REFRIGERANTS Artus Air asks: ‘What the F(Gas) do we do now?’
Artus Air has published a new industry whitepaper calling for an urgent rethink on refrigerant use in heating and cooling systems, warning that developers, landlords and building owners face growing exposure to noncompliance, stranded assets and premature reinvestment as FGas regulation tightens and highGWP refrigerants move towards obsolescence. The paper, What the F(Gas) do we do now? Reducing refrigerants in the built environment – an industry perspective, draws on interviews with developers, engineers, sustainability leads, contractors and asset managers to assess current awareness levels and the practical challenges facing the UK market.
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“Refrigerants are no longer a peripheral technical issue. They sit at the
intersection of design quality, regulatory compliance, operational cost and asset value..."
he whitepaper from Artus Air argues that refrigerants can no longer be treated as a peripheral technical detail. They are now a material factor in design quality,
regulatory compliance, operational cost and longterm asset value. As the paper states, “refrigerants are now a critical consideration. They are already, and will increasingly, infl uence environmental impact, regulatory compliance and longterm asset value within the built environment”. Despite this, refrigerants remain largely invisible in early design conversations, often overshadowed by capital cost, programme pressure and familiar system defaults. Artus Air’s research highlights a widening gap between
regulation and market behaviour. Widely used refrigerants such as R410A are already on clear phaseout trajectories, and transitional alternatives like R32 are increasingly viewed as interim rather than longterm solutions. Yet many projects continue to specify these refrigerants by default, without fully accounting for future service bans, tightening GWP limits or the implications for asset value. The paper notes that “widely specifi ed refrigerants… are on clear phaseout trajectories. Yet many projects continue to specify them by default, often without understanding the longterm implications for compliance, servicing costs or impact to asset value”. This disconnect is particularly acute in the retrofi t market,
where most UK construction activity now sits. Constrained plant rooms, heritage restrictions and fastturnaround fi touts often drive the selection of refrigerantintensive VRF, VRV and DX systems. These systems are familiar, compact and quick to install, but the whitepaper warns that they may suff er from accelerated obsolescence and require earlier reinvestment. Several contributors noted that buildings are already at risk of becoming stranded before plant reaches midlife. The paper also raises the growing issue of PFAS – ‘forever chemicals’ – present in many synthetic refrigerants. As
18 July 2026 •
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policymakers and environmental bodies increase scrutiny of PFAS across multiple sectors, refrigerants containing these compounds face additional regulatory and reputational pressure. This is accelerating interest in natural alternatives such as propane (R290), CO₂ and ammonia, though the paper acknowledges that challenges remain around fl ammability, pressure, noise and skills availability. Rebecca Stewart, CEO of Artus Air, said the industry must
now treat refrigerants as a strategic design and asset issue rather than a specialist concern. “Refrigerants are no longer a peripheral technical issue. They sit at the intersection of design quality, regulatory compliance, operational cost and asset value – and the industry can no longer aff ord to treat them as someone else’s problem,” she said. Stewart added that the whitepaper is intended to broaden the conversation beyond engineering teams: “We need developers, architects, investors and facilities managers all asking the same questions at the outset of projects: what refrigerants are in this building, what happens when regulation tightens further, and does our system selection refl ect the reality of where legislation and the market are heading?” One of the strongest themes emerging from the interviews is the shift from refrigerants as a compliance issue to refrigerants as an assetvalue risk. Investors and funders are increasingly embedding refrigerant exposure into ESG reporting, GRESB scoring, SKArating assessments and CRREM trajectories. Even small quantities of highGWP refrigerants can contribute to a building being fl agged as misaligned, reducing its attractiveness to tenants, lenders or future buyers. As the paper notes, “equipment containing highGWP refrigerants is increasingly at risk of becoming noncompliant, unserviceable or prohibitively expensive to maintain long before it physically fails”. The whitepaper also highlights a persistent knowledge gap across the industry. While engineers and sustainability
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