At UKREiiF: Supporting Sustainable Growth Through Smarter Landlord-Tenant Collaboration

Article by Fiona Drennan, Head of Marketing at Ryden.

Landlords with SME occupiers are seeing growing demand for accurate, accessible data on emissions generated at their premises.

As more SMEs commit to environmental reporting, particularly those supplying the public sector or large corporate clients, they need to track and reduce emissions. Scope 1 emissions (from directly burned fuels, such as gas boilers) and Scope 2 emissions (from purchased energy like electricity) are core components of most businesses' carbon footprints. But for many SMEs, accessing and understanding this data is a challenge.
Tenants increasingly need to know:

• How much electricity they’re using in their suite and its source
• Whether their hot water comes from a gas boiler
• How much water they consume and if that could be reduced
• The weight and type of the waste they produce
• What happens to their waste and how much ends up in landfill

This information becomes even more crucial when pursuing third-party environmental accreditations or publishing formal Carbon Reduction Plans.

Many SMEs are also being asked to demonstrate collaboration with their landlords, through actions such as improving recycling facilities, upgrading to energy-efficient lighting, or installing water meters.

By giving tenants clear access to their energy, water, and waste data - and being open to joint improvement strategies - landlords can position their properties as forward-thinking and sustainable.

Sustainable buildings typically enjoy lower operating costs and higher market demand, making them more appealing to investors as well as performing well environmentally.

At Ryden, we’re a B Corp certified SME. We advise landlords on how to make their buildings more attractive to companies with ESG improvements on their agenda, and we help occupiers find premises that align with their sustainability targets.

We’ve been through this journey ourselves, raising our own standards to B Corp levels over the past two years. That first-hand experience means we understand both the opportunities and the challenges of operating sustainably, and we know how to get carbon reporting right.