Universal Floral achieves Carbon Neutral Certification, offsetting over 100% of generated carbon emissions
Biophilic design and plant maintenance specialists Universal Floral have achieved Carbon Neutral Certification in partnership with Carbon Neutral Britain™, demonstrating a genuine commitment to ESG principles and clear alignment with internal sustainability values. Universal Floral works with clients across the world to transform corporate spaces through plant displays, moss walls and scalable plant-rich living walls. Achieving carbon neutral status for their UK operations was therefore a significant milestone, embedding environmental and sustainability principles into the heart of the organisation by independently measuring carbon emissions and taking steps to reduce environmental impact. With UK businesses accounting for up to 85% of UK greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, corporate action is essential in helping to stop climate change. In line with international targets, GHG emissions must halve by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. Between May 2025 and April 2026, Universal Floral offset 25.3 tonnes of CO₂e against 17.5 tonnes, their total carbon footprint. Marie Caffrey, CEO, Universal Floral said: “Partnering with Carbon Neutral Britain™ to measure and offset our carbon emissions in the UK marks an important step on our sustainability journey. “We have gained a clearer understanding of where our emissions come from and where we can make the biggest improvements. For example, it was identified that our main emissions came through indirect carbon emissions (Scope 3), and this for us, was business travel. “We are now taking action to reduce emissions in this area, such as encouraging the team to take public transport or arranging virtual meetings in place of short-haul, domestic flights.” Through the Carbon Neutral Britain™ Woodland Fund™, Universal Floral offset their total carbon emissions through internationally certified carbon offsetting projects chosen for their environmental, humanitarian and ethical impacts: Additionally, Universal Floral have contributed to several UK-based rewilding and restoration initiatives including Haymeadow Restoration and Rewilding, Sea Grass Recovery and Protection and Marston Vale Forest Creation. Caffrey added: “Achieving this certification is a proud milestone for the entire team, particularly as we have been able to offset well over 100% of our total carbon footprint. The national and international projects we are supporting are actively contributing to vital global climate mitigation efforts, from blue carbon restoration to community reforestation and endangered species protection. “Taking direct action to reduce our own emissions while supporting verified, world-class environmental initiatives reinforces our commitment to sustainability and our environmental values. “Moving forwards, we are working towards 2030 and 2050 aligned targets via the globally recognised net-emissions approach, focusing on key emissions hot spots to achieve meaningful reductions.” Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Right to Manage activity hits record highs, new index reveals
The research reveals RTM formations hit record highs in 2025, with 2026 set to see even higher numbers Almost 1,000 groups of leaseholders became RTMs in 2025; a 79% increase in just six years Right to Manage (RTM) company formations have hit an all-time high, according to a new industry index. New research by property management firm Placekeeper Management has revealed there were 986 RTMs established in 2025; the highest ever recorded. The trend shows no sign of slowing down either, with 578 RTM companies already formed by the midpoint of 2026, putting the year on track to set yet another record. The findings show a huge disparity between RTM activity and the wider UK housing market, with resident-led management activity continuing to accelerate even as housebuilding and management company formations fall. To track this trend over time, the Altrincham-based property management firm has developed the Placekeeper RTM Index: a figure that compares RTM formation activity with housing completions against the long-term average. The Index rose from 69 in 2019 to 155 in 2025, meaning RTM activity relative to housing completions has more than doubled in six years and now stands 55% above its long-term average. The rise comes despite falls across the wider housing market, where completions fell from 214,290 in 2019 to 170,390 in 2025, representing a drop of around 20%. Management company formations also dropped from a peak of 2,180 in 2018 to 1,543 in 2025, the lowest level since 2013. RTM formations, by contrast, have continued to climb, suggesting that growth in resident-led management is increasingly being driven by factors within the existing housing stock. Trevor Adey, Director at Placekeeper Management, said: “The most striking finding isn’t simply