The Better Buildings Partnership, together with BSRIA (Building Services Research and Information Association), has today published the joint report: “Soft Landings: The Benefits to Commercial Property Owners.” 

The commercial property sector is waking up to the fact that it needs to take responsibility on climate change and there is a broad recognition that a significant gap exists between the design expectations and operational performance of buildings. Part of taking climate action involves minimising this gap to begin with. 

Soft Landings is a BSRIA-led approach which seeks to make the development of new buildings as smooth as possible, from inception to completion. The approach complements the Design for Performance approach in that it seeks to address problems in construction before and as they arise in order to ensure there is no gap between design intent and actual performance. Soft Landings champions transparency and continuity across all stakeholders. 

The report focuses on how property owners stand to benefit from implementing Soft Landings, featuring case studies and quotes from several BBP members who have used the Soft Landings approach in one or more of their buildings. The report also outlines the necessary steps property managers need to take to make the implementation of Soft Landings successful. 

The publication of the report aligns with BSRIA’s annual Soft Landings Conference; this year’s conference is focused on the topic of “culture change to combat climate change.” 

BSRIA Technical Director Colin Goodwin:

"The built environment sector is complex and the climate change challenges we face require collaboration across all disciplines. It is clear that we need to adopt a new way of working if we are going to create better places in which we can happily live, learn, work and enjoy our leisure time without damaging our environment. The Soft Landings approach can help the project team create better places, whether they are newly built, refurbished or repurposed, through increased collaboration."

BBP CEO Sarah Ratcliffe:

“Designing buildings to perform as intended requires collaboration and communication from project inception to occupation & beyond. We are pleased to publish this joint report with BSRIA which advocates the use of Soft Landings as a means of reaching sustainability goals.”

The report is available for download below.