General
In 2021, the Dutch Urban Living Venture (DULV) participated for the second time in the ESG Benchmark GRESB, formerly known as the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark. The commitment to making the real estate sector more sustainable was emphasized in 2020 with a score of 81/100 (coming from a score of 73 in 2020). The fund's performance was also recognized with a Green Star rating, meaning DULV achieved more than 50% across all areas. The target for 2022 is to improve this score.
Social involvement
Employees are an important link for success. Despite many Rockfield Real Estate employees having primarily worked from home throughout 2020, a wide variety of options have been offered for both professional and personal development. Compared to 2019, the number of training and courses attended has increased by 15 percentage points and the proportion of employees who have received specific ESG-related training has increased by 33 percentage points. In addition, an internal survey of 98% of the employees investigated which improvements could be made. The results show that employees are (more than) satisfied with their place within the organization, taking actionable feedback for further improvements.
The aim is also to realize a high-quality living environment for the tenants, including the concepts of The Cohesion. Community building is central to this, and the explicit wishes of tenants are followed in order to continuously improve their living environment.
In order to understand the wishes of the residents, a survey among tenants was conducted at the end of 2019 and action plans were developed for each location in 2020 based on the results. The survey showed that 90% of the more than 450 respondents are very enthusiastic about their stay. In the end, practically every respondent indicated that they would choose a Stunest or The Cohesion building again if they had to look for a place to live again.
It is also very much appreciated that the community managers are available 24/7 for the tenants for any tenant question. In addition to organizing various community events around sports, food, and (mental) health, the community managers made an extra effort in 2020 to realize a safe living environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. These events are not limited to just the residents of our buildings; the surrounding neighborhoods are also involved.
Finally, a start was made in 2020 and further research will be conducted in 2021 into the impact on the surrounding neighbourhoods. This on the basis of the 'Living Barometer', which looks at the indicators housing, inhabitants, safety, facilities and physical environment.
Environmental management
The first building, The Cohesion Cobana, went into operation in 2020. This building has an energy label A and a GPR score of 7.6. An ESG due diligence policy was developed in 2019 and 2020 for future buildings that are being developed or purchased. With this policy we guarantee that future additions to the Fund will achieve at least the same performance.
In addition, since delivery, by collaborating with our tenants, utility companies and service providers, among other things, extra efforts have been made during 2020 to obtain a complete picture of the actual energy and water consumption. This should lead to sufficient insight into the amount of energy and water consumed in 2020, compared to the previous year.
Finally, 545 additional solar panels were installed on The Cohesion Cobana in 2020, bringing the fund's total to 711 solar panels.
corporate governance
Within Rockfield Real Estate, the ESG Taskforce is at the helm of achieving our ambitions. In 2020, two new talents were added to the team. In addition, we have further expanded our collaboration with two external energy and ESG advisers. Collectively, the team is responsible for developing and rolling out improvement, ensuring sustainability objectives, and communicating with internal and external stakeholders.
In order to better understand which ESG components are relevant to us, we are currently conducting a Materiality Review, in order to subsequently adjust our policy accordingly.