that RTM formations have reached a record high, but that activity continues to accelerate at a time when housebuilding levels and management company formations have fallen. “The data suggests resident-led management is becoming a more significant feature of the UK’s existing housing stock, whether that reflects greater awareness of leaseholder rights, increased scrutiny of service charges, or wider changes in residential governance. “For managing agents, this should be a wake-up call. Standards of transparency, communication and value for money that might once have gone unquestioned are now being scrutinised more closely than ever. Agents who don’t adapt and improve services risk losing the buildings they manage to their own residents.” Placekeeper’s analysis draws on more than fifteen years of Companies House incorporation data and Office for National Statistics’ housing figures, covering RTM company formations, management company formations and UK housebuilding activity between 2010 and 2026. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
KPE Receives green light for the refurbishment and modernisation of Grade A Soho office building
· Westminster Council has approved the refurbishment and modernisation of Kajima Properties Europe’s 27 Soho Square, a 31,000 sq ft Grade A office building in the heart of Central London. · The approved plans will revitalise the asset through a refurbishment of existing space, improvement of sustainability credentials, accessibility and façade, and introduction of a restaurant space on ground floor. · The scheme targets BREEAM Excellent and EPC A ratings and prioritises the re-use of existing building elements to minimise environmental impact. Kajima Properties Europe (KPE), the European development, investment and asset management arm of the Nikkei-listed Kajima Corporation, has secured planning consent from Westminster City Council for the refurbishment of 27 Soho Square, a 31,000 sq ft Grade A office building located on one of central London’s most famous and historic squares. Designed by Gibson Thornley, the approved plans will upgrade the existing office space, modernise building systems, design and sustainability infrastructure to target BREEAM Excellent and EPC A ratings. New features will include outdoor private terraces on 4th and 5th floors, ground floor and part basement commercial space, improved façade and street-level aesthetic, and enhanced streetscape activation through lightwells, railings and planters. There will also be creation of new occupier amenities including showers, changing areas and bike storage. 27 Soho Square is situated within the Soho Conservation Area and benefits from unrivalled transport connectivity, including proximity to the Elizabeth Line at Tottenham Court Road station. The asset forms part of KPE’s value-add workspace strategy to invest into dynamic London sub-market opportunities supported by robust occupational demand drivers. The planning approval for 27 Soho Square builds on KPE’s growing London workspace portfolio. The firm is advancing design plans for its 1 St John’s Square workspace project in Farringdon, working alongside Carter Gregson Gray architects. Acquired in November 2025, the scheme is expected to be submitted planning later this year. KPE also recently strengthened its workspace development team with the appointment of Ian Patillo, who joins as Senior Development Manager from Landsec. Tim James, Investment Director, said: “As occupier demands intensify, the refurbishment of 27 Soho Square will reposition the building as a high quality, highly desirable workspace in one of Central London’s most sought-after locations. The refurbishment will significantly enhance the occupier experience, address the building’s limitations and strengthen its connection to the character and vitality of Soho. This announcement represents an important step delivering our London value-add workspace strategy and creating a best-in-class asset with enduring occupier appeal.” Project Team: Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
Why Heat Pump Grant Schemes Are Quietly Raising the Compliance Bar
Australia’s Clean Energy Regulator recorded 159,848 hot water heat pump installations in 2023, nearly double the 80,895 installed the year before. In Victoria alone, more than 200,000 systems have gone in through the state’s rebate scheme, a 500% jump in demand according to Solar Victoria. Numbers like that look like a clean energy success story. They’re also exactly the conditions under which electrical safety in heat pump installation tends to slip down the priority list. When subsidy speed outpaces scrutiny Grant schemes are designed to move fast. That’s the point of them. But speed and installation rigour don’t always travel together, and Australia’s current heat pump boom is a useful case study in what happens when they part ways. Reclaim Energy’s managing director, Chris Taylor, has described a wave of “rebate