The New Government’s Pledges on Sustainability
Key headlines in the Labour manifesto included ‘Accelerating Net Zero,’ ‘Clean Power’ and ‘Get Britain Building again.’…
Envision is pleased to announce that we have been shortlisted as a finalist for Consultants of the Year – Strategic at this year’s HealthInvestor Awards. As a specialist advisor within the healthcare sector, this recognition shows the strong emphasis given to ESG in health investment.
Why have we been nominated?
Environmental, Social and Governance considerations are becoming a major factor in health investing. Ensuring that care portfolios are fit for the next 30 years, Envision is leading the way in which property funds are analysing and managing ESG related risks and opportunities. Our support helps specialist funds, developers and care home operators embed ESG system thinking in their activities, enabling them to transition the UK health sector towards net zero faster than other countries.
How are we supporting the specialist healthcare industry?
Envision specialises in providing strategic support to its clients and employs ESG analysts, low carbon consultants, life cycle specialists and BREEAM assessors, alongside a team of engineers who design and implement low carbon strategies. We bring together a range of technical disciplines to evaluate sustainability opportunities available to a building or property portfolio. We specialise in asset benchmarking and apply our own bespoke techniques for appraising the performance of existing care home assets. We help put in place cost effective strategies and action plans for improvement, taking account of payback and carbon reduction. We are leading providers of BREEAM in Use (BIU) benchmarking for the elderly care sector and have developed streamlined approaches to benchmark homes using BREEAM in Use Criteria to help achieve high ratings across property portfolio, whilst identifying priority issues for investment.
ESG strategy – We continue to be a trusted advisor for many UK care developers, operators and funds. Helping to define best practices in care home investment and embed these practices in day to day operations. We have helped a number of smaller operators who are developing a care portfolio to define ESG ambitions, including policy and process development fit for their business operations. We have drafted design guides to ensure that sustainability is a key factor in new care home design, facilitating sustainable outcomes in new buildings being brought forward. At the strategic level we continue to be a trusted ally of the largest UK heal care funds, retained to manage ESG related risk in existing portfolios, whilst ensuring that new investments are brought forward in ways which limit long term risk and maximise ESG benefits.
Transactional Support – Our support has included the development of investment standards for ESG, enabling robust consideration of ESG related considerations through the acquisition process. We have been engaged in the due diligence of over 30 care home transactions over the past 12 months ranging through forward funding;’ standing assets and dept offers. Envision undertake detailed reviews of each transaction and provide diligence reports for investment committees to ensure that appropriate consideration is given to ESG, alongside the more conventional financial and legal issues dealt with already. Our support helps to identify strengths and weaknesses of an investment from an ESG perspective and helps drive ESG consideration into the future of care homes in the UK.
Disclosures and Transparency – We help various funds with their annual disclosures, including against the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), which has seen significant uptake since its formulation. We are experts in this disclosure method and help portfolio owners to produce accurate and verified submissions which offer investment grade data. Over the past 12 months we have helped new entrants with their first disclosures within the non-listed healthcare sector, as well as supporting long standing clients achieve 5 star ratings, which represent exemplary performance within the industry.
Independent Certification – Envision are leading providers of assessment services using the Building Research Establishment’s BREEAM Method. We have benchmarked over 140 care homes within the UK against the BIU Framework on behalf of property funds, developers and care operators, many of which occurred over the past 12 months. The findings of these assessments provide independent certification which is recognised to have value across the industry from a leasing and investment perspective. Our expertise in this area has given Envision a unique insight into the sustainability challenges that are faced and enables us to provide costed and pragmatic advice for improving a care homes sustainability across a range of considerations, including energy and carbon performance, occupant wellbeing, biodiversity and climate resilience.
Green Leases – a key challenge to achieving real world change is ensuring that clear agreements are in place between owners of healthcare real estate and their operators. In collaboration with leading property law firms, Envision has been working with funds and operators to develop meaningful lease terms which promote mutually beneficial outcomes for driving improvements in buildings over time.
Net Zero Carbon Pathways and climate resilience – Like all sectors of the UK, the care home sector needs to move onto a pathway for achieving net zero to 2050. We have defined trajectories for care homes to be aligned with the Paris agreement pathways, limiting a homes contribution in line with a 1.5 oc climate scenario. Envision employees building services engineers and experts in low carbon buildings to support this. Over the last 18 months the care sector has been hit hard with rising energy prices, meaning that transition towards energy efficiency has become a strategic imperative for care home operators and funds alike. Our analysis involves a review of existing utilities data for a care home to examine trends in consumption. We undertake a survey of the property and provide costed recommendations for reducing energy consumption whilst tackling carbon emissions. Our assessment includes feasibility of switching from gas led systems to heat pumps and opportunities for on-site energy generation to avoid stranding risks. We have undertaken considerable assessments over the past 12 months for care home funds and operators.
The awards will be held on 5th June 2024 at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London.
