Sustainability Reporting

Amidst lively disagreements about priorities, there is mounting and indisputable evidence that the spaces affect short- and long-term health as well as wellbeing and performance. The lifetime of the built environment makes it a natural lever.

“The decisions we make today regarding our buildings will determine our collective health for generations to come” (Allen, Macomber. Healthy Buildings. 2020).

Furthermore, the seismic shifts already in play at the time of the pandemic may have helped it to forever fuse buildings and health in the public consciousness.

The evolving definition of sustainability

Several megatrends are shifting both the operating environment and the vernacular, and several definitions of sustainability co-exist today.

Besides the environmental impact, sustainability is increasingly expected to address:

Resilience

It enables the weathering of whatever shock or stress comes next. Specifically, climate change preparedness became an explicit responsibility of Australian Company Directors in 2016.

“Health and resilience in the face of natural disasters, pandemics, other incidents – it is what investors and insurance companies want to know because they have calculated the costs and don’t want to incur them,” said Jenna Rowe, a former product manager for sustainability. “How reliable is the grid? Is the building reliant on the community or does it contribute back? How resilient is the building? How prepared are the occupants beyond an occasional fire drill? Yes, some may be motivated by reducing the insurance premiums, but the outcomes are real.”

Equity

By shedding a floodlight on structural injustice, the pandemic has catapulted equity to the top of the sustainability agenda because how could society claim sustainability if it favors the privileged? Equity of access has also claimed its stage as society seeks to destigmatize disability and cultural differences.

“The current pandemic has taught us that the human aspects of sustainability and business resilience are inextricably linked. Whatever their circumstance or trade, the pandemic has demonstrated that we cannot afford to take the health of employees for granted.” said David Hemming, whose experience includes managing director for facilities.

Ethics

The limits on human endeavor continue to recede, but as the adage goes, “just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.” Robust interdisciplinary and cross-sectional deliberations over the justified use of power – and over accountability for its use – are set to define the next decade.

Health & wellbeing

Its inclusion in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) cements the central role of health and wellbeing in sustainability. Even amidst the pandemic, 1,542 new organizations have signed onto the Sustainable Development Goals in 2020.

Reframing & remaking

Rather than patching up systems built on outdated assumptions, the focus of sustainability is increasingly on reinventing how FM operates, envisioning and implementing new models.

“It is no longer just about the building as the end product but about everything that comes into it: the labor, the supply chain equity, how they are operated and maintained, and the toxicity in extraction, production, and what happens on the other side,” said Rowe.

Managing an international portfolio

In addition to local building codes and ordinances, a patchwork of international rating tools address occupant health, wellbeing, and performance. Most tools (LEED, Green Star, BREEAM, Green Globes) address occupants (e.g., via the Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) category) to help ensure that the pursuit of resource efficiency doesn’t automatically yield sick buildings and helps the business case: people demand more of what they like.

“What is universally a priority has changed with the pandemic. Ventilation wasn’t a huge concern for most and now – it is all about ventilation and HVAC systems,” said Rowe

The main rating tools, science-based, specifically focused on assessing the potential of a space to protect and advance occupant health and wellbeing are:

1. WELL operates globally and addresses individual buildings or portfolios through actions across ten concepts: air, water, nourishment, light, movement, thermal comfort, sound, materials, mind, community, and innovation. With 4,435 projects across 63 countries and accounting for 632M sq. ft. - adding a million sq. ft. per day during the pandemic - WELL is the most rapidly growing of these tools.

2. Fitwel operates globally, with 1840 projects across 40 countries. Its main differentiator from WELL is requiring no on-site verification.

3. National Australian Built Environment Rating Scheme for Indoor Environment (NABERS IE) addresses only offices, operates in Australia and is being launched into the UK.

“In navigating this landscape, any organization should look at what is globally applicable, regionally relevant, and locally beneficial. Certification needs to contribute to the company's goals while complying with regulatory requirements and benefiting the occupants,” said Rowe

In 2015, the World Green Building Council stated, “With the widespread use of rating tools globally, we believe there must be quality standards to ensure that the green building rating tool used is robust and positively contributes to environmental sustainability. Therefore, WorldGBC has launched the Quality Assurance Guide for Green Building Rating Tools to guide new, emerging and established rating tools to ensure that their development and implementation is robust, transparent and to a good standard.”

