Sport events boosting commercial property market?

Major sporting events like the Olympics could help the UK to boost its regeneration and commercial property development efforts, it has been claimed.

A new report published by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has suggested that such athletic showcases can be a catalyst for projects and boost sustainable construction activity.

It also gives developers the chance to trial innovative technology and systems to discover if they could function in more generally commercial property projects.

Katie Kopec, head of JLL's development and asset strategy team, said driving down costs and introducing sustainability standards into the mainstream could be "a big benefit to the commercial real estate industry".

She added: "Now London's Olympic sustainability platform has been set, the real Olympic legacy needs to follow to secure the wholesale regeneration benefits well beyond 2012."

Previous figures from JLL revealed that London is the top European location in terms of both prime commercial property rents and consumer spend.