chasers” entering the market: operators with no background in heating or hot water, drawn in purely by subsidy volume. He estimates roughly 90% of units now sold in Australia are effectively faux heat pumps, models built around an electric backup element that quietly does most of the work while still qualifying for a rebate meant for genuine heat pump efficiency. The regulatory response has already started. Solar Victoria now audits a share of installations under its rebate scheme, and its own findings include non-compliant or faulty switchboard wiring, unsafe termination points on pressure relief valves, and inadequate insulation against freezing. NSW’s pricing regulator has separately documented compliance certificates signed by someone other than the installer, alongside units that were simply the wrong size for the site. None of this is really a heat pump problem. It’s an installation problem that heat pumps happen to be exposing at scale. And it’s not confined to Australia. The UK’s own heat pump grant schemes have moved through a similar arc: a slow start, a push to scale up installer numbers quickly to hit targets, and the same underlying tension between speed and scrutiny that shows up wherever subsidy volume and installer capacity grow at different rates. The Australian data is simply further along and better documented, which makes it a useful early-warning read for anywhere else running a comparable scheme. The unit gets the scrutiny; the circuit doesn’t Here’s where it gets relevant for anyone specifying or overseeing residential retrofits. A typical residential heat pump and air conditioning system draws meaningfully more current than the appliance it’s replacing, particularly where a whole-home or ducted system goes into a property with an older switchboard. The equipment itself is the part everyone checks: efficiency rating, output, brand, whether it’s on the approved product list for the scheme in question. The electrical side of the install is a different story. As the Victorian Building Authority’s chief noted when discussing the sector’s rapid growth, heat pump installations aren’t a like-for-like swap. Many need a new circuit, and often a new switchboard, which means an electrician’s sign-off alongside the installer’s. That’s a second trade involved, which means a second place for a rushed job to skip a step. It’s a gap that doesn’t show up in the headline numbers. Installed capacity looks fine. Rebate uptake looks fine. Whether the circuit feeding that unit was actually assessed and tested for the new load is a separate question, and it’s the one that tends to get asked only after something’s gone wrong. Electrical safety in heat pump installation isn’t optional This is the part of the install that should be treated as a hard requirement rather than best practice: confirming the circuit can safely carry the new load, and that a proper RCD test has been carried out and recorded once it does. An RCD (residual current device) is the component that cuts power if current starts leaking somewhere it shouldn’t, and it’s the difference between a fault tripping safely and a fault becoming a hazard. This isn’t a theoretical risk attached to a niche technology. RACE for 2030’s research into home retrofits at scale found that upgrades combining insulation, efficient appliances and heat pumps could cut a typical Australian home’s energy bill by up to $1,600 a year and reduce annual emissions by close to six tonnes per property. That’s a genuine change in how a home draws and uses power, not a cosmetic swap, and the report’s authors were explicit that scaling this kind of retrofit needs independent technical guidance and proper industry accreditation alongside the appliance rollout itself. Put simply: if the retrofit is significant enough to reshape a household’s energy use, it’s significant enough to warrant checking the wiring that carries it. What developers and specifiers should actually be asking for None of this requires reinventing the installation process. It requires treating three things as non-negotiable line items rather than assumptions: None of these add meaningful cost or time to a well-run installation. They add cost only to the ones that were cutting corners already, which is rather the point. Australia’s own policy direction backs this up. The government’s updated Trajectory for Low Energy Buildings, released in 2025, extended its “fabric first” approach from new builds into the existing housing stock, explicitly linking building performance targets to how those upgrades get delivered on the ground, not just what gets installed. Compliance isn’t a side issue to that trajectory. It’s the mechanism that determines whether the upgrades actually deliver what the modelling promises. The fix here isn’t a heavier inspection regime bolted on after installation. It’s making the electrical check part of the specification from day one, the same way load capacity and unit output already are.
