Landcom, the NSW Government’s land and property development organisation has improved on their 2017 performance with a 4th place ranking in the latest Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) Developer Assessment. The state owned corporation also scored a third place across the Asia Pacific region.
The only government land organisation in the world to participate in the 2018 GRESB Developer Assessment, Landcom went up against leading publicly-listed and private companies and came out ahead, while significantly improving on last year’s performance in only their second year of participation.
This year, 903 property companies, real estate investment trusts, funds, and developers participated in the Real Estate Assessment, an increase of six per cent on the previous year.
According to Landcom CEO John Brogden, GRESB is an independent, globally recognised benchmarking assessment for the real estate sector, which provides participants and stakeholders with valuable, transparent, internationally recognised evaluation of development activities.
Brogden says that the GRESB platform enables Landcom to track their performance against industry peers, reveals best practice trends, and helps them identify emerging issues.
GRESB head of Asia Pacific Ruben Langbroek says Landcom had shown strong demonstrative leadership in sustainable urban development. Landcom’s clear focus on aspects such as liveability, resilience, and environmental quality throughout their projects, policies and processes resulted in the organisation achieving maximum scores in the GRESB Developer Assessment for social and governance aspects.
Landcom is the first and only government land developer globally to participate in GRESB, he added.
Landcom’s participation in the GRESB Developer Assessment is a key part of their Sustainable Places Strategy, which is committed to industry leadership in environmental, social, economic and governance within the development sector, notes Landcom Senior Manager of Sustainability Lauren Kajewski.
Kajewski explained that Landcom was assessed on how they managed and addressed material sustainability issues, such as emissions reductions, resilience to climate change, and the health and wellbeing of their people and communities.
Landcom received a score of 90 out of 100 this year, compared to 76 in 2017, placing them behind internationally renowned Australian companies Lendlease (1st) and Frasers (2nd). The participant peer average was 67.
She added that their Sustainable Places Strategy will assist them in improving their performance in 2019.
