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Recently, there has been some media coverage around whether the credit crunch is threatening to derail the green agenda in light of seemingly more important priorities. Whilst the credit crunch had brought to an end a prolonged period of rising commercial property values, the corresponding climate and energy crunches reinforce our belief that long term profitability and value will increasingly be linked to sustainability as we move forward.
There has also been a discernible shift in emphasis among property investors and developers within the property sector. They used to view sustainability simply as a means of paying lip service to CSR concerns. Now it more commonly forms an important part of risk-management policies, conforming to current and future regulatory regimes and the identification and assessment of assets that tenants of the future will want to occupy.
Recognising how sustainable credentials can influence investment returns forms a cornerstone of our strategy. Against this background, we have been working with sustainable research specialist Upstream, to identify and implement green strategies for each of our assets. This includes maintaining sustainable performance at standards measured by ISO 14001 accreditation, which we have achieved across our diverse portfolio of properties.
In order to ensure the best standards of transparency, the results are verified by independent external assessors, working alongside our property partners King Sturge.