Watkin Jones Strengthens UK BTR Portfolio with Two Major Scheme Completions
Watkin Jones has completed two major Build to Rent (BTR) developments during its 2026 financial year, marking further progress for the residential developer as it continues to deliver large-scale schemes despite challenging market conditions. The completions represent another important milestone for Watkin Jones, which has established a significant presence across the UK’s purpose-built rental and student accommodation sectors. Among the developer’s major BTR projects is Loftlines, a significant residential development that forms part of the wider regeneration of Belfast’s Titanic Quarter. The project demonstrates the scale and ambition of the purpose-built rental schemes now being delivered in major UK cities, combining new homes with the amenity-led approach increasingly associated with modern BTR development. Watkin Jones has also progressed its Tai Afon BTR development in Cardiff, adding further purpose-built rental accommodation to its portfolio and strengthening the company’s presence within the residential market. The latest completions arrive against a demanding backdrop for the UK development sector. Higher construction costs, financing pressures and changing investment conditions have all influenced the pace at which new residential projects can be funded and brought forward. Despite these challenges, BTR continues to represent an important area of activity within the UK housing market, supported by demand for professionally managed rental accommodation and continued institutional interest in residential property. For the wider construction and built environment industry, the delivery of major BTR developments also creates opportunities across a substantial supply chain. Large schemes require expertise spanning main contracting and structural construction through to façades, M&E services, fit-out, landscaping and public realm, before moving into long-term property and facilities management following completion. Watkin Jones’ latest progress therefore provides another indication of the continued evolution of the UK BTR sector, particularly in regional cities where large residential developments are increasingly becoming an important component of wider regeneration strategies. With two major BTR schemes reaching completion during FY26, Watkin Jones continues to demonstrate its ability to take substantial residential developments through construction and into operation while navigating a more challenging development and investment environment. Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals
One Golden Lane launches to market, delivering 120,000 sq ft of premium office space
London based real estate investment firm Castleforge has launched One Golden Lane to market, its 120,000+ square feet of Grade A office redevelopment in the City of London. The milestone was marked with an event at One Golden Lane on 9 September 2026. Situated between the iconic Barbican Centre and Golden Lane estates, and four minutes from the Elizabeth Line at Farringdon, the building is now complete and available to occupiers. The completion comes at a demanding time for the City’s office market. With Grade A vacancy in prime City locations down to just 1.9%, occupiers are competing for a limited pool of best-in-class, well located spaces.[1] One Golden Lane responds to that demand with over 120,000 square feet of flexible, sustainable, modern office space across 12 storeys. The space includes 7,000 square feet of terraces and roof gardens designed by Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medallist Andy Sturgeon, a statement double-height lobby and café, and 3,900 square feet of wellness and community space designed to support modern working patterns. Originally designed by Tate Britain architect Sidney Smith, the Grade II listed development retains its heritage features including the 1896 façade, with its upper storeys offering commanding views across the Barbican. Sustainability was designed into the scheme at the highest level. One Golden Lane retains 95% of the existing building and is the first London scheme to reuse over 5 tonnes of reclaimed steel from the same site. The development is targeting BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ certification, with integrated urban greening throughout and 100% renewable energy powering operations. Beyond a workplace, One Golden Lane also delivers lasting social value. The building’s retained heritage space, once home to the renowned Cripplegate Institute, now houses the Proud Places Hub, a permanent creative and heritage skills space for young Londoners delivered in partnership with Heritage of London Trust. Michael Kovacs, Founding Partner of Castleforge, said: “One Golden Lane brings 120,000 square feet of best-in-class office space to a part of the City where demand for it far outstrips what is available. Sitting a stone’s throw from the Elizabeth line, it’s one of the best-connected buildings on the market right now. “Occupiers are competing hard for well located, sustainable buildings that meet their people’s expectations. Very little of this calibre is coming through, especially in a building that keeps the character of its heritage while working for the way people want to work today.” Matthew Reid, Head of Development and Asset Management at Castleforge, said: “Delivering a building of this quality within a Grade II listed structure has been a considerable undertaking. “The team has created a genuinely modern workplace without losing the character of the 1896 building, from the restored façade through to the terraces and roof gardens.” With City development starts falling sharply and only a handful of large Grade A options available in core locations, the supply of best-in-class space is set to tighten further. Just 21 Grade A options are available now or within the next six months for occupiers seeking 100,000 sq ft or more, against 41 active requirements of that size, and only five sit in core submarkets.[2] One Golden Lane forms part of Castleforge’s wider London pipeline, which alongside 75 London Wall, Mark Lane and Vintners Place represent more than 1m sq ft of prime office space within the City, one of the largest single-developer contributions to the City’s prime office supply. The development has been delivered by Castleforge’s in-house investment, development management team, with construction by Midgard and financing from Cheyne Capital and Apollo. [1] Savills, 6 August 2026: Central London Office Market Watch [2] Savills, 6 August 2026: Central London Office Market Q2 2026 Building, Design & Construction Magazine | The Choice of Industry Professionals