Picton Property Income Limited Sustainability Report 2021

PictonProperty Income Limited Sustainability Report 2021

23

Environmental Focus

Introduction

Approach

Sustainable Buildings

Our Employees

Stakeholder Engagement

Appendix

Environmental Focus Our environment continued

Water consumption

Colchester Business Park, Colchester Partneringwith landscape experts to improve planting and promotewildlife

The reduced occupation of our buildings has led to large absolute reductions in water usage at many of our properties, the exceptions being those assets with large refurbishment projects, which are set out below.

Recognising the opportunities presented by the landscaped and natural vegetation areas at Colchester Business Park, we undertook a large biodiversity drive this year, partnering with landscape experts. Initially we completed a biodiversity site assessment to understand existing biodiversity levels and identify new initiatives. The site assessment resulted in the installation of two insect hotels and three bird boxes on site and confirmed that the

existing planting around the sites was already beneficial to wildlife, with its consistent flowering throughout the year. In addition, a Habitat Creation and Enhancement Survey was conducted by the Essex Wildlife Trust to help shape the next phase of biodiversity projects at the site. This provided advice and guidance on how to manage the existing tree and scrubland, and further promote wildlife including the creation of a new wildflower meadow.

We collect the majority of our water data via estimated bills from our providers, which are calculated based on the size, type and typical usage for comparable buildings. Over the coming year we plan to install limpet readers on our water meters (which are often located in inaccessible locations) to allow remote monitoring of usage. Over the year we have seen a decrease of almost -47% in our absolute landlord purchased water consumption and with approximately 80% of water supplies being considered estimated. The large reductions in water use can be predominantly explained by site closures because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Over eight sites reported an average of -62% reduction in water use as a result of reduced occupation levels. Only two sites, Pembroke Court, Chatham and Stanford Building, London saw large increases in water consumption, both of which are attributed to ongoing site refurbishments works. Like-for-like water consumption has seen a decrease of

-38%. Next year we hope to see savings achieved through the various water efficiency measures that we have now completed. There have been steady increases across the remaining portfolio with a greater focus required on obtaining reliable water data. Looking ahead, to meet our performance target, we recognise that a better understanding of our water consumption is needed so that necessary measures can be implemented. This will start with improving the accuracy of our water consumption figures through the installation of limpet readers to improve the data set.

Read more in tables 8 and 9

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