Last week I had the opportunity to discuss how to avoid greenwashing in real estate. On the panel was: Jessica Pilz, Global Head of ESG, Fiera Real Estate,
Katie Whipp, Head of Innovation & Strategy at Trustek and
Iona Silverman, Partner at Freeths LLP. The event was moderated by Alex Dunn, Research Manager at the Cromwell Property Group. It was sponsored by RE: Women and The Society of Property Researchers, and hosted by Freeths. It was a really rich discussion. I raised a number of points I wanted to touch on here.
The role of data
First, and nothing new to anyone who’s seen me speak before – I stressed the importance of data in how to avoid greenwashing. And with that, it’s important to be clear about the accuracy of the data. I also stressed the need for it to be open, transparent, and externally verifiable. This of course is more difficult in considering the various ‘S’ elements of ESG, but not impossible. I also stressed...
Last week I had the opportunity to take part in a panel discussion at Connected Places Catapult. The topic of discussion was ‘Impact-led innovation: investor’s friend or foe?’ The discussion was facilitated by Yusuf Chadun, the Catapult’s SME Investor Relations Manager. The other panelists were Arnold du Toit, Co-Founder and CEO WeSprint, and Rajiv Tanna, CO-Founder and CPO of Birdie.
The discussion
Given I work in ESG, it won’t have been surprising for me to say that impact led innovations, and being able to clearly evidence that impact, is an investor’s friend. As I flagged, I work with companies to develop their approach to ESG. I outlined that the focus of ESG is on risk management and sustainability in the broadest sense. We then moved on to discuss what we mean by impact-led innovation. For me, impact-led innovations are both longer terms, and focus on what’s termed the triple bottom line with its emphasis on profit, people and planet, as opposed to a...
Today I had the opportunity to discuss no BS ESG at the Festival of Place. I spoke alongside Elaine Cresswell who spoke on biodiversity.
With thanks to Christine Murray for the invitation. You can see slides from my presentation below.
Get in touch if you’d like to chat. 2211 Festival of Place - No BS ESG (2)Download...
Last week I was in Barcelona at the inaugural conference - The District. It brought together a range of specialists across real estate with a focus on investment. I had been invited for a panel discussion on how the real estate sector is contributing to delivery of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The main points I made include: That the SDGs are more thematic in nature than Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG), factors. The SDGs are globally recognised and can be integrated into business strategy. However, it’s important in linking the SDGs to strategy that this is grounded in specific metrics i.e. there are 17 SDGs with a total of 169 targets. And that in the next iteration of these global goals, that we focus on a ‘just transition’ in terms of addressing, mitigating, and adapting, to climate change. The SDGs form an important part of my conversations with clients. I work with them to identify the most relevant SDGs, and the specific targets...
On 8 June, I had the opportunity to take part in a panel discussion at the FIABCI Congress, held in Paris. The topic for discussion was how do we add value in real estate while also improving the lives of end-users. Here I provide some of my thoughts on this topic. Context
I view value through the lens of Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations. I work with companies across the built environment to focus on how they create value. The end-user, whether this be occupiers, local communities, or employees, have to be very much part of the conversations on what constitutes value.
Making the case
The view of value in purely financial terms in real estate and the wider built environment is too narrow. Value needs to be considered in the context of the extent to which activities improve social, environmental and economic wellbeing. And this involves engagement from every discipline including for example, engineers, architects, designers, planners, builders, asset owners and managers. The priority...
I had the opportunity to speak to a session at Urban Design London on social value in real estate. It was part of a broader discussion on viability and social vale. The audience was made up of practitioners working in local councils across England. Here's a copy of my presentation 2202 Social Value - Principles and BenefitsDownload...
Real estate has a very real role to play in contributing to social value in the UK. Whether it be public realm enhancements, supporting people into the industry, including social enterprises in supply chains, increasing local spend and so on, there’s an increasing need for developers and asset owners to demonstrate and capture social value. And it goes without saying that social value is a core component of ESG.
Social value in major projects
Many local authorities are now requiring major projects are able to demonstrate social value. And we’re seeing this in bidding for government contracts more generally. For example, in England, taking account of social value became a requirement in major government contracts including for construction and infrastructure projects from 1 Jan 2021. This is in addition to new and emerging requirements for carbon reduction plans.
Capturing social value
In this context, demonstrating and capturing social value is critical when developing an approach to Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations. But capturing what...
The trend towards Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations in investment decision-making is accelerating. Nowhere is this more apparent than in real estate. And there are good reasons for this. We know that that the built environment accounts for 39% of global carbon emissions. We also know that our buildings and public spaces can have a dramatic impact on our health, wellbeing and productivity. And we’re starting to see climate change impacting on our communities, towns and cities. Sustainability and resilience are the two key factors at play. Embedding ESG considerations into investment decisions is one mechanism through which we can affect real change. But challenges remain with a lack of common reporting standards and metrics. There is also a lack of reliable, comparable, and realtime data, and this is where PropTech comes in.
PropTech and ESG
PropTech can be thought of as the application of digital technology to property. Used well, it has the potential to unlock data that can be used to improve...
I had the pleasure of chairing a webinar for The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) on Healthy Living and Housing. This was the first of a six part series looking at the interplay between our lived environments and our health. You can access the session by clicking the link here, and registering. The next session is on 16 September and examines health and home in the context of care homes and community care. Speakers for this session included Julie Godefroy, Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers
Dr Richard Miller, Connected Places Catapult
Annalise Johns, Connected Places Catapult
Dr Helen Crampin, InnovateUK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxDnI9pWYbA Clip from The IET's EngShorts series covering many of the points raised in this discussion. What we know and don’t know about the impact of the built environment
Julie provided an overview of the role of CIBSE and their recent guidance, Health and wellbeing in building services. The focus of the guidance is on the effects of the built environment on health, comfort...
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