{"id":251853,"date":"2023-04-08T19:44:38","date_gmt":"2023-04-08T17:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=251853"},"modified":"2023-04-08T19:44:40","modified_gmt":"2023-04-08T17:44:40","slug":"net-zero-rules-saddle-high-street-with-disastrous-90bn-upgrade-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=251853","title":{"rendered":"Net zero rules saddle high street with \u2018disastrous\u2019 \u00a390bn upgrade bill"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

h\/t Ian Magness<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another disaster waiting to happen!<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The high street is facing a \u00a390bn bill for upgrades as <\/em>net zero rules force businesses to improve<\/em><\/a> more than nine in ten of Britain\u2019s shops.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government intends to <\/em>ban commercial properties from being rented out<\/em><\/a> unless they are assessed as having a minimum energy performance rating of C by 2027, and B three years later.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Whittington, commercial research director at Savills, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a disaster waiting to happen. There\u2019s not enough money or enough time.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Savills estimates that it will cost between \u00a355bn and \u00a390bn to upgrade retail stock across Britain, with around \u00a310bn needed in London alone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Faithfull, a retail analyst said: \u201cEnvironmentally, it\u2019s hard to argue against stricter energy efficiency regulations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe risk is that some properties become what the commercial real estate industry calls \u2018stranded assets\u2019, unable to be let as they are but also unable to achieve high enough rents to make investment worthwhile.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHigh 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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All buildings have an <\/em>energy performance certificate (EPC) that gives owners and renters an idea of how much it will cost to heat and light a property<\/em><\/a>, as well as its CO2 emissions. Properties are given a reading of A to G and must be rated every 10 years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Whittington said: \u201cThe Government does not have a real handle of the significance of forcing through these regulations.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat you can\u2019t do is have a deadline in 2030 that is unviable and leaves you unable to lease around 80pc of shops nationally.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consultancy JDM Retail estimates around 100m sq ft of shopping space will be impacted by the new rules.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jonathan De Mello, its chief executive, said: \u201cLandlords also face occupational challenges given the structural decline of physical retail in secondary and tertiary locations.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is quite frankly very unlikely that this target will be achieved without Government support for landlords over the next seven years.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-us\/money\/personalfinance\/net-zero-rules-saddle-high-street-with-disastrous-90bn-upgrade-bill\/ar-AA19A530<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It is hard to describe just how crackpot this proposal would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u00a390bn, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The likely outcome is that there will be a fire sale of properties, leading in turn to a property market crash. It\u2019s funny how Mark Carney kept droning on about oil companies being stranded assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, empty shops don\u2019t need heating or lighting, so maybe the resulting energy savings are part of the government\u2019s cunning plan!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Of course, empty shops don\u2019t need heating or lighting, so maybe the resulting energy savings are part of the government\u2019s cunning plan!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":251861,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818157,691818158,691818154],"class_list":["post-251853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-empty-shops","tag-market-crash","tag-net-zero","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-13w9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":304429,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=304429","url_meta":{"origin":251853,"position":0},"title":"Shoppers 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