Commentary by Chris Grigg
"I am delighted to have joined a company that recognises the value of adopting a broad approach to business. A disciplined corporate responsibility strategy makes good commercial sense, as well as being beneficial for the environment and society.
Chris Grigg, Chief Executive of British Land
For us, corporate responsibility is measurable and deliverable, as well as being a critical part of our approach to business. It is a way of reducing energy bills and helping to protect the environment. Measurement means that we assess economic and environmental benefits in arriving at business decisions, and that we then evaluate our performance in a quantitative manner. Corporate responsibility is certainly not something to 'cut back on' just because market conditions are tough.
We also recognise that in an industry like ours, partnering with others is critical to maximising the benefits associated with corporate responsibility. We call this approach Building Together. Building Together contributes to the bottom line for our customers as well as ourselves, whilst helping us to achieve our wider goals. Critically, we are achieving more by working with our customers.
We know this through measurement. This year, our contractors saved 94% of demolition waste on our sites from landfill, our agencies designed our developments to have 25% less carbon dioxide emissions on average than current standards, and our managing agents and occupiers diverted 85% of managed waste from landfill.
We are also working closely with our occupiers who control 90% of energy use across our portfolio. This is about more than cutting costs and carbon emissions. It is about really listening to our occupiers to understand their needs and help them to achieve their business objectives. We are pleased to report that we scored 82% customer satisfaction, improving on 73% in our last independent survey.
We have achieved a lot to be proud of. There is more that we want to do, and there always will be. We want our property management teams to learn from each other. We want each development to learn from the ones before. Building Together is central to everybody's role, including mine. We encourage everybody within our organisation and supply chain to think about corporate responsibility in each decision that they make and in everything they do.
We hope that you find this year's report interesting and informative. We welcome your feedback."
Chris Grigg
Chief Executive of British Land
