Matthew Nortcliff, Singapore-based partner of Goodwin’s Private Investment Funds group, said that the growing adoption of ESG metrics in buildings was being driven increasingly by occupants as much as investors. “In recent years, the larger Asian institutional investors have also focused on ESG factors, but the demand for top-performing ESG investments is now driven equally by tenant and customer demand – especially for offices but also more generally,” he said. Nortcliff pointed to the competitive edge enjoyed by sustainable office buildings in the face of challenges in the sector following the pandemic, including downward pressure on rents and changing usage patterns. “The best buildings will prove the most [financially] resilient and those buildings will invariably be the ones that score highly from an ESG perspective,” he mentioned to AsianInvestor.