating of an open-air farmers’ market? Asking for a friend.
Remember to take a chicken and a spare cabbage so you can barter for that cheese you wanted!
Add to that the insanity of local councils removing parking. It is a wonder that any “high street” shops are still in business.
It seems that politicians are _deliberately_ trying to destroy the entire economy.
“Mark Faithfull, a retail analyst said: “Environmentally, it’s hard to argue against stricter energy efficiency regulations.”
Only if you’re a credulous, scientifically illiterate yes-man (yes-person?) that has been fooled by the AGW hoax.
It’s not going to happen, there isn’t the manpower to accomplish all the necessary upgrading nor the materials necessary to carry it out, not to mention the finance to pay for it and cover the downtime to carry it out.
Just another pie-in-the-sky idiot scheme from prattish no-accounts who haven’t the nous to wire a plug, basically.
A plan comes together. The plan is total destruction.
It is not just retail Private lets are affected.
I rent the house I live in
I purchased a house just before I retired.
It was run down so I did it up in the hope of a quick sale and profit. But as I could not sell it I started renting it out.
They soon upgraded the laws on renting and the energy ratings. So I needed to upgrade the property. But they are always changing the rules on renting.
You never know what rule they are going to bring in next.
I am having to restrict my renting to 2 people and spend more due to new fire regulations.
Apparently it is safe if you have 2 old couples if they are related.
But not if you have 3 young men who are not related.
Eventually they make so many rules it makes it uneconomical to stay in business.
Then they will wonder why there is not enough places to let.
The key to all of this may well lie in the Green Book that politicians are supposed to use to justify projects in cost / benefit terms. The badly misguided Bozo set-out to remove the requirement for cost / benefit assessment where “Climate Change” is invoked. This allows virtue signalling to trump any form of value analysis and idiots like Selwyn Gummer to rave-on.
All the major parties have similar policies. We need to get independent candidates to stand on a “no to net zero” ticket at the next election. It doesn’t really matter about their suitability in other respects, they couldn’t be worse than the alternatives.
That’ll be Reform then.
https://www.reformparty.uk/
https://assets.nationbuilder.com/reformuk/pages/253/attachments/original/1661361866/Reform-5-Year-Energy-Plan.pdf?1661361866
And it was all going so well until the final sentence…..
It’s a start!
Lessons to be learnt from the Dutch farmers e.g. stand on a single issue and don’t get dragged into the usual electioneering nonsense.
“It really is time that a moratorium was placed on any new Net Zero policy until the whole thing is fully and properly costed.”
No.
Net Zero has been fully and properly costed, and the whole thing must be scrapped.
Now.
” Net Zero has been fully and properly costed, ”
For the UK, the current National Grid estimate is c£4 trillion.
For the UK, my estimate of costs to date is c£500 billion, although this doesn’t include the “lost opportunity” cost i.e. the benefit to the economy if that c£500 billion had been spent wisely instead of being squandered.
Hear , hear ….what a mess …
This should suit my council nicely. Their grand plan for 2030 is to bulldoze all those non-productive businesses and replace them with eco-housing and gardens. All the active travel routes will be connected by Dutch roundabouts. No mention of where people will shop and work- a minor detail.
Where on earth do some people think shops on a crowded high street could put heat pumps if they wanted to reduce CO2 emissions? Are people going to want to visit a high street and put up with the noise of loads of large heat pumps? Obviously this is another push by the global elite to kill small and medium sized businesses and concentrate spending in a few global mega corporations such as Amazon whose owner’s are fully signed up to the new world order.