Environmental Notice Board

The past eighteen months have been extremely challenging for the property sector and despite some current signs of increasing stability, we anticipate that the market will remain fragile in the short term.

These tough operating conditions call for innovation in business strategy and a robust approach to risk management. We must ensure that alongside our primary focus on cash conservation, we continue to achieve strong sales, customer satisfaction, employee wellbeing, positive community relations and good environmental management.

In this context, our CR strategy must add value to the business, reflect stakeholder concerns and help us to adapt so that we are best placed to take advantage of potential opportunities as we come out of the recession.

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I am writing this in the wake of dramatic changes to the financial climate across the UK. The economic downturn has had a significant impact on the property sector and it would be inaccurate to suggest that this is not having an effect on Grainger's Corporate Responsibility (CR) Strategy, and indeed on the approach to sustainable development of those across the property sector


However, a strong commitment to CR is embedded in Grainger's core business strategy and our seven key objectives are still of central importance. Maintaining our commitment to CR whilst remaining focussed on our responsibility to deliver profits to our shareholders will be a challenge in the years ahead. As such, the focus of our strategy will be adapted to reflect these changing conditions.

We will still invest in the local community, but with a focus on employee volunteering and in—kind donations rather than cash contributions. We will still work to improve the environmental performance of our portfolio, but we will have a renewed focus on behavioural change and will have to carefully consider capital investments in the context of the value that can be added to our assets and the financial savings that can be achieved for our tenants, who are also facing financial difficulty.

Within this context of economic change, I am particularly proud to be able to report on the success of Grainger's CR strategy in the past year. The fact that we have fully achieved 72% of our targets for 2007/08 is testament to the hard work and commitment of the Grainger team. This year, for the first time, we are producing a standalone report devoted to our CR strategy and this signifies the extent to which CR has become a core part of our business.


Real business opportunities are presented by our continued commitment. This year we will be focussing on programmes of engagement with our customers. This will give us the opportunity to provide support and advice on the actions they can take to reduce their impact on the environment and save money on fuel bills. We will also be encouraging our employees to engage in volunteering. This will allow us to share our skills with charity based organisations, whilst also providing opportunities for employees and teams to grow through experiencing challenges outside of their usual working environment.


We are also faced with risks. The recent requirement for us to provide energy performance certificates for all properties at point of rent or sale means that for the first time, customers have an accurate picture of the efficiency of our properties. This combined with rises in energy prices means that the efficiency of our properties is of greater importance than ever before. We hope to turn this risk into an opportunity by focussing on the cost efficient measures we can take to improve the efficiency of our portfolio, thus increasing our competitiveness.


In line with many of our peers Grainger has slowed its development activity in recent months. This means that the focus of our business strategy has shifted onto our existing assets. If we want to reduce our environmental and social impact we must communicate effectively with our customers and plan our refurbishment programmes with sustainability at the fore of our decision making. You will read more about our plans in this respect throughout our report which I hope you will find an informative and enjoyable read.

Rupert Dickinson

Chief executive

Download: Upstream's advisors statement

Grainger has embraced the Government's Warm Front initiative. The grant based scheme provides benefits to tenants to help make their homes more energy efficient. The bulk of Grainger's housing stock is older property and there is therefore scope for the energy efficiency of much of the portfolio to be significantly improved. Grainger is encouraging its eligible tenants to make use of the Warm Front Initiative, whilst funding the works ourselves for those who are not eligible. Dependant on the needs presented by specific properties, works could include installing central heating with efficient boilers, insulation, draft proofing and low energy light bulbs. Grainger is also working toward developing more sustainable new build homes. The Government's target is to achieve zero carbon housing by 2016 by ensuring all new housing achieves level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes. In order to reach this target, all new homes should be code level 3 by 2010 and code level 4 by 2013. We have a target to build all of our new properties in our current pipeline to level 3 of The Code for Sustainable Homes. In order to be compliant with the energy efficiency section of Code level 3, a home will need to be 25% more energy efficient compared to Part L of the 2006 building regulations.