A landmark achievement on our journey to a more sustainable future: We’ve issued our first-ever ESG report
At HB Reavis, we have always believed real estate is about more than building physical spaces. As one of the leading international workspace providers, we realised early on that focusing on people, their well-being, and the planet is the future.
That’s why our projects in the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, and Poland feature second-to-none smart building technologies that control the environment. They also have dozens of different types of spaces, like focus rooms, libraries, or green patios, to offer the most stimulating possible environment for all. Health, well-being, productivity, and happiness are at the core of our development process, as are following principles that help us perfect our impact on the environment and society. Now, for the first time in our history, a comprehensive report came to light delving deeper into our commitments and results.
A story written from the very beginning
Even though the term ESG was introduced in 2004, we had been working towards eliminating the impact of our business operations since the early days of our business in 1993. There was no special department, no standardised targets to commit to, and no external stakeholders included in the process. And yet, we were determined to showcase our projects’ sustainability, health and well-being credentials through certification. We aimed to achieve our first BREEAM certificate in 2011 and the first ever WELL Building certification in 2016.
Over the years, we have institutionalised our sustainable business and people-centric activities internally, with 2022 bringing a significant transformation.
2022: A year that set the course for the whole group
With two of our landmark projects showing dedication to building a more sustainable future, Bloom Clerkenwell and Worship Square, London became the market with its first Net Zero strategy in 2022: Straight to Zero.
Calculated in line with the GHG Protocol, this strategy identifies 2021 as our baseline year with a quantified carbon footprint – Total Emissions: 218 613 tCO2e.
With clear data sets in our hands, we embarked on the journey to develop our near- and long-term targets aligned with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). We registered with SBTi in 2023, to join the group of companies leading the way to a net-zero economy.
For example, we committed to reducing scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions by 90% relative to a 2021 baseline by 2050.
We have since been systematically introducing the Straight to Zero principles to operations on our remaining markets to reduce both our embodied and operational carbon footprint. After conducting the Materiality Assessment, we grouped our targets into three categories, Planet, People, and Governance, to ensure our strategies address the business areas with the most significant environmental and societal impact.
Preview of our achievements
By closely following our strategies across markets, we attained initial successes in 2022 in all of the matrix categories:
- Through our decarbonisation initiatives, we have decreased our total scope 1 emissions by 24% and scope 3 emissions by 11.1% compared to 2021 for the HB Reavis Group.
- 52% of our global corporate office electricity usage was obtained via renewable energy sources.
- Across our portfolio assets in operation, we successfully diverted 35% of our total waste from landfill and recycled 31%.
- We held 242 health and well-being events in all the buildings we operate.
- Based on the Leesman 2020 report, our offices in London and Bratislava made it to the top 30 workplaces in the world based on their scores.
The first but not the last ESG Report
Our Environmental, Social, and Governance Report, aligned with the GRI Reporting Standards, is a testament to our ongoing journey toward a more resilient, responsible, and inclusive future. Moving forward, we will be issuing two complex ESG reports a year, reflecting the business splitting in two lines in Q4 2022. One ESG report will focus on Real Estate Development and the other on Asset Management.
Currently, we are focusing on raising environmental awareness with workshops and community activities for our clients. Also, we are working on securing funding from external stakeholders, which would prove our ESG strategies to be well-crafted and allow us to maximise their impact.
Join us on the exciting journey to a more sustainable future. Download the report and contact us with any questions.