ABSTRACT

The process of developing awareness of sustainability as a social, economic and environmental concern has been gradual but escalating. From a situation some thirty years ago, at the time of the Brundtland Report (Brundtland, 1987) when the concept of sustainability and sustainable development had barely entered the professional vocabulary, despite being critical to any form of value judgement, it is now firmly embedded in the educational process of those seeking to qualify as valuers via competency testing (RICS, 2015). However, the testing of a baseline general knowledge of sustainability is not the same as appreciating its actual or potential role in valuation; even this may not reflect what is apparent from the marketplace.

The progress towards deeper knowledge and integration of that knowledge into valuation practice has been challenging. In this chapter, the progress is charted within a predominantly UK (United Kingdom) and European perspective and the role of the valuer, conventionally viewed as market ‘taker’, not market maker, is challenged. The chapter concludes that the point has been reached at which a simple awareness of sustainability issues is insufficient; it is now time for valuers to take a more pro-active stance from their initial interface with their clients to their reporting process.