On the same day as Solution Day at COP27, BPF Futures and SAY Property (SAY) hosted an ESG Solutions Session.

The roundtable event begun with SAY explaining their ESG strategy from the perspective of a SME property company and then we were able to contrast that with how British Land, one of the UK’s largest property companies, were addressing ESG, such as:

  • SAY’s ability to embed their ESG strategy into all of their workstreams (so that it becomes part of their work rather than ESG tasks being an add-on that might be missed). This also means that SAY’s clients benefit from having ESG points potentially raised in SAY’s workstreams.
  • British Land’s changes in their construction practice, in order to build their first net zero carbon development, 100 Liverpool Street; also demonstrating the benefits of re-using existing concrete and steel (they retained 50% of the existing structure) in the structure of the old buildings on the site. Also, establishing their “Transition Vehicle” that finances retrofits of their older buildings in their portfolio from a levy paid by some of British Land’s new developments. 

Having been inspired by SAY’s and British Land’s great examples, the roundtable discussions were full of best practice examples and interesting ideas on where improvements could be made, including:

  • Environment – 
    • Education initiatives: successful implementation of education initiatives for employees on green issues and increasing engagement. Experience had shown that evidencing either the positive impact of having an environmental strategy or the negative impact of not having an environmental strategy can really boost engagement from all levels of a business.
    • Upskilling the property workforce: more expertise is required in the property industry to implement new greener engineering or construction practices at the scale that the industry requires. One solution is for property companies, to invest in their employees to re-train in the area.
  • Social – 
    • Re-connecting post-pandemic: a key strategy for a number of property businesses post-pandemic has been re-establishing communication between employees, which has included regular social events and face-to-face meetings.
    • Improving diversity: it was identified that more steps are required to be taken in improving diversity and ensuring property companies are inclusive places to work, such as regular training on inclusion and adopting better HR practices.
  • Governance – 
    • ESG leads: having sustainability/ESG leads in each department of the business. The leads are individuals who have worked in that department so they understand that particular part of the business and can promote bespoke and targeted sustainable/ESG practices that are appropriate for that sector.
    • Delivering on ESG: improving on ESG within a business, following the introduction of the initial ESG strategy, was identified as more of a challenge. It was suggested that targets for implementation of certain policies within the strategy would be one way to measure how well the ESG strategy was being implemented.

The venue for this BPF Futures event, The Engineering & Design Institute (TEDI), really complimented the event's theme. TEDI is a recently established university (founded in June 2019) taking a new approach to teaching engineering in ensuring their students are taught their courses while working and designing for real-life projects (and so developing the next generation of property professionals providing ESG solutions). TEDI’s current building was constructed by British Land on a modular format in just 9 months using a light weight steel frame and being able to be dismantled and re-used or recycled when the university moves to its permanent home.

With an inspiring venue and sharing of great ideas, the event was a positive start to Solution Day.