It is early days for the scheme with only a handful of completed projects, but as many as a hundred others are under consideration, indicating that wider acceptance looks reasonably assured.

A key point is that Ska Ratings look at sustainability criteria rather than cost, and so there was a strong interest from the RICS in beginning to gather cost data. The hope being to provide support for an argument, that a sustainable approach won’t break the bank.

Davis Langdon is focussing its attention on the tax relief opportunity in refurbishments as this has a real impact on bottom line cost. It is not untypical to find that over 80% of a fit-out will become tax relieved and an early awareness of this saving can provide a real boost to a client’s commitment to a project.

Tim Robinson, RICS Information Products Group Director, commented, “RICS believes that without a compelling business case for sustainable fit-out and refurbishment the adoption of good practice through tools such as Ska Rating will be slow and will remain limited to those larger clients already fully committed to corporate responsibility.

The collaboration with Davis Langdon to capture the economic benefits of environmental good practice will help articulate what an increasing number of businesses suspect but few have demonstrated – that doing the right thing is no longer just about ethics and reputation, but in the current economic climate, also about boosting the bottom line. This research will make an important contribution to ‘mainstreaming’ greener fit-out practices in the UK.”

To find out more please visit http://www.rics.org/ska