Environmental, Social & Governance
Responsible Property Investment
Our greatest positive impact on sustainability will come from the way our business relates to our funds’ assets. This falls into three key activities:
- Investment, where we consider the sustainability risks of buildings for purchase.
- Management, where we endeavour to improve the performance of existing buildings.
- Development, where the design and construction of new buildings and redevelopments meet our target to achieve a minimum BREEAM Sustainability rating of Very Good.
In all three cases, our focus areas will be energy efficiency, water management and waste reduction. We will also work with external parties and bodies to identify our sustainability responsibilities, ensuring we comply with our policy and legislation, and that we work to best practice guidance. We will make the resulting information available to the industry as a whole, to promote the wider sustainability agenda.
We also acknowledge that good housekeeping is fundamental to our approach. We will strive to continually improve the environmental performance of our own operations, with regards to energy use, water and waste management, and transportation.
Since 2022 our Responsible Property Investment (RPI) Policy has been incorporated within our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Policy and this is endorsed by our Board. We actively communicate the policy to our employees and other interested parties, and review it each year.
Responsible Property Investment and ESG Committee
ESG Committee oversees and our ESG policy. The ESG Committee is appointed by the Lothbury Investment Management (LIM) Audit and Risk Committee from which it derives its authority and to which it reports to on a quarterly basis.
The members of the ESG committee are as follows:
- Perry Linch – Head of Asset Management (Chairman)
- Adam Smith – Chief Executive
- Ed Hockley – Chief Investment Officer
- Marco Latella – Head of Project Management
- Priya Pema – HR
The committee meets quarterly or more frequently if required and is responsible for developing and implementing our ESG strategy. LIM board members and representatives from all our business divisions are invited to join meetings as appropriate.
Remit Includes:
- Satisfy all relevant legislation requirements and stay ahead of regulatory compliance on ESG issues
- Establish and maintain an Environment Management System (EMS) aligned to the international standard ISO14001
- Identify ESG risks and opportunities during the property acquisition due diligence process
- Incorporate ESG improvement actions in asset management plans and engage with Property Managers to ensure responsible management practices
- A tenant exclusion screen is implemented to identify whether a tenant has exposure to controversial weapons, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, religious or political extremism, controversial pharmaceuticals, animal testing or the adult entertainment industry. In line with the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact, the screening also identifies the tenant’s approach to human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption
- Incorporate green lease clauses in new tenant leases
- Undertake regular tenant engagement, including on ESG issues
- Embed requirements of the Lothbury Developments Sustainability Strategy in all development projects which are either new construction or major refurbishment
- Provide regular ESG training to all Lothbury employees and include ESG objectives in performance reviews
- Disclose and benchmark performance against recognised industry-wide ESG frameworks including GRESB
- Establish portfolio strategies and communicate progress towards achieving Net Zero Carbon and managing climate-related risks in accordance with the TCFD recommendations
