Environmental
Climate change is a defining issue of the decade ahead. The real estate industry must act.
We take a holistic approach to environmental impacts across all aspects of our business as set out within our ESG Strategy.
Our 2023 ESG Report provides a snapshot of recent performance and indicates our next steps.
The property and construction industry is estimated to contribute over 40% of all carbon emissions. Our industry has a crucial role to play to address climate change. To play our part in reducing this impact, Stanhope has signed the WGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment which calls u
pon business, organisations, cities, states and regions to take urgent, ambitious and immediate climate action towards decarbonising the built environment. We have committed to the following initiatives which acknowledge the climate emergency and demonstrate a meaningful commitment to pioneer action through intelligent design and responsible delivery and operation.
The UKGBC Climate Platform, World GBC Bringing Embodied Carbon Up Front initiative and BBP Design for Performance Pioneers Project.
Developments
Our projects are required to set their own ESG Delivery Targets and record progress against these in a project ESG Development Form. Our methodology is intended to compliment the specific requirements of our investment partners and clients and can be adapted to suit their exact requirements from project inception through to design, construction, handover and post completion.
Our monitoring and analysis of the environmental impact of current and future projects is rigorous and forward-thinking. In particular, the analysis and reduction of embodied and whole life carbon on projects, and the implementation of Design for Performance through NABERS UK ratings are a high priority for all new developments.
Where possible, we retain and refurbish existing structures: we know that embodied emissions associated with new construction can represent up to 30 years’ worth of operational carbon emissions; and as such refurbishments make up a large portion of our portfolio and future pipeline.
Our development projects are monitored by Ove Arup and Partners. Key highlights from the past year include:
- All our projects are BREEAM certified and are targeting ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Excellent’ ratings.
- Through considered design and specifications, the embodied carbon intensity at our Bishopsgate development was reduced by 30% against concept stage baseline.
- At Warwick Court, we are targeting a construction waste generation of <1.2t/100m2 with a minimum 75% recycling target and an additional >90% diversion from landfill.
- Our Ruskin Square project is designed to minimise operational energy use as a BBP Design for Performance pioneer. This will be our first NABERS UK project when completed in 2023.
Asset Management
Where we manage assets, we must accurately measure their environmental impact and ensure targets are set to improve over time in line with decarbonisation pathways for our industry.
We collect and analyse operational environmental data and engage with facilities managers and tenants to reduce the impact of our assets. For each asset, our property managers are required to set annual action plans. Furthermore, action plans will include minimum requirements around processes that support Stanhope’s ESG objectives as appropriate.
The operational impact of our assets under management are monitored on a portfolio basis and we are working towards disclosing further information in the near future.
Corporate activities
In addition to the developments and operation of our assets, we recognise that our own operations (i.e. head office activities and employee travel) also have environmental and social impacts. We measure, third-party verify and disclose our footprint with Planet Mark. For the year 2020-2021 we reduced our footprint by 68.3% from our 2019-20 baseline. Although the Covid-19 pandemic affected our results for the past year, we continue to work with Planet Mark to reduce year on year where we can. Since the 2019-20 financial year, we have chosen to offset 200% of our residual Scope 1 & 2 emissions and Scope 3 business travel using the UKGBC recommendation ‘Twinning Approach’ as evidenced here.