Axon, C J; Bright, S J; Dixon, T J; Janda, K B and Kolokotroni, M (2012) Building communities: Reducing energy use in tenanted commercial property. Building Research & Information, 40(4), pp. 461-472. ISSN 0961-3218
Abstract
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.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | asset management; commercial property; communities of practice; energy management; green leases; landlords; refurbishment; research agenda; socio-legal; tenants |
| Index terms: | interdisciplinary research, strategy, tenant, asset management, owner, fragmentation, lease, landlord, communities of practice, green leases, energy efficiency, investor, research agenda, building service, efficiency, environmental change, organizational culture, complexity, energy management, agent, energy use, facilities manager, building community, commercial building, social science, commercial property |
| Subjects: | systems engineering, asset management, research management, sociology, performance management, research methods, land economics, theoretical framing, management, knowledge management, property law, energy systems, sustainability and energy, practitioner, climate science, community and social dimensions, engineering systems, business, construction type |
| Topics: | Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Construction Technology, Business Strategy, Engineering Principles, Information Management, Research Practice, Organizational Design, Urban Studies, Legal Issues, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here