Ramboll and Living Future Europe launch joint research on regenerative development to address perceived economic risks

The project combines stakeholder and practitioner insight with data from five international case studies to test whether regenerative approaches to design deliver clear financial and operational benefits.

Funded by the Ramboll Foundation, the publication serves to provide compelling evidence to inform decision making processes that prioritise nature-based and health centred approaches.

Regenerative design represents a strategic shift from impact mitigation towards ecological restoration and community enhancement. This represents an important move beyond “doing less harm” to create buildings and places that restore ecosystems, support people, and protect long-term value.

Our findings demonstrate that a financial case exists for regenerative design, but it is multi-faceted.

Regenerative projects create value through:

• Lower operating costs, and greater energy and water resilience
• New revenue opportunities (energy export, higher rents, increased asset value, green financing access)
• Physical resilience, reduced future risk against regulatory change, avoided stranded asset risks and lower maintenance costs
• Human and social benefits that influence occupier behaviour, productivity and community value

Carlo Battisti, President, Living Future Europe said:

“Living Future Europe’s research with Ramboll shows that regenerative design is more than environmental ambition — it can lower operating costs, create new revenue opportunities, reduce future risks, and restore ecosystems while enhancing community wellbeing.”

Jonathan Martins, Global Industry Lead Buildings & Cities, Ramboll commented:

“This research demonstrates that regenerative approaches can really speak to the business fundamentals of the industry: reducing costs and long‑term risk, unlocking new value streams, delivering social and ecological benefits, all contributing to make assets more attractive and financially sustainable. This can really help clients make decisions to future‑proof their business and accelerate positive change in the built environment.”

Brogan MacDonald, Head of Sustainability for Buildings Structures, Ramboll added:

“Ramboll’s research reframes regenerative design as a practical, mainstream approach clients can embed in projects and portfolios. That requires systems change: integrating nature‑based solutions into building services, redesigning energy and water for circularity and resilience, and aligning procurement, financing and operations around long‑term ecological and social outcomes.”

Head of Philanthropy at the Ramboll Foundation, Asbjorn Kristensen Hogsbro expressed:

“This project aligns directly with the Ramboll Foundation’s mission to create value through sustainable development and holistic planning. Together, we can transform the built environment to heal our planet and society, fostering communities that are socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative.”

The publication features five exemplary projects from across the world that demonstrate the breadth and value of regenerative design. They show that regenerative approaches can deliver operational savings, create new revenue streams, reduce future risk, and generate human and social benefits.

The project concludes that regenerative design can be investible and deliver lasting benefits when its value is treated as multi-dimensional, tailored to specific stakeholders, and assessed over the right time horizon. The essential shift is from asking “How much does it cost?” to asking “What value does it create - for whom, and over what timeframe?”