Invista Real Estate

About Us

 

Corporate Social Responsibility

Our business and our clients

At Invista, we understand Corporate Social Responsibility ('CSR') as key to our long term future business success. We are committed to delivering financial returns to our clients in a way that delivers positive measurable environmental, social and economic benefits. We consider CSR as a strategic benefit which is part of a continuing process to add long term value to the business, our people and to our shareholders.

Invista takes a holistic approach to CSR; it cuts across the whole of our business including our people. It is our goal to equip our employees with the best skills and to encourage responsible business practice. In our experience this strengthens employee motivation and commitment and improves staff retention.

Responsible business practice includes having policies and processes in place which are geared towards treating our customers, employees and shareholders fairly and transparently. We also apply this approach to service providers and suppliers, for example by working with firms with closely aligned values and behaviours. CSR is a key differentiator which helps build our reputation and trust.

Our people

Invista's business growth is aligned with its commitment toward fostering employee development; it is therefore our goal to create a culture of learning and continuous improvement in the Company. We have implemented a positive and dynamic training policy to ensure our employees have the skills and knowledge to perform their job confidently and responsibly.

We achieve this by funding and supporting those undertaking professional qualifications as well as through the provision of competency and technical training. In our experience this strengthens employee motivation, development and commitment. The development programmes also make a positive contribution to our organisational performance as a more highly skilled workforce can accomplish more as the individuals gain in experience and knowledge.

Environmental sustainability

We recognise that the way in which buildings are designed, built, managed and occupied significantly influences their impact on the environment. We seek to manage these issues through our sustainable property investment programme.

Through the implementation of this programme we are able to manage effectively our sustainability-related risks including climate change, site contamination and remediation, the use of hazardous materials, employee and contractor health and safety, waste management and local community relations.

The drivers to address these issues have never been stronger: greater occupier demand for sustainable/energy efficient buildings, growing regulation, increased investor interest and significant planning requirements. These factors make it imperative that we both manage the risks and maximise the opportunities that may arise. How we seek to do this in practice is set out in more detail below.

Strategy and governance
The implementation and development of our sustainable property investment policy and strategy is overseen by our Sustainability Committee. This Committee comprises representatives from a cross section of the Company to ensure the strategy is relevant to our core business activities.

Invista utilises a framework for sustainability management structured around the requirements of a typical environmental management system. This model is underpinned by two key principles – striving for continuous improvement and actively engaging with stakeholders. We are committed to working constructively with our clients, business partners, suppliers, local communities, occupiers, government agencies and planning and regulatory bodies in order to achieve greater sustainability in property development and management.

Sustainable property investment policy
This policy sets out the key principles of how we will manage and develop all property assets whilst delivering positive environmental, social and economic benefits.

Property Management
Invista is addressing the environmental impacts of property management through the creation of the Sustainability Requirements for Property Managers for offices, shopping centres and our industrial portfolio. This demonstrates commitment to the gathering of accurate operational data to facilitate the quantitative understanding of the performance of our portfolio, with a view to reducing the environmental impact of our operations.

Development activities
Invista currently has a number of development or refurbishment projects under way or in planning. Over the coming year we will develop an environmental checklist designed to inform the development brief, highlighting key environmental issues that should be addressed as well as providing a framework to set specific objectives and targets for each project.

Acquisitions and disposals
Invista has reviewed its acquisitions and disposals processes to ensure that key sustainability issues are incorporated in these processes. With respect to acquisitions, this ensures that we can understand the risks and opportunities associated with a building at the outset of the acquisition process.

Targets and performance data
Invista's Board has approved a set of targets which will ensure that we embed our strategy within the operations of the business. The Sustainability Committee has put in place an implementation timetable and will be responsible for ensuring that the targets are completed. Alongside this, we are also developing a set of key performance indicators, selected on the basis of their relevance to the business, which will allow us to measure our performance against key impact areas.

Sustainability Risks
Participation in Jones Lang LaSalle's Upstream Sustainability Services' and The Third Dimension service provides us with a more accurate awareness of the sustainability risks to which our properties are exposed and therefore allows us to address these in a strategic and targeted manner, property by property, or indeed fund by fund. Individualised 'Risk Adjusted Return' scores have also been calculated for Invista's properties - by then comparing our Sustainability Scores with the Risk Adjusted Returns, sustainability is taken into account for the forecast return of that individual property, offering us as an investor a unique and bespoke forecasting service for our properties.