Some 70 percent of UK office floor space is at risk of being unlettable by 2030 due to low energy performance certificate (EPC) levels.

A new report by Knight Frank called Meeting the Commercial Property Retrofit Challenge, says the majority of office buildings in the United Kingdom are currently rated at an EPC C level or below. With the UK commercial property sector still expecting buildings to need a minimum rating of B by 2030 if they are to be rented out, Knight Frank says many landlords are facing a huge challenge to prevent their portfolios from falling into obsolescence.

Since 2019, the total UK commercial floorspace with EPC B or higher has grown by 8 percent a year, on average, to reach 2 billion square feet (186 million square metres) at the end of 2023. While the pace has been accelerating, says the report, it has to more than double to 18 percent a year, for all commercial properties to reach the EPC B requirement by 2030. In London alone, 12.7 mi