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Construction firms have been criticised for wastefully over-specifying office buildings at the British Council for Offices鈥� (BCO) annual conference, held in Birmingham last week.

Developers Derwent London and tenant PwC told the conference they had taken control of buildings where they鈥檇 had to pull out excess mechanical and electrical (M&E) work they didn鈥檛 need.

John Burns, Derwent London chief executive, said: 鈥淢any buildings are over-specified. A lorry just turns up and pulls it all out鈥�.

Christopher Richmond, head of real estate at PwC, also told the conference the firm had regularly had to 鈥渟trip out excess M&E we don鈥檛 need鈥�.

Colette O鈥橲hea, Land Securities鈥� head of development in the London portfolio and BCO conference chairman, said: 鈥淥ver-engineer developments at your peril.鈥�

The firms urged suppliers to work with developers and tenants earlier to establish what M&E work is required on developments, or whether the works can be made more flexible.

Meanwhile, in a sustainability seminar, Richard Francis, director of sustainability at Gardiner & Theobald, said emerging mobile technology such as thermal scanners would soon be 鈥渨idely available鈥� and would inform the public of the 鈥減erformance gap鈥� between buildings鈥� 鈥渆nvironmental credentials and their actual performance鈥�.

Francis added: 鈥淲e鈥檙e just a short few steps away from an occupier being able to instantly say how their building operates compared to its neighbours.

鈥淭he performance gap will become better known and this will be aided as much by individuals as experts.鈥�

Alan Bainbridge, property director at the BBC, called for the construction industry to 鈥渄evelop better solutions鈥� for sustainable buildings.

Bainbridge urged suppliers to take their lead from the simplicity of technology products 鈥渓ike the iPhone鈥� and provide 鈥渏ust enough to allow adaptability鈥�.