Grosvenor launches UK social impact strategy

Grosvenor Property UK has announced the launch of its social impact strategy, expanding its sustainability ambitions and aiming to improve wellbeing in places it manages.

Grounded in extensive research into societal as well as local needs in the communities Grosvenor plays a part in, People Positive advances how the business focusses and maximises its positive impact through its core activities.

People Positive concentrates on three strategic priorities:

• Improving wellbeing in the places Grosvenor makes and manages
• Helping local economies thrive by championing inclusive growth and diversity
• Maximising the positive impact of people and partners

This strategy and its focus areas were informed by independent research and community consultation which established an objective evidence base of what effects the wellbeing of key groups of people - workers, residents and visitors - in each of the places Grosvenor operates in.

The priorities were further shaped by the nature of Grosvenor's core business and what it can credibly influence as well as where it can achieve co-benefits – aligning with its overall purpose of delivering social, environmental and commercial benefit.

Through a more granular understanding of local needs, the business can now make better informed decisions and more effectively direct its resources across its places and through its teams and partners.

While creating impact through its core business is a priority, strategic philanthropy will also play a part and Grosvenor will continue to deliver its £1 million+ Greener Futures programme, which recently expanded to Liverpool and support the Westminster Foundation.

Grosvenor has some of the most stretching sustainability goals in the UK – covering zero carbon, zero waste, enhancing biodiversity and creating transformative partnerships. Social impact metrics, led by the research, will now be built into decision making in the same way as environmental goals to ensure the business considers and can assess its impact holistically.

The business will run and report against the wellbeing framework every two years and will continue to report annually against its environmental goals.

James Raynor, CEO, Grosvenor Property UK, commented: “We want to have a genuinely long-term, positive impact on people and communities. But this isn’t something we take for granted as an automatic by product of what we do.

“So, we’ve expanded our sustainability ambitions to encompass a business-wide approach to social impact enabling us to understand, measure and maximise our impact. Social impact will now be as much a part of decision making as commercial and environmental considerations – ensuring people and planet are at the centre of our business.”

Tor Burrows, Executive Director, Sustainability & Innovation, Grosvenor Property UK, added: “The places we operate in have nuanced needs – there’s no one size fits all approach to delivering social impact. Having baselined indicators of wellbeing and by listening closely to what communities want, we’re now able to prioritise and direct our resources more effectively. This will ensure all our actions, delivered through our places, people and partners as well as philanthropy are pragmatic, meaningful and contextual to that diversity of local need, maximising our impact.”