Ashdown Phillips has joined other real estate leaders in taking positive action by making a sustainability pledge to reduce its environmental impact, improve health & wellbeing, engage with charities and local communities and share its achievements across stakeholder groups.
Using the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Ashdown Phillips has identified the areas where it can have the greatest impact across its entire business and managed portfolio, to include:
- Ensuring the health and wellbeing of employees and occupiers;
- Procuring all electricity from renewable sources;
- Supporting clients in meeting their own sustainability goals;
- Working with on-site teams and occupiers to reduce energy consumption; and
- Forming partnerships with all building stakeholders and the supply chain to promote these goals and have a positive impact.
Data excellence has played a crucial role to Ashdown Phillips in the success of its sustainability agenda; ensuring it meets its targets and is able to provide a clear picture to occupiers, clients, service partners and the wider team.
As Andrew Wraight, Managing Director of Ashdown Phillips, explains: “Never before has the saying ‘we cannot manage what we cannot measure’, been used so extensively across our business. But the reality is, it has never been truer than it is today.”
“By analysing all the data we collect, we can monitor the environmental impact of our buildings and their occupiers and then use this information to inform our decision-making. There is all manner of things that can be done if you have the data to back it up.”
When it comes to reporting and energy management, the data collation piece is integral to providing the right support to occupiers. With so much data reporting available, it can run the risk of losing relevance or not providing meaningful value.
Andrew summed it up “Our clients are not just numbers and fees on a spreadsheet. They are people who we form long lasting relationships with. Our clients appreciate our agility and our ability to collaborate and create partnerships to achieve common goals. There is nothing that we have touched on in our own sustainability plans and discussions that doesn’t have some bearing on what our clients are trying to achieve.”
To further support its sustainability strategy, Ashdown Phillips has recently appointed Carbonxgen as its energy partner to procure 100% REGO-backed renewable electricity across its entire portfolio and develop a leading-edge data management strategy to support its energy reduction targets.
As Tracy Lewis, Managing Director at Carbonxgen commented:
“As energy consultants we are acutely aware of the impact that energy has on the environment. We proudly share and support Ashdown Phillips’ sustainability pledge.”
Ashdown Phillips has moved swiftly from drafting a sustainability strategy to realising it and making a positive difference. This has not gone unnoticed. The team have recently received a Green Apple Award for Octagon Retail Park, which is owned by a fund managed by Clearbell Capital LLP, and had previously been presented a Green Apple World Award for Environmental Best Practice. The hope is that its sustainability pledge will provide an important catalyst for change within the real estate sector and encourage all property managers and owners to follow suit.
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Property Week: https://www.propertyweek.com/news/ashdown-phillips-joins-sustainability-pledge/5110939.article
