Corporate responsibility includes the Group’s relations with stakeholders and activities in the local community and is the overall responsibility of the Chief Executive.
Our remuneration policy is closely aligned with our corporate responsibility strategy. There are specific Group objectives to achieve corporate responsibility targets which are reflected in the level of executive remuneration.
We have been a constituent of the FTSE4 Good Index since 2004, which is designed to measure the performance of companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards.
This year we were one of the leaders in the real estate sector. We are a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index ("DJSI") and are listed in the Kempen SNS Smaller European Index, the first sustainable index for smaller European companies. We are a regional leader for environmental management in the Global Real Estate Benchmark ("GREB") survey.
Sustainability
The essence of our sustainability strategy is to reuse old buildings to extend their useful life and in doing so preserve and enhance the heritage of London’s West End where all our buildings are located. The average age of our buildings is over 150 years.
When unmodernised properties need refurbishing or when we acquire buildings, we reconfigure and upgrade them within the constraints of current regulations governing listed buildings and Conservation Areas. Our aim is to extend the economic life and create a positive return on our investment over the long term.
The full report on our corporate responsibility performance for the year ended 30 September 2011, together with the action plan for the year to 30 September 2012, can be found in the corporate responsibility section in the Group’s main website.
Environmental policy
Our policy is to minimise any adverse environmental impact of our business and operate in a sustainable manner. In order to achieve this we have set the following overall environmental objectives:
- Operate in an environmentally sustainable manner throughout our activities;
- Address the implications of our activities on climate change by reducing energy use throughout our portfolio and also improving drainage to better address localised flooding issues;
- Minimise any adverse impacts on the environment across our operations;
- Comply with all relevant legal and regulatory requirements and where feasible to go beyond compliance;
- Encourage continual improvement of our environmental performance;
- Provide a framework for establishing specific objectives and targets;
- Promote environmental awareness among staff and principal suppliers and provide appropriate training where necessary;
- Work proactively with other organisations to promote sustainability within the portfolio and our local areas; and
- Engage with our stakeholders including shareholders to ensure that we are responsive to their expectations.
Implementing our policy
We invest in and refurbish existing buildings which is in line with the Government’s policy for maximising the re-use of existing land and buildings. Significant regulatory emphasis is placed on carbon emissions of buildings throughout their operational lifetime, with emphasis on improvements in the Building Regulations, Energy Performance Certificates (“EPCs”) and BREEAM/Code for Sustainable Homes. The Group supports and implements these requirements wherever practical. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of embodied energy contained within the fabric of existing buildings, recognising the overall environmental benefits of extending the useful lives and efficiency of existing buildings rather than demolition and redevelopment.
Refurbishment projects
Almost all of the Group’s buildings are within Conservation Areas and many are listed. Within these constraints, the Group seeks to refurbish buildings in a sympathetic manner reusing existing timber and original building fixtures and fittings where possible.
The Group is not a significant user of new timber and its designers and contractors are encouraged to reuse as much as possible during refurbishment work. When installing new fixtures and plant, consideration is given to environmental sustainability as well as building regulations. For the small amount of timber that is purchased, the aim is to source sustainably sourced products, particularly those certified to the Forestry Stewardship Commission or Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification schemes.
Through its contractor management procedures, including checklists and supporting information, the Group requires project managers to dispose of waste appropriately, to segregate and recycle where possible and to collate information on waste quantities produced. Owing to the wide variety of projects, the extent of the work undertaken at each site, and the absence of any industry benchmarks for construction waste, it is not considered meaningful to present absolute waste data. However, the process encourages site managers and contractors to adopt responsible waste practices and provides the Group with details of waste quantities attributable to its activities. A sample of two sites were audited for good practice against duty of care for waste management and were confirmed to be operating satisfactorily.
Day-to-day management
In the day-to-day management of the Group’s portfolio, energy consumption and waste management are the key environmental issues.
