York House, our Head Office

  • Property overview

    Our Head Office, York House, is situated in the West End of London, W1. The building offers over 90,000 sq ft of office space, of which we occupy 40,000 sq ft. It also provides 11,000 sq ft of retail space and 22 residential units. The building was completed in early 2007 and is managed by an on-site team from Broadgate Estates, a wholly-owned subsidiary of British Land.

  • Our use of resources

    York House achieved a BREEAM Very Good environmental rating for the management and operation of the building. This followed a BREEAM Very Good rating for the environmental performance of the design. The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating is C, which is above average for existing stock. However, the Display Energy Certificate (DEC) rating is E which is below average, partly because energy use is often higher during the first three years as the building management systems bed-in. We are working to improve energy efficiency, together with our occupiers and building management team.

    This year, we reduced energy use at York House by 11%, saving 72,187kWh and cutting carbon emissions by 38 tonnes. We recycled 40% of waste from our Head Office, incinerating the remaining 60%. This diverted 131 tonnes of waste from landfill. We have invested over £500,000 in sustainability features at York House.

    70% of our Executive business trips were made by public transport or walking, an improvement from 56% last year. 61 of our Executives completed travel diaries, recording 485 journeys. The results were compared to a previous survey of 65 Executives, recording 442 journeys. We are pleased to report that travel by tube increased by 81% and travel by train by 30%, whilst taxi journeys reduced by more than half, from 31% to 15%. We have set a target to reduce this further next year. We will be looking at ways to reduce travel by plane and car, which both increased this year and now represent 15% of business trips. We will also be encouraging our team to walk or cycle to meetings.

  • Our customers and us

    Since December 2008, we have been working with all of the office occupiers at York House on a carbon reduction initiative. Together with Broadgate Estates, Bunzl, GIC Real Estate, hurleypalmerflatt and Moor Park Capital Partners LLP, we have committed to:

    1. Minimise resource use and improve carbon efficiency
    2. Agree a common format for sharing resource use data
    3. Review resource use data and benchmark performance on a quarterly basis
    4. Set our own annual resource use targets and share this information
    5. Provide support and advice to each other
    6. Identify opportunities to improve performance and share best practice.
    Benefits resulting from this collaboration:

    1. Reduce energy use and cut carbon emissions
    2. Generate cost savings and enhance corporate reputation
    3. Provide a productive and pleasant work environment
    4. Motivate staff, who are increasingly interested in the green credentials of employers
    5. Build relationships between us, our occupiers and our managing agents.
  • Our communities and us


    24% of our Head Office employees participated in volunteering initiatives.     They spent 90 days volunteering, an average of 4.5 hours per employee. Team-based initiatives included transforming an outdoor area at Netley Primary School in Camden and gardening at Waterlow Park. Ten employees participated in a Young Enterprise 'Learn to Earn' programme at South Camden Community School. Volunteer, Mark Green, commented: "It was an excellent day that the children, British Land volunteers, teaching assistants and the Young Enterprise presenter got a huge amount out of."





    We continued to encourage our employees to support local initiatives on an individual basis, sharing their expertise and experience. Our Head of Planning and Environment, Adrian Penfold, was a member of the West Euston Partnership Board, a role he has held since 1997. Developments Executive, Mike Rayner, acted as a Governor at South Camden Community School. Planning Executive, Miles Price, carried on supporting Capital Kids Cricket, an initiative that we also sponsor. Members of our Head Office and Regent's Place teams provided reading support to children at Netley Primary School for the fourth year. Our Group Treasurer, Patrick Hawkins, cycled over 900 miles from London to Cannes to raise money for good causes, with our Sustainable Developments Executive, Sarah Cary, also cycling 483 miles. We also gave advice and guidance to a range of local community groups where needed.

  • Us and our suppliers

    2008 award winners

    We engaged with employees to deliver Building Together.
    We worked with our managing agents to meet our customers' needs.
    We managed our construction teams to design and build sustainable developments.
 

For our full Corporate Responsibility Report: britishland.com/crReport/2009