89% of Buildings don't have an ESG Strategy. Is yours one of them?

Category

Industry Insights

Author

Michael Crawford

Date

January 3, 2023

89% of Buildings don't have an ESG Strategy. Is yours one of them?

89% of buildings don't have an ESG strategy.

80% rely on peer-to-peer training for tech.

And EVERY building has at least one piece of tech teams don't use (but it would benefit them).

How does your building stack up?

Over the past year we've audited 3million sq ft of commercial real estate in the UK. From seeing Compliance score the highest, to discovering that only 89% of buildings have ESG strategies, we've lifted the lid on the people, processes and technology in six key areas - Wellness, ESG, Compliance, Utilisation, Connectivity and Customer Experience.

How would your buildings score? 👇

An info graphic detailing the findings from Trustek's building audits.

1. Wellbeing

Ever finished your cycle into work and then got changed in a toilet? 

Not only do 92% of buildings audited have no wellbeing strategy, the lowest scoring buildings have zero tech, or do not use the tech they have, to support the wellbeing of tenants. Take Indoor Air Quality Sensors as an example -  15% of buildings have them but only half of these use the data to improve air quality or feed data back to tenants. And don't get us started on bike parking...

For those buildings that scored high in the wellbeing area, a clear strategy is embedded across the relevant teams, smart building management systems and IAQ sensors are in place and journeys into work are finished with great facilities.

2. ESG

Is your building in the 11% where ESG is high on the agenda? 

The most staggering stat here is that, despite ESG high on the real estate agenda, 89% of buildings do not have an ESG strategy in place. Of these 89%, a 3rd are aware of ESG on some level, but two sites have no knowledge of ESG at all. 33% of sites are also still manually reading meters, with two buildings recording them but never using or reporting the data.  

However, those that score well in the ESG area have ongoing training to keep teams updated, and 67% of buildings have either a smart BMS, AMRs or separate smart meter readings per floor/area.

3. Connectivity

Are you one of the 93% of buildings with a "comms/storage" room?

Despite being classed as the forth utility, only 14% of buildings audited have Point of Entry planning in place or an action plan for building wide connectivity failure.

93% of buildings audited have poorly managed comms rooms with a high risk of damage. We saw comms rooms used as unmanaged storage space and spaces with no AC or ventilation risking overheating, plus innumerable instances of poor cable management and unrecorded redundant equipment known only to a handful of staff risking service outage.

4. Customer Experience

Ever walked your tenant's customer journey?

Generally buildings that score higher in the wellbeing and ESG categories, fair well when it comes to customer experience. Buildings with the highest scores have strong relationships between tenants and front of house teams, as well as clearly defined processes and tech to improve the building experience for occupiers and visitors. We also saw one of the highest tenant app user rates - 69%.

Those that score less well do not use tech to streamline processes and front of house teams lack the knowledge and training to provide a smooth experience for visitors and tenants.

 

5. Occupancy

If you're not effectively tracking and analysing occupancy, is building utilisation really high on your agenda?

With post pandemic calls for a return to the office varying in their determination, occupancy and utilisation data should be high on the agenda for anyone in commercial real estate. However, despite this, low scoring buildings we audited have no training in place, all paper-based system and no data analysis of occupancy rates. Those that score highly on the other hand, actively and regularly analyse data, tech is well utilised and change implemented where appropriate off the back of pooled data.

 

6. Compliance

Are your teams nailing policies and procedures? 

The highest scoring category across all six areas with 78% of buildings having either good or excellent processes in place across their asset. We see the highest scoring buildings constantly updating onsite staff on policies and procedures and this is the area we've seen the best training in place. There is also a strong tie between buildings that prioritise customer experience and compliance.

For the lowest scoring buildings, no automation is in place, work orders are via email, paper based or face to face, and there is limited training in place.

How would your building score?

With commercial real estate constantly changing and adapting to workplace demands, it's more important than ever to have smart systems and processes in place that help your teams and assets work more efficiently.

Our independent audit enables owners and operators to fully appreciate their buildings’ existing and potential technology capabilities. Book time to talk about auditing your building now >

Michael Crawford

Co-Founder

Michael Crawford

For more than fifteen years Michael has been working with both large corporates and SME's in various markets, spanning from APAC to Europe to the Americas. Over his many roles he has built long lasting relationships with colleagues and clients and formed a vast network of service partners. He has a strong drive to bring the newest innovations to the PropTech market and the ability to offer solid, no-nonsense strategic advice, often working with the advice to either simplify, innovate, or stop. Michael’s current contracting roles as both Head of Innovation for Colliers Property Management and Lateral London, mean he is currently working on more than 40 ‘smart building technology’ projects within the UK.

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