The biggest differences between these tools are the scope (with WELL reaching the furthest) and whether they verify performance. The lack of this requirement has been one of the biggest criticisms of green building tools: it should only matter how a building performs, not how it was intended to.

However, that assessment is not quite fair. Ample daylight, operable windows, and commuter facilities are indeed design outcomes that are difficult to retrofit operationally. What matters is verifying the features subject to operational uncertainty: a robust HVAC system may be essential but not sufficient for good air quality, and both WELL and NABERS IE require regular verification by an independent test. Occupants, investors, and insurers increasingly expect this unbiased verification, especially in the context of safe (re)entry.

A selection of international reporting frameworks

• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) pioneered sustainability reporting in 1997 and with 93 percent of the world’s 250 largest corporations using it to annually report on their sustainability performance, GRI is the most widely adopted framework , increasingly required by policymakers and regulators or admissible as an alternative compliance path.

• United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI): With 3,311 signatories accounting for more than $USD8 trillion in assets under management, PRI is the second-most used global reporting framework for responsible investment.

• Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) is specific to the property industry. With more than 100 institutional and financial investors reporting on $USD5.3 trillion in real estate and infrastructure globally, it is formidable in steering investment towards a more sustainable future.

These frameworks help control for “greenwash”: in June, the GRI benchmark was revised to no longer allow goals that fall short of the global agenda, making feasibility an illegitimate excuse for failing to address time-bound global goals. Unlike rating tools, these frameworks are pursuing alignment and interchangeability, in part to make it easier for organizations to start the journey and be acknowledged for meaningful, continual progress.

Regional differences

Across a sample of more than 170 WELL Performance Verifications completed around the world, air and municipal water quality are universally pursued (these are WELL preconditions) and are the most location sensitive: pre-pandemic, breathing outdoor air in New Delhi was equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes per day. Indoor air quality (IAQ) is also impacted by local materials (through emissions) and techniques, so a portfolio holder focused on IAQ may prioritize particulate filtration in India, absorbent filtration for formaldehyde in Singapore, and strategies that minimize infiltration of ozone in the Netherlands. Similarly, while the science-based targets for lighting, noise and thermal comfort are universal, the approach will vary greatly between climates and local construction techniques. Furthermore, if local cleaning expectations are lower, levels of particulate matter can quickly exceed benchmarks, and poor municipal water may lead to corrosion and deterioration of plumbing components, making it harder to maintain a target in some places.

“With an international portfolio, it is always advisable to set, informed my regional constraints and drivers, holistic goals and targets because it makes measuring the impact across the whole portfolio simpler,” said Hemming. “That said, how those goals and targets are achieved locally – from the culture to the certification one may pursue – has to be informed from the ground up or it will not get traction where it matters.”

The gaps

We don't know our buildings

The way each asset functions will be unique and yet in the face of the pandemic, all seem to have the same shopping list to make it more resilient. If the asset is thought of as a person, how does an FM know its vitals at rest (low occupancy)? At full occupancy? Does the FM monitor the parameters that determine what is needed to keep the system balanced and optimised– and are there controls to swiftly act on anomalies?

“A clear rationale for occupant focused investment can come from the ratio of the initial investment to its O&M costs over its predicted life to the business operating costs such as salaries; research shows 1:0.4:12 is an average ratio,” said Hemming.

Existing buildings remain the elephant in the room

“The most sustainable buildings are the ones that already exist” said Rowe.

Most projects with the highest ratings are new builds. It is easier to start with a clean slate, so it will require an industry commitment – aided by government incentives – to uplift the existing building stock, and FMs wield unparalleled influence.

We don’t yet measure health outcomes

Some 15 years ago, green building rating tools rewarded window orientation – a prescriptive tactic that has since been obsolete by energy modelling. However, today’s health tools are where green building tools were 15 years ago: rewarding inputs, not outcomes.

Acceptance of unnecessary risk

Quality spaces are seen as a perk, not as a basic right. In Australia, a violent murder of a woman in a domestic violence incident in 2010 was deemed, on appeal in 2020, a “workplace manslaughter” because she was working from home and her employer failed to provide a safe workplace. While extreme, this example illustrates that taking a job shouldn’t compromise one’s health – or life expectancy.

What’s next?

