Knight Frank has found retrofitting and refurbishing older office buildings in England and Wales to modern, sustainable workspaces achieves an average 18 percent rental uplift.
A new study by the advisory firm, which looks at 130 office retrofit and refurbish projects undertaken in England and Wales between January 2020 and July 2024, finds the gap of rental levels achieved, relative to prime, was closed, on average, by 18 percentage points, after retrofitting and refurbishing. The analysis calculates the relative rental uplift that is directly attributable to retrofit and refurbishment by anchoring the average rental level pre- and post-intervention to discount any market increases in rents over the period.
The examined retrofits saw a building's amenity and EPC-rating improve from a C rating and below to B and above. Knight Franks says the uplift is varied by location, level of intervention, the number of leases pre- and post-intervention, and market-specific factors
