So just how green is your home?
With global warming now centre-stage, energy consumption in homes is very much in the spotlight, says Rupert Bates
THE Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) prides itself on the integrity of its valuations, but the burghers of London’s Parliament Square have set themselves a mammoth task: valuing the planet.
‘Value the planet’ is a marketing slogan rather than an ambition to come up with a guide price for the globe. However, it is an admission that RICS has a vital role to play, along with a raft of related property industries, in ‘going green’ to combat climate change.
A Yougov survey for RICS found a third of staff felt their employers were not doing enough to reduce their environmental impact, while 62% did not believe sustainability was at the heart of their company’s decision-making.
There is a call to arms for better rates of recycling as well as reducing energy consumption, transport emissions and water use, with 40% of national energy consumption coming from the built environment, according to RICS figures
“We need a collaborative effort, especially from the built-environment industry, as it is a major contributor to the climate change problem,” says Dr Patrice Cairns, RICS policy manager, Northern Ireland.
“A truly collaborative effort is needed, not only from employers but also professional industry bodies to improve the environment and the future of our planet. This is why we have joined a climate change expert panel to provide advice on all sector matters relating to the mitigation of climate change.”
The Home Builders Federation, representing the nation’s housebuilders, has also boarded the bandwagon. New homes need to reduce emissions drastically and commit to cleaner technology that will effectively outlaw gas boilers.
When a finance giant such as Blackrock, managing a colossal $7 trillion of assets, talks of “placing sustainability at the centre of our investment approach” and “reallocating capital into sustainable strategies”, you know a low-carbon economy is moving higher up the business agenda.
With country sport in abundance, I’m not sure Harris Highland Dream, which sounds like a plush wool carpet brand, is the dream property for a vegan. But if you want to live off-grid while enjoying local sporting pursuits, this larch-clad house on the shores of Loch Shin, 12 miles from Lairg in the Highlands, is available through Bell Ingram for something north of £650,000.
Solar panels feed the electric generator and there is an air-source heat pump, while water is supplied from a private borehole.
The modern, four-bedroom property comes with 168 acres of land, riparian rights to fish for brown trout on Loch Shin, as well as shooting and stalking rights, with red, roe and sika deer in the area.