An institutional understanding of triple bottom line evaluations and the use of social and environmental metrics

Measuring social and environmental metrics of property is necessary for meaningful triple bottom line (TBL) assessments. This paper demonstrates how relevant indicators derived from environmental rating systems provide for reasonably straightforward collations of performance scores that support adjustments based on a sliding scale. It also highlights the absence of a corresponding consensus of important social metrics representing the third leg of the TBL tripod. Assessing TBL may be unavoidably imprecise, but if valuers and managers continue to ignore TBL concerns, their assessments may soon be less relevant given the emerging institutional milieu informing and reflecting business practices and society expectations

The ‘eco-efficient’ airport metropolis : aligning economics, stakeholder interests and environmental objectives

The coming of the ‘airport city’ is widely recognised, but research determining stakeholder interests, and in particular, ecological objectives, in meaningful and weighted terms, remains neglected. Some privatised airports increasingly see their most important stakeholders as private equity investors and superannuants in funds that have injected significant amounts into airports, underwriting their expansion and development. Clearly though, there is a role for local residents, precinct users, and ecologically trained economists to play in airport expansion planning and management. Assuming that ‘distanced’ airport shareholders are more likely to prioritise economic-based objectives than local community stakeholders and scientific experts, a tension which hitherto did not exist now tempers airport development strategies. I identify 5 “ends objectives” for the airport metropolis out of a longer list the Brisbane Airport Corporation cites. Much effort has been put into developing sustainability indicators. However, these indicators need to be weighted to develop a hierarchy of objectives to achieve a balance between the various interests. Such a balance is not only fundamental to achieving a degree of sustainability, it may also enable synergies of co-operation and integration at the economic, environmental and social levels. This paper discusses attitudes and approaches to objectives by the airport metropolis stakeholder pool, and canvasses strategies for harmonising interfacial planning and decision making initiatives based on findings. It is preliminary research that provides front-end input for decision-making models whether currently in existence or yet to be designed

Managing airport futures using environmental management systems

Environmental management systems (EMS) are specifically designed to instruct organisations in the management of environmental impacts, and are considered by many to be the most valuable tool for building a sustainable future. However, because EMS are hinged to best practice and existing leading technology, they tend to lock-in current thinking. This is problematic for businesses such as airports, which are increasingly looking towards future solutions to emerging and intransigent issues such as noise, CO2 emissions, congestion and safety. Ways need to be found for EMS to balance existing knowledge frameworks with creative and experimental ideas and constructs. As the central information source for EMS, indicators are key to the evolution of their design. This article explores ways of creating indicators that transcend the constraints of existing measuring, monitoring and reporting regimes to facilitate more sustainable airport futures. Accordingly, the article has three objectives. Firstly to demonstrate that EMS for airports have significant scope for improvement. The second objective is to show that rethinking what indicators are and do is fundamental to realising that improvement. And finally, the argument for sustainability-prioritising, contextually constructed indicators that build on current best practice by encouraging innovative institutional learning and reform is the best way of advancing more sustainable airports

Partnering for Sustainability in the Workplace

There is nothing very sustainable about many workplaces. Doing something about it can be expensive, but even when large sums have been spent on design and construction, much of the benefit relies on the cooperation of staff. A more sustainable strategy than the capital investment alone, is to make the workplace more sustainable in the way employees operate in it. More specifically, the key to enduring and efficient work practices that minimise resource use and waste while maximising well-being, is the nurturing of partnerships between the building managers and the workers. Kimmet explores this assertion in relation to the social dynamics in the typical office high-rise. The relationship between office building landlords and occupants has traditionally been confined to financial negotiations over rent and services. This almost inevitably combative arrangement which has contributed to the demands for ‘quiet enjoyment’ of leases and has significantly retarded the development of stakeholder partnerships so central to the sustainable outcomes. Kimmet argues that the creation of an efficient, productive and rewarding high-rise office atmosphere pivots on disclosure of knowledge, ideas and data, and lubricated by trust, transparency and accountable governance. Without the free flow of information, effective feedback loops and education programmes, office workers will remain disconnected from building management

Comparing "socially responsible" and "sustainable" commercial property investment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to set out to explore the similarities and differences between jargon used to describe future-focussed commercial building product. This is not so much an exercise in semantics as an attempt to demonstrate that responses to challenges facing the construction and property sectors may have more to do with language than is generally appreciated. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual analysis which draws upon relevant literature. Findings – Social responsibility and sustainability are often held to be much the same thing, with each term presupposing the existence of the other. Clearly, however, there are incidences where sustainable commercial property investment (SCPI) may not be particularly socially responsible, despite being understood as an environmentally friendly initiative. By contrast, socially responsible assets, at least in theory, should always be more sustainable than mainstream non-ethically based investment. Put simply, the expression of social responsibility in the built environment may evoke, and thereby deliver, a more sustainable product, as defined by wider socially inclusive parameters. Practical implications – The findings show that promoting an ethic of social responsibility may well result in more SCPI. Thus, the further articulation and celebration of social responsibility concepts may well help to further advance a sustainable property investment agenda, which is arguably more concerned about demonstrability of efficiency than wider public good outcomes. Originality/value – The idea that jargon affects outcomes is not new. However, this idea has rarely, if ever, been applied to the distinctions between social responsibility and sustainability. Even a moderate re-emphasis on social responsibility in preference to sustainability may well provide significant future benefits with respect to the investment, building and refurbishment of commercial property