Responsibility

How
we do

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles are integral to our philosophy.

ESG has become a pivotal force shaping our business landscape. It calls upon companies to take a holistic approach to responsibility, encompassing our natural and social environment. At Castleforge, we embrace this challenge with vigour by championing impactful, sustainable pathways for ourbuildings and occupiers.

Environment

Social

Governance

Environment

Our commitment to the environment

We believe actions speak louder than words. Our proactive steps toward sustainability include continual investment and a commitment to achieving Net Zero in our Scope One and Two emissions by 2030. This means our buildings will have no impact on your own corporate carbon footprint or GHG emissions. For Scope Three emissions targets, watch this space…

Find out more

Sustainable choices

Our properties are refurbished, rather than new, which makes them more carbon efficient than even the most progressive new builds. And for your fitout and procurement, we have guidelines on hand to support you in making sustainable choices.

Our Net Zero Carbon strategy

In 2023, we committed to becoming a Net Zero Carbon business. To reach this goal by 2030, we’ve created a Net Zero policy, which sets out a clear roadmap for the changes we need to make across our portfolio. Our plan of action includes implementing accelerator strategies for under-performing properties, with regular reviews and external reports to keep end-to-end emissions low.

REGO-backed green electricity from 100% renewables and a procurement strategy aligned to UKGBC standards

All buildings to full electric power by 2030

New targets and tracking systems to reduce waste, energy and water consumption

Zero operational waste to landfill

Guidance for occupiers on sustainable fitouts

Social

Unveiling our Local Charter

Our relationship with our stakeholders is hugely important to us. That’s why we have taken the significant step in unveiling our Local Charter 2024, which gives our partners, investors, suppliers and regulatory bodies full visibility of our strategic priorities. These include: Wellbeing; Empowerment Through Education; and Sustainable Growth.

Find out more

Community initiatives

We look out for our community by implementing valuable safety initiatives, like our publicly registered defibrillators for use by the emergency services. Several of our buildings are also registered to safe shelter schemes, which means emergency services can direct victims to our properties for safe shelter from street harassment.

Occupier surveys

Feedback is our fuel, so we regularly carry out occupier surveys to find out how we can do better.

Our key social commitments and actions:

Deliver on our Local Charter objectives and publish an annual impact statement

Publish an annual impact statement from our Charity Policy

Quarterly occupier meetings and regular customer satisfaction surveys

Collaborate with occupiers and other stakeholders on Net Zero Carbon

Provide occupier fitout guides and best practices to guide responsible office design and use

Governance

We make three commitments on Governance:

To collaborate openly on best practices
Report annually on our progress
Undertake independent assessments of our efforts

Find out more

UN Principles for Responsible Investment

We have been an UN PRI signatory since 2019. We completed our first marked assessment in 2021, in which we scored 4 out of 5 stars for our Investment and Stewardship Policy and 3 stars for Direct Real Estate. Following the relaunch of UN PRI’s reporting framework, we again took the assessment in 2023, with results expected in 2024. As we’ve made significant progress in our own ESG performance, we look forward to seeing positive results.

Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark

In 2022, we took part in the annual GRESB benchmarking process, which provides data on our ESG performance and identifies key priorities for improvement. Despite being our first submission, we scored 72/100. This improved in 2023 with a peer-relative score of 83/100 and an impressive 4 out of 5 stars.

The Net Zero Asset Managers initiative

In 2022, we became a member of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, joining a group of leading asset managers committed to achieving Net Zero emissions for managed investments by 2050. The initiative is a partner of UNFCCC’s Race to Zero Campaign and a Network Partner of PRI, among others. So far, we have shared our interim decarbonisation and long-term goals, and are committed to publishing TCFD disclosures and an annual climate action plan.