intu properties plc Corporate responsibility highlights 2017 Better together

Transcription

1 intu properties plc Corporate responsibility highlights 2017 Better together

2 A message from our Chairman I ve been impressed watching how our centre teams engage with our customers to ensure that there are smiles all round. Their enthusiasm is utterly infectious. Read more in our 2017 CR report As I come to the end of my first year in my role as Chairman, I have been phenomenally impressed by the business and the people who are the driving force behind its success. I have seen the commitment of our teams at all our centres to go that extra mile for our customers, our retailers and our communities. Our corporate responsibility (CR) initiatives are closely tied to the successful running of our centres and help deliver operational excellence. Equipping staff to meet the needs of customers with autism or ensuring, via our skills programmes, that retailers can access a better-prepared talent pool of potential employees these activities directly support the welcome our customers receive at our centres and underscore our dedication to delivering our purpose: to make customers smile and help retailers flourish. We are also concerned that we keep our environmental impact to a minimum and I am pleased to report that we have achieved nearly all of our 2020 environmental targets three years early and are looking for ways to make our business even more sustainable. As a long-term business and a major employer in many of the regions where we operate, we have an important role in the wellbeing and the future of our communities, and take our responsibilities seriously. Recognising the importance of locally created and relevant projects, my Chairman s prize for 2017 has gone to The Bus Shelter MK, a project to provide short-term accommodation for homeless people in Milton Keynes in a converted double-decker bus. I was also impressed by runners-up intu Derby and intu Lakeside and their community partnerships. This report contains some of the CR highlights from the year. You can find out more in our full CR 2017 report. John Strachan Chairman Milton Keynes (intu Milton Keynes) years of s Bromley (intu Bromley) Cassiobury (intu Watford) Saltwells (intu Merry Hill) Uxbridge (intu Uxbridge) Penge (intu Bromley) Renfrew/Linwood (intu Braehead) 2011 Colne River (intu Watford) 2013 Partington (intu Trafford Centre) Whitehall (intu Bromley) For a decade intu has worked with The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), local authorities and local communities to set up s near intu centres around the UK. s promote healthy activity, nurture community spirit and regenerate green spaces. intu s support, funding and volunteers have helped TCV establish 10 s. Each becomes self-sustaining within a few years, allowing intu and TCV to focus their collective resources on locations for additional s.

3 Communities and economy 4.6bn economic contribution (GVA) 1.9m total charitable contribution including facilitated donations 900 community organisations supported Why it matters Our centres are at the heart of our communities and what we do has an impact on them. We want to make sure it s a positive impact. We work in partnership with our communities to support initiatives that bring prosperity and encourage inclusivity. We focus on improving skills and creating employment, and invest in partnerships that address health and wellbeing, accessibility and youth inclusion. Making our centres accessible As part of our commitment to be the accessible destination of choice, we work with a variety of charities and community groups to make our centres accessible and inclusive. This year we held the first mass Autism Quiet Hours with the National Autistic Society. All our retailers turned down their music and dimmed their lights, creating a more calming environment for shoppers. We also launched a personal shopping service for visually impaired customers at intu Braehead. It has been so successful the scheme is launching at two more centres in Music and young talent come together The creative arts charity, Create, ran its largest creative:connection project with us this year. Designed to tackle disability prejudice through collaborative creativity, the project worked with 56 disabled and non-disabled students from four schools in Manchester, who together wrote and performed original songs and music. 1,300 community activities held CommunityMark We are accredited with the CommunityMark, recognising excellence in community investment 3,600 people reached through our community partnerships Two inspirational performances took place at intu Trafford Centre. A piece called One Love Manchester, written in homage to their city and the lives lost in the Manchester Arena tragedy, was a big hit with the audience. Our customers were delighted by the shows and took time to congratulate the students. The post-event evaluation demonstrated a positive impact on the participants self-esteem and confidence. I now know everyone is different in a good way. Student, New Park High School Upskilling the next generation Our employment skills programmes offer BTEC qualifications, filmmaking, citizenship, motivation and self-confidence courses, and apprenticeships in customer service and operations. These programmes are run with local schools, colleges and job centres, often in partnership with prominent businesses and community organisations. Delivered annually with Tyneside Cinema, the Northern Stars Documentary Film Academy aims to give young people across the northeast the chance to develop new skills in filmmaking and improve their job prospects. There have been some awardwinning films created through the programme along with opportunities for students to put their skills into practice for corporate clients.

