Quarter of Dutch offices still not energy efficient enough

A quarter of large Dutch office spaces are not energy efficient enough, broadcaster NOS reported. In total, 27.5 million square meters of office space lack the right energy label, according to an inventory by real estate consultancy firm Colliers.

From 2023, commercial property owners are required to have an energy label C or higher. This means that an office may use a maximum of 225 kWh of energy produced by fossil fuel sources per square meter per year. Owners of properties without a label, or with a label that is below the standard, risk fines or even a closure of their property.

About a quarter of the buildings still consume too much fossil energy. "We hear from owners that they are not making sustainability yet because they expect that the government will not enforce it," said Frank Verwoerd, head of research at Colliers.

Municipalities are responsible for ensuring compliance with the label rule, and can also impose sanctions on those who don’t meet the standard. In Utrecht, 80 percent of the offices already have a C label or better. This makes the Utrecht office market the most sustainable in the Netherlands, Colliers stated.

Hengelo and Assen seem to be scoring the worst. Only a third of the offices in these cities can be considered energy-efficient. In Assen, this is partly due to the head office of the petrol company NAM, which has an E label. In Hengelo, the town hall is one of the major energy guzzlers.

Generally, 40 percent of town halls do not yet meet the energy efficiency standards. The same is true for about 60 percent of police and fire stations.