H2 2024 Sustainability Update
Written by Danielle Sheppard, Head of Performance & Impact.
As the financial year progresses, we are continuing to work towards our core commitments for April 2024 – March 2025. In that vein, we are delighted to say that we have significantly outperformed last year’s UNPRI score in each of the assessed criteria.
At Barwood, we have made substantial strides in sustainability and social impact over the past 24 months. We are pleased to see these efforts recognised through a significant improvement in our Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) scorecard.
The PRI is a globally respected advocate of responsible investment, with over 7,000 corporate signatories across 135 countries, making it the world’s largest voluntary corporate sustainability initiative.
Our overall PRI score has increased by 73%, and we now significantly exceed the average benchmark across all three relevant sections—a remarkable achievement for a company of our size. We are particularly proud to have achieved a perfect 100% score in Confidence Building Measures, reflecting our strong commitment to advancing sustainability and social impact within the property sector.
Additionally, our Policy, Governance, and Strategy score saw a notable rise to 74 out of 100, earning us a 4-star rating out of a possible 5. This improvement underscores how deeply sustainability and social impact are embedded within our decision-making processes.
As a signatory of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), Barwood remains dedicated to fostering responsible investment practices that contribute to a more sustainable and equitable global economy.
We recognise that we can’t stand still however and we are continuing to work towards being totally transparent about our carbon emissions and our journey to achieving net zero. Calculations are underway for all our funds for the 2023-2024 period. We will be publishing our latest Impact Report next year with an update on this.
On a project level we also try and practice what we preach, for example our office refurbishment in Richmond is one of only three projects in the south east to be awarded BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ and of those three is the building that was a refurbishment thereby saving on embodied carbon. The project also achieved a 2-star Fitwel rating and an EPC rating of A. We are committed to retrofitting where possible and have commissioned a formal EPC report for our multi-let industrial portfolio. Other noteworthy project specific updates include:
- Recently secured consent from the distribution network operator for a 1MW PV system at Ellesmere Port.
- On track to achieve BREEAM ‘Excellent’ at Trafford Park.
On the residential side, we are continuing to target an EPC rating of A for all new BRIP developments and our BRIP 8 development in Winchester is on track to achieve this by utilising a range of energy efficiency measures. These include timber frame construction allowing for more insulation in the walls, air source heat pumps with under floor heating and zoned temperature control, and solar photovoltaic panels with battery storage. The developer, 6A Vision Homes, has excellent sustainability credentials and together we have taken proactive steps to ensure that we are in a strong position to achieve an EPC A rating for this development.
All of our residential development partners are required to be willing to engage in our sustainability objectives and the sustainability credentials of any new developers are assessed before being onboarded.
We have now aligned purpose with profits in our Governance, reinforcing our genuine commitment to sustainability and social impact. At Barwood, this is not just rhetoric – we firmly believe that strong sustainability credentials are a key driver in delivering market – leading returns for our investors and make us a great company to work for and with.