Research Updates

Below are various research outputs and highlights from the Department of Real Estate & Planning at Henley Business School, University of Reading. 

Research Award

Prof Angelique Chettiparamb has been awarded £19, 869 from the Rapid Response Policy Engagement fund from Research England for the project “Regulation of rental housing for internal migrants in Kochi, Kerala, India”.

Publications

Pat McAllister and Ilir Nase - Minimum energy efficiency standards in the commercial real estate sector: a critical review of policy regimes
Journal of Cleaner Production, 393 - Article link

Key finding
A central issue in policy design has been the trade-off between minimising the financial costs to property owners and occupiers of complying with performance thresholds and maximising reductions in energy consumption.

Abstract
Given the significance of carbon emissions from the existing building stock, this paper aims to provide an international comparative analysis of pioneering policies on minimum energy efficiency standards in the Scottish, English/Welsh, Dutch and French commercial real estate sectors. These are the four national policy regimes to employ these policy instruments to date with varied timelines spanning from 2009 to 2050. The methodological approach employs a document review of policy texts produced by policy makers and other stakeholders. The four policy regimes are evaluated in terms of their policy design focussing on minimum performance standards, forward guidance, scope and exemptions. A key finding is that, given the range of intervening factors, side-effects and uncertainties, there are difficult choices in striking a balance between phasing implementation, providing forward guidance and adjusting policy in response to evaluation. Whilst it was initially expected that most European Union jurisdictions would default to an Energy Performance Certificate related standard, our findings show that there has been a shift towards standards that are linked to actual rather than modelled energy consumption. However, for leased stock where the owner may have limited operational control, the separation of owners' responsibility for compliance and the users’ responsibility for operations makes designing consumption-based instruments more challenging. It is concluded that a central issue in policy design has been the trade-off between minimising the financial costs to property owners and occupiers of complying with performance thresholds and maximising reductions in energy consumption. There is growing recognition that regulatory economies of scale may be achieved by targeting large properties which allows for a large proportion of the total area of the stock to be covered whilst exempting a large proportion of transactions or properties.

Gareth Parker and Mark Dobson - The moral economy of localism in England: neighbourhood planning as neoliberal 'apprentice piece'
Territory Politics Governance - Article link

Key finding
Despite issues with modern policy regarding neighbourhood planning, the UK government continues to forge ahead.

Abstract
The design, operation and modifications to neighbourhood planning are viewed here as a quintessential neoliberal project. This paper argues that the political policy construction and modification of neighbourhood planning in England is a quintessentially neoliberal project. It discusses the moral economy of the localism agenda where it is argued that the criticisms levelled at neighbourhood planning during its first few years have proven to be accurate and, over a decade since the policy was introduced in 2010, evidence of its failings has mounted. Yet, despite this, the UK government continues not only to pursue the policy and extol its virtues to local communities, but also actively require its success as an ‘apprentice piece’ of neoliberal policymaking.

Rosemary Adu-McVie, Tan Yigitcanlar, Bo Xia and Isil Erol - Innovation District Typology Classification via Performance Framework: Insights from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane
Buildings, 12 (9) - Article link

Key finding
The creation of a new innovation district typology matrix to address the new growing land use type.

Abstract
As a new land use type, innovation districts are taking prominence in the urban development policies and plans of many cities across the globe. This new urban land use comes in many shapes and forms and offers various features and functions to the users. Despite its increasing popularity, there exist only limited approaches to classify innovation districts, and there are no holistic typologies developed so far. This study focuses on this understudied, but important area of research. The paper aims to develop an innovation district typology matrix and evaluates its practicality with real innovation district data. The methodological approach is three-fold. First, the multidimensional innovation district classification framework is adopted as a performance framework. Second, data from three eminent Australian innovation districts—i.e., Macquarie Park Innovation District (Sydney), Monash Technology Precinct (Melbourne), and Kelvin Grove Urban Village (Brisbane)—are collected. Third, both qualitative and quantitative analysis methods are employed for data analysis. The study finds that innovation district performances can be measured, and typologies can be developed though a novel approach. These, in return, inform property developers and managers, city administrators, and urban planners in their efforts to plan, design, develop, and manage competitive innovation districts.

Olga Klinkowska and Yuan Zhao - Fund flows and performance: new evidence from retail and institutional SRI mutal funds
International Review of Financial Analysis - Article link

Key finding
The lack of smart money effect for retail SRI funds and the dumb money effect for institutional ones, may indicate that, apart from preferences for sustainability and performance, there might be other factors that drive the investment of the SRI investors.

Abstract
In this paper we provide a comprehensive analysis of the performance of US SRI mutual funds as well as its relation to the flow of new money that those funds experience in the context of investors sophistication. In particular, we compare the performance of SRI funds with their conventional peers, matched by both managers and characteristics criteria, using several performance measures. We investigate the role of investors sophistication and its influence on the flow-performance and performance-flow relations within the retail and institutional SRI fund shareclasses. For the analysis of the flow-performance relation we use portfolio approach along with monotonic relation test, while the shape of the flow-performance relation is studied using piecewise linear panel regressions. For the performance-flow relation, the flow and unexpected flow portfolios are formed and their risk-adjusted performance is evaluated. We find that SRI mutual fund sector earns positive abnormal returns before expenses and retail SRI funds outperform their institutional peers both, before and after fees. No differences in performance when we consider SRI and conventional funds run by the same management companies. Moreover, we find a positive flow-performance relation which is convex for retail SRI funds but no convexity is found for the institutional ones. We cannot confirm the smart money effect for retail SRI funds, instead we find a dumb money effect for SRI institutional funds. Our paper provides new insights into the role of the investors sophistication for those relations in the presence of sustainability preferences.

Research Bids

Martyna Surma – Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship

• Title: Hybrid work: a remedy for cities’ and organisational resilience post-pandemic?
• Total bid £83,796; Amount to UoR £83,796
• Decision expected in May 2023
   

Claudia Murray (Co-Investigator) – British Council

• Title: INT - Synthesis of the Arts. Consultancy for the Architecture Virtual Experience of the Caracas University City (CUC) 2022-2023
• Total bid £14,794; Amount to UoR £14,794 (amount to REP £9,409)
• Decision expected: Unknown