Property Agents in the UK: Some Reflections on the Social Production of Desirable Space

Pernille Schiellerup, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford Centre for the Environment
Julie Gwilliam, Welsh School of Architecture, University of Cardiff

Keywords

Abstract

The design, construction and occupation of a sustainable built environment have been the focus of much research over recent years. Most notably the focus has been on the modelling and prediction of energy use and carbon production during the design process together with the monitoring of carbon emissions during occupation. A second focus has been on the complexity of human engagement in the built environment, highlighting that occupant behaviour can have a significant influence on carbon emissions. But this overlooks the complex social interactions which together produce the buildings we end up working, dying and going to the theatre in. There is room for seeking to unpack the social production of (un)sustainable buildings from design through construction to commissioning. These buildings significantly set the agenda for the behaviour of occupants whatever their level of carbon consciousness. In this paper we use the practices and role of property agents in the commercial property market as a window on the social production of (un)sustainable buildings.