Lendlease’s Australian Prime Property Fund (APPF) Commercial has achieved the number one ranking from 964 global participants in the annual GRESB real estate assessment. It is the fifth time in the past six years that APPF Commercial has attained the prestigious number one global ranking. Remarkably, the Fund has grown its net lettable area by 23% over the past six years while simultaneously reducing its carbon footprint by 39%.
Lendlease has long-held the view that truly great places should deliver positive environmental and social outcomes alongside financial value. In Australia, 47 Lendlease office and industrial assets (representing more than $12 billion in funds under management) have established commitments to be carbon neutral before or by 2025, with the remaining retail assets targeting 2030.
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Ruben Langbroek, Head of Asia Pacific, GRESB: “We congratulate Lendlease Funds Management Australia for their continued leadership and commitment to integrating ESG into the management and operation of real assets. Whether it be office, retail or industrial – their funds demonstrate excellence.”
In addition to APPF Commercial, three other Lendlease funds achieved top 10 global rankings in the 2019 GRESB assessment:
· Lendlease International Towers Sydney Trust (Towers Two and Three and International House at Barangaroo) – third globally overall and third in the office sector (across listed and unlisted funds).
· APPF Retail – global first in the retail sector (across listed and unlisted funds) and fifth overall.
· Lendlease Sub-Regional Retail Fund – global third in the retail sector (across listed and unlisted funds) and tenth overall.
Locally across Australia and New Zealand, APPF Industrial was ranked first in industrial (unlisted) and Lendlease’s retail funds came first, second and third place for listed and unlisted retail funds.
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GRESB is the global real estate benchmark for environmental, social and governance performance. The 2019 GRESB data provides the property investment industry with aggregated ESG information on more than 100,000 properties, representing more than US$4.1 trillion in global assets under management. Lendlease Funds Management has been part of GRESB since its inception in 2009.
Scott Mosely, Managing Director of Lendlease Funds Management Australia: “GRESB provides Lendlease and our investors with an independent assessment of sustainability performance as we track emerging environmental, social and governance trends as part of our investment strategies. For example, human health and wellness, as well as climate change resilience, are growing trends now being tracked by GRESB.”
“For more than a decade our portfolios have integrated sustainability into their strategies and investors are increasingly looking to align their investment strategies with good social and environmental outcomes. Tenants are actively seeking out workplaces that are aligned with their sustainability credentials, which in turn helps them attract and retain the best people”, he said.
“Few real estate companies can boast a long-term commitment to integrating sustainability into business operations. Lendlease has and continues to be a leader in delivering leading environmental and social outcomes in the places it creates. The APPF Commercial fund has continued to be a standout global leader in the GRESB Real Estate Assessment,” GRESB’s Langbroek concluded.
