Responsible property investment

WiredScore is a rating scheme within real estate for certifying digital connectivity and smart technology. A WiredScore certification helps demonstrate how digitally enabled a building is, something that is critical for many occupiers today. WiredScore assesses buildings for a range of ESG and resiliency measures, including:

• Resilience – measuring if potential outages are mitigated through resilient critical digital infrastructure
• Occupier experience – ensuring that the building provides occupiers with seamless digital connectivity to enhance their occupier experience
• Future readiness – measuring capacity and flexibility to adapt to new and advancing building technologies
• Reporting and disclosure - whether the building has the right technology and infrastructure to monitor, measure, report on and deploy automation to improve environmental metrics

The certification is also recognised by Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) as an accredited green building certification, contributing towards our GRESB assessment input.

As of December 2022 we had five buildings totalling 599,000 square feet certified to WiredScore. Three are WiredScore Occupied, rated Platinum, and two are WiredScore Development, rated Gold and Platinum. Three additional assets are under certification, which will take our total certified coverage to over 919,000 square feet upon completion.

This was an 85,000 square foot 1950s office building with fragmented floorplans, dated finishes and obsolete electrical services. An asset management strategy was devised for The Earnshaw site to enable redevelopment of a new ‘best-in-class’ office building of 155,355 square feet across 12 levels.

The revised development saw a 70% uplift in floor area in a high amenity location, with sustainability and occupier-focused improvements in line with our New Construction and Major Refurbishment Sustainability Standards, including:

• Fully electric building with solar PV panels included on the roof, targeting Net Zero Carbon in operation
• Emphasis on natural daylight for energy saving purposes as well as occupier wellbeing and productivity
• Supporting active transport with the installation of over 230 bike spaces and end-of-trip facilities
• Targeting credentials including EPC rating of A, BREEAM Outstanding and WiredScore Platinum

A key part of the sustainability and occupier strategy for The Earnshaw was a focus on health and wellbeing, with a target of achieving a WELL Gold rating. Achieving WELL certification is a stringent process. The health and wellbeing benefits for occupiers include:

• a focus on improving air quality
• enhancing natural daylight
• promoting indoor comfort via enhanced acoustic performance
• internal temperature and humidity controls
• encouraging connection to nature and restorative spaces
• and providing opportunity for relaxation and positive physical and mental wellness.

In December 2022, The Earnshaw was pre-let to GSK for its new headquarters. The Earnshaw not only provides office amenities in a highly desirable location, but also supports the occupier’s sustainability objectives and its emphasis on health and wellbeing for its staff.

Robust and trustworthy ESG data is crucial for making effective and purposeful decisions. However, due to the scope and scale of our ESG programmes, the level of ESG data available across our properties had rapidly grown to a state where we needed to consolidate it to make it more effective, and easier for multiple stakeholders to use.

Our goal was for asset managers to use this data to create asset-level KPIs to improve the ESG profile of their property. In addition, we have found it insightful when comparing the ESG credentials stored in the database with the property’s operational energy usage to see if they align.

The ESG database contains a common area to document the key ESG criteria of each asset, including building characteristics, certifications and ratings, and a range of indicators specific to each of the material issues that we cover within our RPI Strategy. It also indicates the data source, allowing any new user of the database to easily identify where they could look to find this information, if required.  

We have also taken advantage of this data consolidation process to score each asset. To do so, we assigned each ESG criteria a score and weighting, which was sector dependent.

For example, cycle storage facilities are more important for our office assets, whilst solar PV and electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure is more material for retail and industrial properties.

This score gives asset managers a starting point and an indicator of where to prioritise future efforts. We ask for all information at the acquisition stage, and our new Sustainable Acquisition Checklist has been cross-checked to ensure we are covering all important information.

To date, we have consolidated ESG information across our multi-let offices, and our focus this year is to continue updating the database for use in developing asset-level KPIs.

The Green Apple Environment Awards are designed to recognise, reward and promote environmental best practices around the world. In 2022, we achieved 14 Green Apple Environment Awards and two Commended Awards in the Property Management sector, across a range of categories.

Some specific examples of these properties and their environmental initiatives include the following which all received Gold Green Apple Environment Awards:

• Renaissance, Croydon – green energy and chemical free cleaning: At this property there are 71 solar panels. This project sought to move to chemical-free cleaning of the solar panel system, and installed a natural cleaning system. This resulted in 90% less plastic bottles required as well as a reduction in potential chemical effluents into the environment.
• Wilmslow Campus – community engagement: We engaged with a local school to help students learn about the importance of wildlife. We provided talks, a wildlife tour of a local site, and then helped them build a bug hotel and plant seeds. The children were highly engaged, and we will be inviting the school back again next year to continue this engagement.
• Lower Precinct Shopping Centre – eco sculpture project: To highlight both the importance of recycling to the general public and promote the centre’s sustainability values, the centre team facilitated an art-based sustainability and recycling campaign. With the help of a local artist, we conducted craft workshops with local students to construct a sculpture made entirely from recycled or repurposed materials. This sculpture, combined with a series of shopping centre events under the theme of ‘Sustainable September’, provided a positive conversation starter around environmental issues, bringing together community members to discuss a common challenge. 

Whilst receiving awards is a small part of demonstrating our achievements, we are proud of our colleagues and stakeholders in being recognised for their efforts and positive environmental impact. We encourage and continue to support our property managers in promoting positive environmental initiatives at assets across our portfolio.