4 Better together Good relationships with our stakeholders are integral to everything we do and help us deliver positive change in our communities and for the environment Working together for a good cause We have helped to address the growing problem of homelessness and social deprivation. intu recognises the complexities of this huge welfare challenge so our centres facilitate practical support for those in need. Relationships 800 volunteering activities by intu staff Why our relationships matter We are a people business. Strong relationships and trusted engagement with our stakeholders, including our customers and communities, retailers, investors, suppliers and government enable us to deliver our strategic and corporate responsibility objectives. Our people are at the heart of developing intu s proactive engagement. We understand and respond to issues important to our stakeholders, which ensures our long-term success and operational excellence. The launch this year of an innovative project, The Bus Shelter MK, offers a safe place for homeless people to seek advice, medical assistance, a place to sleep and help with finding a place to call their own. The success of the project is down to great working relationships between intu Milton Keynes, the local council and other retailers, along with support from the community. 5,000 employee training days 93% of our staff agreed that volunteering improved their awareness of wider social issues Volunteering In 2017 the number of staff volunteering hours doubled. Staff have invested their time in a range of projects including homeless shelters, food banks, befriending services and gardening activities. They have utilised a range of talents and learned new skills in the process. Their feedback shows their main motivation is to give something back to the community and that they feel more connected to social issues by volunteering. 55,000 fundraised by staff, including intu match-funding 28,000hrs staff time donated to support the community

5 Why it matters Managing our use of natural resources efficiently is essential to being a sustainable business. By doing this, we can save money, create jobs, boost our economy and respect the planet. We focus on five material issues to minimise our impacts: energy and carbon, waste, water efficiency, sustainable transport and sustainable construction. Meeting our environmental targets We are making good progress on our long-term 2020 commitments, meeting several of them three years early. We have met our ambitious carbon reduction target and maintained our water use and zero waste to landfill commitments. We are working with sustainability consultants Bioregional to assess how we can set more ambitious environmental commitments. Zero waste to landfill Environment 1.1 litres per customer visit 63% waste recycled 80 electric car-charging points 58% reduction in carbon emissions since 2010 Recycle Week Recycling helps to reduce the pollution caused by waste so we used Recycle Week to encourage staff, customers and retailers to recycle more. A range of events took place in our centres, including school visits so that students could see how we recycle. At intu Eldon Square, they saw our Organic Waste Logistics system, which ensures that 100 per cent of food waste is converted into renewable energy and organic fertiliser. We also collaborated with local councils, such as Stoke-on-Trent city council, who came to intu Potteries to raise awareness with customers about food waste. intu Trafford Centre partnered with Every Can Counts and with their customers and retailers collected an incredible 47,000 cans for recycling! We disclosed our climate data and information to the CDP, the biggest climate change survey We were awarded a Green Star on the GRESB sustainability benchmark for property companies Halving our carbon footprint Since 2012, we have focused our carbon management on improving our energy efficiency to reduce wasted use and make our centres more operationally efficient. Lighting accounts for up to 50 per cent of energy use in retail spaces. We have rolled out over 60,000 LED lightbulbs across the whole of our portfolio to help achieve our long-term carbon footprint reduction target. But we did more than just switching the bulbs. We installed new energy management systems and appointed energy champions at each centre, who used this technology to educate and change operational behaviours which saved a lot of energy.

6 Contact: Alexander Nicoll Corporate Responsibility Director Go online intugroup.co.uk 2018 intu properties plc