The Group continues to monitor energy consumption in the common parts of its portfolio where it has direct responsibility. The use of energy within the portfolio is the responsibility of tenants, with the exception of certain common areas such as stairwell lights and shared facilities. Generally use is restricted to lighting so the environmental impact is small.
Impact on the environment
The level of carbon emissions produced by our portfolio over the past five years is set out in the chart below. Overall, our impact on the environment is minimal as these carbon emissions generally are confined to activities in the common parts of the portfolio. As a result, our level of energy consumption is below the threshold for inclusion in the Government’s Carbon Reduction Scheme.
The data excludes the emissions for the joint venture at St Martin’s Courtyard which totalled 426.4 tonnes of CO2 and will be reported separately in the future. However, absolute consumption throughout the portfolio remains low.
For the current year, we have an objective to change to suppliers of green electricity upon contract renewal if such supplies are available and at a comparative cost to other supplies. In Soho, the electricity supplier to a number of the Group’s properties continued to be a company which provides green electricity generated from sustainable sources. We will continue to supply green electricity to properties in Soho during the current year and include Chinatown during 2012.
Staff
Shaftesbury employs nineteen staff including executive Directors. Every member of staff is important and their experience and contribution to the business play a key part in the delivery of our strategy.
Training and development of our staff is essential and professional staff are encouraged to meet the requirements of their professional bodies. Non-professional staff are also encouraged to undertake training. Training is monitored and recorded. All staff undergo an annual personal development review.
Our employment policies have been reviewed and updated during the year to reflect changes in legislation. No staff left the Company during the year.
Health and safety
The Board has overall responsibility for health and safety. Health and safety is identified within all pre-tender documentation in our refurbishment schemes and is monitored by site and project managers. Our managing agents oversee day-to-day health and safety matters throughout the portfolio.
There have been no reportable health and safety incidents during the year.
Community engagement
Our strategy is clear and focussed on London’s West End.
Our long term prosperity depends on the success of London as a destination for domestic and overseas visitors to the museums, galleries and leisure activities in and around the West End.
We are very clear that our engagement is aligned with the areas in which our villages are situated and benefits London both as a community and tourist destination. We work closely with a number of organisations based in the West End with local and leisure connections and in some cases help them to be located in the areas in which they operate.
We have adopted the London Benchmarking Group methodology for measuring our community contributions. For the year ended 30 September 2011 our contribution was £356,000. In addition to this we have voluntarily contributed to works in the public realm in excess of £700,000.
Sustainable Restaurant Association ("SRA")
We have worked during the year to promote this not-for-profit membership association. It provides restaurants with advice and support to help them to understand fully sustainability issues and provide solutions and opportunities for their businesses.
We have encouraged our tenants to join the Association and offered as a trial, the first year’s membership paid for by the Group to a number of restaurants. Take-up has been excellent and our tenants and the Association are working on a number of initiatives together. We are looking at ways of extending this work during 2012.
Working with the creative arts
As our portfolio is located entirely within the West End, the promotion of the arts, theatre and leisure aspects of the West End are important to our continuing business. We therefore work with arts organisations, theatres and galleries to promote the creative arts.
Provision of space for charitable, community and educational purposes
We also provide space on very flexible terms to enable charitable, community and educational events to take place during the year. We provide subsidised accommodation for a number of these organisations including the Association of British Orchestras, Make Justice Work, Stage One, National Campaign for the Arts, Yellow Earth Theatre Company, London Chinatown Association and Chinatown Arts Space.
Working with local authorities
We work closely with Westminster City Council and Camden Council within whose jurisdictions our properties are located to improve the public realm in and around our villages through contributions to street improvements, pedestrianisation and street lighting schemes.
Key targets and progress in the year ended 30 September 2011
Set out below is a summary of progress against a number of key targets this year. The full report is available on our website.
Objectives and targets for year ending 30 September 2012
Set out below is an extract of the key objectives and targets for the year ahead. A full list of objectives is contained within the 2011-2012 Action Plan which is available on the Group’s website.
