In September, our ESG team took part in our wider Facilities Management internal conference. Throughout the day, we saw how clearly ESG is the thread that runs through all aspects of property management today.  

ESG has evolved in the last few years, both within LSH and in the wider world. In the past, helping our clients to approach ESG was a separate operation to how we manage assets. Today, it is integral to everything we do. In procurement, when advising tenants, when strategizing with landlords, our approach is underpinned by good, sustainable governance. 

Our aim at our internal conference was to ensure that our entire property management and facilities management teams understand the depth of our ESG approach. Our defined ESG department is a honed team of experts; it is up to our wider teams to take their knowledge and apply it in practice. Through collaboration, our teams help our clients take an informed approach to ESG that delivers real results.  

The following are some of the subjects our ESG team spoke about, to ensure that all our teams are as up to date as possible with regulations, certifications and good practice. 

Our memberships 
LSH’s memberships are a sign of our commitment to ESG, as well as a valuable resource for our teams. For example, we are members of:

• Better Building Partnership (BBP)– a collaboration between the UK’s leading commercial property owners and managers who are working together to improve the sustainability of existing buildings
• UK Green Building Council – a community of UK organisations in the built environment working together to drive sustainability
• PlanetMark – a certification scheme aiming to help the built environment on the path to net zero.

These partnerships support our commitment to making sure our entire workforce has the skills required to help clients with ESG.  They also push our own internal ESG agenda. 

Our partnerships
LSH has a range of partners within ESG that help us to deliver the right service for each customer. Our partners act as an extension of our internal ESG team.

These include:

• Syzygy – a renewable energy consultancy 
• Etainabl – real estate ESG data management
• GreenChip – green utility brokers 

BBP Responsible Property Management Toolkit
The BBP toolkit is a vital tool, developed by an industry collaboration that LSH is proud to be a part of. It provides practical guidance for asset managers, property managers and facilities managers on embedding sustainability within property management services.

Our team helped to create the toolkit, which we implement across all our managed sites. Presenting the tool to our wider team will ensure that they have the skills to get the most out of the toolkit. 

Building certifications
Today, there is a plethora of certifications in the built environment sector. They cover all aspects, from construction through operations to management. 
We gave our teams an overview of all the certifications they may come across and how they can help our clients to achieve an excellent score. It’s not enough to achieve certification once; our teams need to be on the ground, gathering the right data to ensure that a score is maintained. Their priority is to improve scores where there is an opportunity to do so. 

Utilities and green products
This is an extremely current subject; all clients are looking to improve energy use, not just to be more sustainable but to save costs. Today, the two factors need to be balanced during decision-making.

We ensure that our team understands the differences between products available and how they impact the customer. 

Net zero
The UK government’s target is to reach net zero by 2050 and the built environment will play a key part in that. Collectively, the sector is responsible for 40% of global carbon emissions. We ensure that our teams understand how our clients are affected by this pledge, including what reporting is mandatory and what is optional.

Some of our clients choose to report their ESG data via GRESB, an organisation that provides ESG data to financial markets. This is used widely across real estate to benchmark ESG data and generate business intelligence. Our facilities managers support reporting to GRESB through our services, such as using smart meters. 

As well as information about GRESB, our ESG team outlined all the tools in our team’s arsenal to help our clients on the path to net zero. This ranges from smart meters and 4D sensors to informed procurement. 

Waste management
As important as carbon reduction is waste reduction, and the industry is on the path to zero waste to landfill. Certain reporting benchmarks such as GRESB require specific waste metrics. Our teams help clients to understand waste management, including tools available such as sensors.

For further information, or if you would like a chat to discuss how LSH can help your business, please get in touch.