Healthy buildings as a basic right

What if, realizing that buildings determine their future, people started to refuse unhealthy buildings, growing the demand for healthy schools, workplaces, hotels and grocery stores? 

Regulation for health

Even as voluntary schemes lift the ceiling of what is possible, it is regulation that equitably raises the floor for all. Standards, local ordinances, and building codes will inevitably mandate healthy buildings, progressively rendering the laggard market obsolete.

Transparency about IEQ

Occupants will increasingly measure air and water quality via apps and determine whether they are safe enough to work. This will drive a proliferation of real-time sensor systems backed up by expert diagnostic, forensic and intervention expertise.

“A small cohort of staff stated it was unsafe to work due to construction work on the exterior. Luckily, I had engaged an independent testing organization to measure the building’s IEQ before and during, demonstrating that whilst certain levels were elevated to a ‘nuisance/ irritant’ level, they were not above acceptable exposure limits,” said Hemming.

Companies delivering on health outcomes

Asset owners will undoubtedly overcome both technical and privacy hurdles and begin measuring the actual impact of their spaces, with the FM profession central to making this happen.

Embarking on a “healthy buildings” strategy

How does an FM team shape an IEQ strategy that fits an organization’s assets like a glove and yet is scalable if needed?

1. Get informed.

Don’t let discomfort with a new topic dissuade meaningful action. Because WELL is today’s most robust tool for occupant health and wellbeing, read the introduction to WELL’s 10Concepts, view a video online, or request a training course by a faculty member.

2. Understand the baseline.

Conduct a diagnostic for the assets against the WELL scorecard – what is “in the bag,” what’s a stretch, and what appears out of reach – and consider how the FM team can discover the buildings' normal, through routine testing, a system of sensors, or other means.

3. Clarify the galvanizing goals

A sense of duty doesn’t go far enough for long enough. What would make it worth it for accompany to invest in occupant-focused operations? Is it staff satisfaction? Talent attraction? OpEx? Better health outcomes? Try to set the metrics.

“The benefits of post-occupancy surveys (POEs) should not be underestimated: I have found them invaluable in gauging the underlying issues,” said Hemming.

4. Understand your risk profile

Risk and confidence operate according to the law of diminishing returns: each additional degree of confidence is exponentially harder. A one-off independent review may validate implementation, but it may take ongoing monitoring to claim that occupants are not at greater risk in the building.

5. Fasttrack the non-negotiables

Focus on the core tenets: if air quality a must-have, what is the most cost-effective thing am FM can do? Is it to increase the amount of outside air or to install a higher efficiency filter?

“Sometimes simple math conveys impact. One hundred people making an average of $55k a year is an overhead of $5.5M per year. If the poor building performance reduces the team’s productivity by 15 percent (only losing 1hr 7min 30sec of proper focus per day), that would be a loss of 33.45 days and $789,592 per year,” said Hemming.

6. Identify priorities

Consider what assets have the greatest impact on the occupants. If they work in a sealed lab, not only air quality but lighting, ergonomics, and mobility may be key. If you’re the occupants have weakened immune systems, it might be air direction and VOCs. Or, if the space serves the broader community, the top priority may be physical and linguistic accessibility.

“A building certification is also a stakeholder engagement element: it is a visible representation of your brand. In Seattle, people expect to see a LEED plaque but here in Indianapolis? Not necessarily. It is all about finding the appropriate tools that speak to your place, its compliance requirements and social expectations, in way that also allow for streamlined global goal setting and reporting,” Rowe said.

7. Change management

Decisions don’t change things – implementation does. Understand what precise changes across people (motivation and capability), technology, and systems (protocols, incentives, feedback loops) must support occupant health and wellbeing, and advocate for the realignment. Be prepared to educate co-workers and occupants on the benefits.

8. Avoid the most common mistakes

Do not reinvent the wheel. None of the rating schemes in the market are perfect and the costs can be a deterrent, but unless everything above is “old news,” delegate to an existing verification system until/if an internal capability that surpasses it is developed. If the organization’s brand is big enough, try to secure special provisions, such as cross-portfolio documentation or bespoke innovation points.

Do not grow dependent. Good consultants make themselves obsolete. Shadow to develop replicable internal capability and outsource if it is wanted, not because is needed.

Do not forgo intellectual property. Whether it is a BIM model of the intelligence behind a sensor system, create an internal capacity to own it, and never be blindsided by consultants.