Budapest, July 28, 2026 – Climate change has transformed green spaces around office buildings from a pleasant aesthetic feature into a strategic operational and sustainability priority. The management of indoor and outdoor greenery is part of a complex concept: it directly affects operating costs and tenant satisfaction, and in the long term, can even influence the market value of a property.
According to experts at ICON Real Estate Management, in the face of increasingly extreme weather conditions, it is no longer enough to design an attractive garden or green wall. Solutions are needed that can be operated with predictable costs despite prolonged periods of heat and drought, deliver tangible value to tenants, and support companies’ sustainability efforts.
Planning and Climate Adaptation
When designing green spaces, long-term operational viability needs to be considered alongside aesthetic and wellbeing aspects. These considerations should therefore be incorporated into investment decisions and property development strategies from the outset.
“As a property and facility management service provider, we take over completed buildings for operation, where the existing plant stock, irrigation system and related infrastructure are already in place. Our operational experience shows that replacing unsuitable plants and dealing with increased water consumption can result in significant additional costs. Developers who consider the long-term sustainability, operational feasibility and climate resilience of green spaces already at the design stage, however, are much more likely to create properties that retain their value over time, clearly strengthening their market position,”
–said Zsolt Kákosy MBA FRICS, Property Management Director at ICON Real Estate Management.
Green Spaces at the Heart of ESG
Thoughtfully designed green spaces are closely linked to the Environmental and Social pillars of corporate ESG strategies:
Community engagement and responsibility (S): Caring for green spaces can also serve as a tool for building the tenant community. By involving tenants in the care or even “adoption” of plants in communal or office gardens, they can establish a direct connection with the building’s sustainability efforts.
Biodiversity as risk management (E): Instead of solutions based exclusively on water-intensive lawns, the focus is shifting towards diverse plant communities combining trees, shrubs and perennials that are more resilient to heat and better adapted to the local climate. Diverse vegetation is more resistant to disease, while insect-, hedgehog- and bird-friendly landscaping supports urban ecosystems. Preserving existing mature trees is equally critical, as the shade and microclimate-cooling benefits provided by a tree that is several decades old cannot be replicated by a newly planted sapling for many years.
Water retention (E): The goal is not excessive irrigation, but retaining and making use of existing rainwater locally. Permeable surfaces, reducing the proportion of paved areas, rainwater harvesting and smart irrigation systems are the cornerstones of the modern “sponge city” concept. These solutions should increasingly be viewed as operational infrastructure.
Indoor Green Walls and Measurable Operations
While indoor greenery plays an important role in the overall experience of a space and in employee wellbeing, its maintenance requires close coordination with building systems. Without properly balancing natural and artificial light, air circulation and temperature fluctuations, operating office green walls can become economically unviable.
According to ICON’s expert, in the coming years, green space management will become just as measurable and optimizable a property service as building systems maintenance. This measurability will make it possible for data on water and energy consumption, as well as plant replacement, to appear as quantifiable indicators in owners’ and tenants’ ESG reporting.
“A well-functioning office green space is not necessarily the one with the largest number of plants, but the one that remains viable in the long term and provides predictable support for both business and sustainability objectives,”
–concluded Zsolt Kákosy.
