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| 09/07/2008 | BCSC BUILDS INDUSTRY COMMITMENT TO A GREENER HIGH STREET |
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Some of the leading names in retail and retail property will join together today (9th July) to endorse BCSC’s Sustainability Charter at its parliamentary launch in the House of Commons. Organisations including: British Land, DTZ, Gardiner & Theobold, Grosvenor, Hammerson, Hermes, John Lewis Partnership, Marks & Spencer, Morley, PRUPIM and The Mall will pledge their support for the Charter which sets targets for reducing energy, water use and waste management and building community engagement. Retailers and retail centres account for around 40% of the energy consumed in the UK and they generate thousands of tons of waste every year. There is increasing pressure from consumers, as well as from government and NGOs, to improve environmental performance - evidenced in recent legislation such as Energy Performance Certificates. BCSC is committed to helping the retail property industry meet these commitments and develop a more sustainable approach to its activities. The Sustainability Charter provides guidance and encourages innovation to improve sustainability performance. It offers practical advice on measuring consumption, performance thresholds, and good practice solutions to enable both landlords and tenants to attain a certain level of sustainability. For more information on the Charter, visit: www.bcsc.org.uk/sustainability. Paul Cornes, Chair of BCSC’s Sustainability Taskforce and Head of Sustainability at PRUPIM comments: “Setting an industry-wide aspiration for sustainability is important because while many new-build shopping centres showcase the latest environmental technology, we need to focus on improving environmental performance across existing retail environments which account for 98% of stock. The Charter provides targets across four key areas so that landlords and tenants can work together to introduce effective and inexpensive measures to reduce their environmental impact. These might range from undertaking a full audit of water-use, to installing energy efficient lighting, increasing recycling facilities or introducing a community volunteering programme.” Steven Connolly, Centre Director of Festival Place shopping centre, Basingstoke comments: “Grosvenor is working to integrate sustainability measures across its property portfolio and the initiatives undertaken at Grosvenor's Festival Place shopping centre support all four impact areas of the BCSC Sustainability Charter. We have introduced a number of changes to reduce energy consumption through more efficient use of control systems, lowering the mall temperature and sourcing greener energy suppliers. We have also seen an increase in the amount of waste recycled, thereby lowering the amount of waste sent to landfill, a reduction in water usage and an increase in the amount of support given to the Basingstoke and Deane community.” Crispin Burridge, Head of Plan A & Sustainable Construction at Marks & Spencer, says: “M&S fully supports BCSC’s work in this area. In line with Plan A - our five year, 100 point ‘eco’ plan, we strive to constantly assess the environmental impact of our buildings. Last year we delivered three eco stores and have recently incorporated the key learnings into a Sustainable Construction Manual. This sets out our key targets on a broad range of sustainability issues and gives our suppliers guidance on this complex subject. We are pleased to be supporting BCSC’s Charter which we hope will continue to help retailers to develop a more sustainable approach to construction.” The parliamentary launch of BCSC’s Sustainability Charter is being held in the Members’ Dining Room, House of Commons from 4-6pm. MPs from all parties have been invited to the event and speakers will include Alan Duncan MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Martyn Chase, BCSC President and Chairman EMEA Retail, DTZ Debenham Tie Leung. |
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