Skanska director of Green Business, Craig Sparrow said: “We believe that it is right that we contribute to a low carbon economy and that early adopters in this space will be market leaders in the real estate sector.

“By joining forces with Arup we aim to offer the first commercially viable, full service green refurbishment and retrofit process in the UK.

“Our mission is to put buildings on ‘The Journey to Deep Green’ – a place where ultimately the value of assets are future-proofed.”

The partnership has already led to plans for several showcase pilot refurbishment projects, which will commence work later this year.

These redevelopments will be focused around improving the energy, carbon and water efficiency of offices.

David Glover, Arup’s global property market leader, said: “It can be virtually impossible for portfolio holders to identify which retrofit and refurbishment initiatives have the most impact on an individual property‟s market value.

“Short-term cosmetic upgrades may have an immediate effect, but in today’s market businesses need to make investments that bring value both today and tomorrow.

“This partnership bridges the gap between sustainability and value, allowing portfolio holders to make forward-looking changes that meet the requirements of new legislation, improve performance, reduce risks, and that satisfy the sustainability criteria of tenants, owners and investors.”

Arup and Skanska are integrating architectural, engineering, and financial risk analysis.

In a separate but related deal Skanska is also forging a relationship with GE to develop new environmental technologies and processes.

This partnership combines GE and Skanska’s skills and expertise to deliver technologies for commercial buildings.

GE launched its ecomagination strategy six years ago, one of the first global companies to develop a business response to climate change.

The company now has more than 90 ecomagination products, independently certified as significantly and measurably improving customers‟ operating performance and their environmental performance.