Building communities: reducing energy use in tenanted commercial property

Reducing energy use in tenanted commercial property requires a greater understanding of ‘buildings as communities’. Tenanted commercial properties represent: (1) the divergent communities that share specific buildings; and (2) the organizational communities represented by multi-site landlord and tenant companies. In any particular tenanted space the opportunity for environmental change is mediated (hindered or enabled) through the lease. This discussion draws on theoretical and practical understandings of (1) the socio-legal relationships of landlords, tenants and their advisors; (2) the real performance of engineering building services strategies to improve energy efficiency; (3) how organizational cultures affect the ability of the sector to engage with energy-efficiency strategies; and (4) the financial and economic basis of the relationship between owners and occupiers. The transformational complexity stems from: (1) the variety of commercial building stock; (2) the number of stakeholders (solicitors, investors, developers, agents, owners, tenants and facilities managers); (3) the fragmentation within the communities of practice; and (4) leasehold structures and language. An agenda is proposed for truly interdisciplinary research that brings together both the physical and the social sciences of energy use in buildings so that technological solutions are made effective by an understanding of the way that buildings are used and communities behave. La réduction de l'utilisation d'énergie dans l'immobilier loué à usage commercial nécessite de mieux comprendre les « immeubles en tant que communautés ». Les biens immobiliers loués avec un bail commercial représentent: (1) les communautés divergentes qui partagent des bâtiments particuliers; et (2) les communautés organisationnelles représentées par des sociétés propriétaires et locataires multisites. Dans tout espace loué avec bail, la possibilité d'effectuer des modifications environnement ales passe par la médiation du bail (qui les entravent ou les rend possibles). Ce débat s'appuie sur une compréhension à la fois théorique et pratique (1) des relations socio-juridiques entre les propriétaires, les locataires et leurs conseillers; (2) de l'efficacité réelle de la conception de stratégies de prestations de services liées aux bâtiments visant à améliorer l'efficacité énergétique; (3) de la manière dont les cultures organisationnelles affectent la capacité du secteur à s'engager dans des stratégies d'efficacité énergétique; et (4) des fondements financiers et économiques de la relation entre propriétaires et occupants. La complexité transformationnelle découle: (1) de la diversité du parc de bâtiments commerciaux; (2) du nombre des parties prenantes (notaires, investisseurs, promoteurs, agents immobiliers, propriétaires, locataires et gestionnaires d'immeubles); (3) de la fragmentation au sein des communautés de pratiques; et (4) des structures de la location avec bail et de la langue employée. Il est proposé un programme de recherche véritablement interdisciplinaire qui regroupe à la fois les sciences physiques et sociales traitant de la consommation d'énergie dans les bâtiments, afin de rendre efficaces les solutions technologiques par une compréhension de la manière dont les immeubles sont utilisés et dont les communautés se comportent. Mots clés: gestion d'actifs, immobilier à usage commercial, communautés de pratiques, gestion de l'énergie, baux verts, propriétaires, rénovation, programme de recherche, socio-juridique, locataires

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