Every year in our annual Sustainability Report we review the sustainability goals we set ourselves for the year and report on how we did. Here's what we've been working on this year.
01 Reduce our carbon emissions according to our Toitū Carbonreduce plan
Status: Currently not on track
Three years ago we started working with Toitū Envirocare and developed a carbon emissions profile based on the 2019/20 financial year, along with a detailed multi-year plan to reduce those emissions over a period extending to 2026. During the last two years, in the course of regular monitoring, we identified some serious refrigerant leaks that substantially increased our direct emissions figures and set us a long way off track from our reduction targets. The leaks were quickly remedied and in the course of investigating the scale of the leaks, we discovered an error in the way our contractor was recording refrigerant refill data. We believe this means the true scale of leakage has been significantly over-represented, but are unable to redress this retroactively.
02. Improve our Green Star Performance Tool rating
Status: Adapted
In 2019, Britomart was the first property company in New Zealand to adopt the NZ Green Building Council’s Green Star Performance Tool and achieved a 3 Star rating for the environmental performance of buildings in the precinct as a whole, representing ‘good practice’. During the same period, we began working with Toitū Envirocare for carbon emissions assessment. We are also investigating WELL Building certification and are upgrading our own policies and systems around resource tracking and management. On review, we decided that while the Green Star Performance Tool was valuable in helping us develop stronger systems, the external assessments overlapped substantially with our assessments through NABERSNZ, Toitū Envirocare and (in future) WELL Performance for the Maritime Building and other WELL certifications for buildings within Britomart. Consequently, we decided not to proceed with another three-year commitment to the tool.
03 Continue to lead tenants and find common ground to reduce emissions
Status: In progress
We felt this goal wasn’t worded specifically enough and have written a new one that is more measurable. See our ‘Extended Goals’ section.
04 Achieve a 5 Green Star rating for the Barrington Sofrana (now Hayman Kronfeld) redevelopment
Status: On track to achieve
The refurbishment of these two heritage buildings is set for completion by the end of 2022, and we are confident of achieving the targeted 5 Green Star rating. You can read more about the Hayman Kronfeld project at this link.
05 Create a separate base-case emissions profile and emissions reduction plan for The Hotel Britomart
Status: Achieved
We worked with Toitū Envirocare to separately measure The Hotel Britomart’s emissions in order to create a base year of data and an emissions reduction plan. We expect our submission to be audited and certified in December 2022.
EXTENDED GOALS
During the year, we assessed our sustainability goals and extended them. These are our extended goals and reports on our progress in achieving them.
01 To measure the impact of our social sustainability initiatives using pedestrian data, digital engagement, and social media impressions to establish a baseline for measuring future activations.
Early feedback from our sustainability impact tracking is positive – we’re seeing above-average open rates, engagement rates and an uptick in pedestrian numbers during our activations. Our Greening the City tree giveaway, for example, saw an extra 1000 pedestrian movements in Takutai Square for each afternoon of the giveaway.
02 Work with For the Love of Bees to explore opportunities for a regenerative organic rooftop garden of 300sqm on the roof of the Britomart Carpark.
A substantial amount of work was put in by the operations team, community team, sustainability team and For The Love of Bees to evaluate this proposal. Unfortunately, it ultimately proved unfeasible for structural reasons relating to the weight of the garden on the carpark roof.
03 Obtain a NABERSNZ rating for the Hayman Kronfeld Building.
The refurbished Hayman Kronfeld Building will open in December, once streetscape works in Galway Street are completed. We will obtain a NABERSNZ rating once the building is fully operational.
04 Investigate WELL Building certification potential for the Maritime Building (Cooper and Company office).
An investigation was completed, which showed that WELL Building certification would be difficult to achieve within a heritage building. Instead, a WELL Performance rating will be pursued.
05 Review and update the Power BI dashboard to ensure the data can be used by the Facilities Management team to use to assist with the day-to-day running of the buildings
The dashboard underwent design modifications to fit the facilities management team’s requirements.
06 Review the Green Star Performance Tool criteria and ensure it is reflected in Britomart protocol and policy
All polices have been updated and digitised. ‘As Built’ documentation has begun.
07 Create an asset register of all water meters in the precinct, including type of meter and pipe size.
A full audit of the 198 water meters in the precinct was completed.
08 Update our standard lease document to include sustainability requirements.
This has been completed, with a Green Star MOU included in the lease for the lease partners in the Hayman Kronfeld Building.
09 Work with Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hoani Waititi Marae to establish a vocational programme that introduces their students to a range of career possibilities and work experience options at Britomart, using this as an opportunity to connect Britomart businesses with the Kura community and each other
This programme was postponed due to Covid-19 but will start in Q1 2023. Students will visit six Britomart businesses for initial orientation, then choose which business they would like to start work experience with. Participating businesses are EY, Monk Mackenzie, Karen Walker, The Hotel Britomart and Café Hanoi/ Ghost Street.
10 Engage with communities throughout Auckland with ongoing displays of art and photography around Britomart, including our annual Matariki celebrations, with a focus on sustainability and social issues.
We have continued to run a full programme of social, cultural and environmental activations and art displays in Takutai Square and throughout the neighbourhood. Read more about these activities in our Social and Environment stories.
11 Continue to connect Britomart’s lease partners with each other in our shared pursuit of sustainability goals through in-person gatherings and digital communications.
We send out regular updates to our leasing partners, letting them know what’s going on in the neighbourhood. We’ve also started a programme of sending welcome packs to graduates joining firms at Britomart, to give them a sense of place and information on sustainability. Our City Futures project invited our lease partners to attend a lunch discussion of how to revive the central city postCovid, and our Britomart Nights campaign celebrated workers who keep the neighbourhood buzzing 24/7. See more of these activities later in this report.
12 Work to decrease our carbon emissions by 5 percent by 2026 through the actions in our Toitū Carbonreduce plan.
This work is ongoing, and detailed in our Toitū Carbonreduce section.
NEXT/ Read about the goals we've set ourselves for the 2023 year.
