The Better Buildings Partnership has today launched its latest industry Toolkit, providing commercial property owners with practical guidance on the integration of sustainability within the acquisition process.

The BBP Acquisitions Sustainability Toolkit provides a common approach for the industry to follow and already has significant industry support. Aberdeen Asset Management, Aviva Investors, Capital & Regional, CLS Holding, The Crown Estate, Grosvenor, Hammerson, Landsec, Legal & General Real Assets, LaSalle Investment Management, M&G Real Estate, TH Real Estate and Workspace have all fully endorsed the Toolkit and committed to integrate the guidance to further enhance their due-diligence processes, supporting a standardised industry approach to sustainability considerations on acquisition.

Real estate investors are facing a wide range of sustainability risks and opportunities and the Toolkit enables investment and acquisition teams to:

• Understand those issues which could be ‘investment critical’ and significantly influence the decision to acquire.
• Identify key questions that need to be asked during the due diligence process.
• Standardise the way information is reviewed and held, supporting ongoing property and asset management.

Developed by leading property companies and industry experts, the Toolkit has been designed to provide non-sustainability professionals with easy to follow, non-technical guidance on how to address key sustainability issues such as flooding and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards.
 
“It is absolutely critical that sustainability risks and opportunities are reflected in owners’ investment decisions. The responsibility for this, however, should not be the preserve of the ‘sustainability experts’ but simply part of business as usual. This toolkit supports this by enabling investment teams to understand the issues and take the lead in embedding them within their own internal processes.” said Sarah Ratcliffe, Programme Director, Better Buildings Partnership.
 
Robert Cass, Head of UK Property Transactions, Aberdeen Asset Management said: “ESG is becoming increasingly important to our investors. The ‘sustainability profile’ of new properties can not only significantly influence an owner’s ability to achieve its sustainability objectives, but can also have important implications for capital investment programmes, leasing and service charge arrangements. This Toolkit, developed by the industry, for the industry, is of huge value in helping owners approach this subject.”
 
Louise Ellison, BBP Chairman and Head of Sustainability, Hammerson said: "Property investors are increasingly looking for streamlined, standardised processes for managing complex data within transactions and this Toolkit achieves just that for sustainability. Brought about through strong collaboration between the businesses and teams that will use it, this is an excellent example of the sort of practical, market-based resource that the BBP has built its reputation on. I fully expect this Toolkit to become the standard for the industry and establish a common approach for everyone to follow, saving time and money whilst improving information flow.”


See the toolkit here.
 
NOTES TO EDITORS:

The Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) is a collaboration of the UK’s leading property owners who are working together to improve the sustainability of the UK’s existing commercial buildings. The organisation's aim is to deliver market transformation through sustainability leadership and knowledge sharing across the UK property industry. The BBP currently has 28 members who represent in excess of £180bn Assets Under Management (AUM). The Better Buildings Partnership is a not for profit collaboration of the UK’s leading commercial property owners who are working together to improve the sustainability performance of existing buildings.

It has 28 Members who include Aberdeen Asset management, Aviva Investors, Blackstone, British Land, Bruntwood, Cadogan, Canary Wharf Group, Capital & Regional, CLS Holdings, Cording Real Estate Group, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, Great Portland Estates, Grosvenor, Hammerson, Hermes Investment Management, intu Properties, Landsec, LaSalle, Investment Management, Legal & General Investment Management, Low Carbon Workplace, M&G Real Estate, Segro, Shaftesbury,  Schroder Real Estate, TH Real Estate, The Crown Estate, Transport for London and Workspace.

The Toolkit aims to support investment and acquisition teams. It provides guidance that can be incorporated within their own internal acquisition process to help them understand and identify key sustainability risks and opportunities, as well as consider if any mitigation measures are required.

The Toolkit is split into two main sections:

SUSTAINABILITY INVESTMENT CHECKLIST: setting out the information which should be requested and reviewed as part of the due diligence process, from initial pre-bid through to transaction. It aims to complement any existing due-diligence process by setting out the questions that should be asked; where such information is best sought or requested; follow on questions to support further investigation of potential risks; as well as providing additional notes and links to supplementary industry guidance.

100-DAY REVIEW: setting out the key questions that should be considered post-transaction to ensure a smooth transition into on-going management. This centres around reviewing all information that was gathered during due-diligence, identifying key information gaps, and considering how this information should feed into property management and future asset management plans.