De transformatie van kantoren naar residentiële ruimtes is een belangrijk onderwerp in de context van de huidige woningnood en stedelijke regeneratie. Deze transformatie omvat diverse financiële aspecten die zowel kansen als uitdagingen bieden voor ontwikkelaars. Wanneer er puur wordt gekeken naar de financiële haalbaarheid van een transformatieproject is er steeds een uitdaging (Geraedts & Van der Voordt 2004). De opportuniteit van de transformatie zit in het maximaal hergebruiken wat er reeds aanwezig is. Dit om zowel duurzame als circulaire doelstellingen te verwezenlijken. Echter vanuit een puur financieel perspectief is dit niet altijd even eenvoudig. Bestaande bouwstructuren leggen randvoorwaarden op aan het project die tot suboptimale eindresultaten kunnen leiden na transformatie. Wanneer er dan enkel een financiële waardebepaling wordt gemaakt, zoals deze vandaag gangbaar is op de markt, kan het project niet de gewenste rendementen halen. De sleutel zit in de waardebepaling, die zowel een financiële als een maatschappelijke component moet bevatten (Remøy & Van der Voordt 2007). Alleen een integrale afweging leidt tot een gedegen inzicht in de haalbaarheid van toekomstbestendige (transformatie)projecten.@en

This paper examines the limitations of the current European Union (EU) Taxonomy for Sustainable Activities as applied to real estate investments. It argues for a revised approach that incorporates the broader environmental impacts of real estate assets, including the effects on surrounding investments and infrastructure. By integrating these considerations, the taxonomy can promote more holistic and sustainable urban development practices.@en

Investors are currently obliged to take environment, social, and governance (ESG) issues into consideration as part of their fiduciary duty. As such, it becomes increasingly important to identify sustainable investments that also hold financial value. A sector where this is especially underdeveloped is real estate. This has a lot to do with the obfuscated conceptualization of ESG. The article identifies key gaps in the literature and practice and provides a framework to further the understanding of how ESG factors can add societal and financial value in the real estate sector. A key premise of the article is that the user in the building is grossly overlooked. Drawing on insights from behavioral social science and environmental psychology, the paper explains the role of the user in improving buildings’ ESG, also taking into account the investment value. To conclude, the article makes the case that the transition to user-centered smart real estate is the solution to improving both the environmental (E) and social (S) sustainability of buildings, as well as their investment value. Therefore, practitioners and academics are encouraged to critically evaluate and contextualize the ESG framework they are using as well as the extent to which users are considered and smart technology is employed.@en

Meeting rooms are reserved 30% of working hours but only used for 20% of that time. By implementing a strategy where the available capacity is leased to the wider market rather than just the building users, there is a positive impact on the economic, environmental, and social factors of the building and its surroundings. This study uses the building ‘The Globe’ in The Hague as a case study, and then projects the results to the entire city. In case of The Globe, implementing a lease out strategy achieves a reduction of 36% of the annual rent of the meeting rooms to the building's tenant. The owner benefits from a revenue increase of 12.5%, with the same operational expenses (except the reservation system), leading to a proportional higher valuation of the building. Annual energy consumption may be lowered by 6.2%. This study contributes to the literature by considering the total benefits that could be obtained by more efficient use of office space that is currently underused. The application of technology generates added value for economic, environmental, and social factors. These factors are important in real estate as they (among others) have a direct link to the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) analysis that investors make before proceeding with an investment.@en

Buildings are responsible for 40% of our worldwide energy consumption and 50% of this energy is converted for Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems in buildings. The increasing share of renewable energy production required to make the transition towards a carbon neutral energy system challenges the stability of the grid. Through demand response it becomes possible to activate these systems in support of grid balancing. However, this flexibility is currently not rewarded in the market. We simulate a domestic water heater participating in the balancing of the electricity net and calculated the revenue from this action. We simulate a water heater in connection with an Economic Model Predictive Controller (EMPC) which takes future usage, energy cost, and reward for delivering balanced power into account. We show that the choice of an EMPC controller is valid as it allows the setpoint to change if certain conditions are met, leading to a more optimal revenue stream from selling flexibility. We find that the economic benefits of participating in delivering balancing power is considerable and offset an increase in energy costs. The increase in energy consumption could be justified as the participation in net stabilisation allows the macro-system to integrate more renewable energy sources. More importantly, the simulations also show that the poorer the energy performance of the water heater, the more flexibility can be sold. From a policy point of view, a minimal energy performance should be determined before allowing participation in net stabilisation.@en

The data generated in buildings are used for all types of purposes. The quality of information used in assisting people to escape an emergency situation is of importance. In practice today, none of the data-generating systems that aid in the escape from emergency situations is validated on a regular basis. This study is based on the smart building concept. The rationale behind this concept is to provide information about a building and the usage of that building at each moment in time. An experiment was conducted to measure the impact of different types of information on participants’ choice of exit, exit time and distance travelled. Seven identical floors of one building were used with different setups to see if the choice of exit is influenced by the type of information provided at the moment of an alarm. It was found that the information does have a significant impact on the choice of exit, escape speed and distance travelled. Furthermore, it was shown that false information can increase the time it takes to leave the building and the distance travelled, impacting the survival rate. The more imperative information is visualised, the stronger its influence is on the choices made.@en