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Canada’s Oxford Property Group - leading by example
CHAPTER 5
Canada’s Oxford Property Group leading by example
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MARLEE KOHN
With a significant global portfolio of properties, Oxford Property Group offers an insight into how the concept of health and well-being is applied to the built environment in different regions and jurisdictions. Based in Toronto, Oxford owns and manages nearly US$70 billion worth of assets across Europe, the United Kingdom, North America and Australia.
The WELL Health-Safety Rating was recently awarded across Oxford’s global office portfolio. This has been a relatively straight forward exercise, according to Oxford’s sustainability manager Marlee Kohn . While different regions do have varying approaches to ratings, there are a lot of synergies in health and safety protocols.
“If we were going for an environmental or green building certification it would be a bit harder to do it on a global scale. While the different regions do have differences in government regulations or policies related to health, the way the certification is designed allows for different regional standards and protocols to be used where appropriate,” Kohn says. What has been particularly interesting is the evolution of how WELL programs are perceived in different markets and how it has pushed the understanding of what well-being means and how that integrates with environmental sustainability.
When WELL was first launched it was tested via sustainability managers and other sustainability and green building tools had been around for some time. There were some overlaps, such as indoor air equality, biophilia, and some community aspects, but some obvious differences.
“There was some reaction from operations at first,” Kohn says.
“The strategy around bringing fresh air into the building had operations alarmed about conflicts with energy efficiency. Then it was a matter of talking about how you can marry fresh air with energy efficiency and bring the E and S together.
“I think we’ve hit a sweet spot where people are starting to see how intertwined and connected everything is.”
“If your people are happy and they have a great space and good indoor air quality, then you can focus on all the sustainability features of that space too, such as giving them buildings with materials that don’t off-gas and having good waste programs in place. All of it is connected.”
The pandemic has accelerated the focus on fresh air but even before that there was growing awareness that a holistic approach was possible to meet the wellbeing as well as environmental requirements.
“It was a matter of getting the right people around the table,” Kohn says. “Also, occupants were asking for these things so we needed to find a solution.
“As a result, the focus for operations has shifted away from worrying about whether fresh air would impact energy efficiency to ensuring good systems are in place, doing system upgrades and retrofits as well as improving operating schedules and monitoring fault detection.”
Kohn says different property teams are still trying to navigate what well-being and social sustainability means. In the past, adoption of some features would often be driven by tenant demand, but now there is a drive to look ahead and lead by example.
MARLEE KOHN
There are distinct differences across the regions in how ratings are perceived. Australia, for example, puts a lot of weight on third party certification compared to other markets such as North America, which has historically had a preference for local standards. This is changing.
“WELL has shifted their (property teams) thinking about what third party certification means. They’ve found it’s made a difference to their customers having a best practice certification. The scheme is very research-based and pushes you to think beyond what you may have traditionally thought and it also requires buildings to continually update.
“Leasing teams tend to rely on what their customers ask for, but they are now seeing the importance of leading rather than being reactive. It’s a matter of educating both internally and externally.”
In Australia, Oxford has partnered with Investa to broaden its Australian presence. Oxford bought the Investa Office Fund in 2018 to form Oxford Investa Property Partnership, which meant its Australian properties were managed by Investa’s management arm, Investa Office Management (IOM). In late 2020 the partnership was further consolidated when Oxford acquired 50 per cent of IOM.
In 2021 both the Investa Commercial Property Fund (ICPF) and Oxford Investa Property Partnership (OIPP) received the WELL Health-Safety Rating for their office portfolios, in addition to a WELL Score for its portfolio.
While Oxford has achieved the WELL Health-Safety seal across its entire cross-continent portfolio, it has not yet applied the WELL Portfolio program outside of its Australian properties. Getting buy-in from the various global teams for new ratings can be challenging, but in the end the WELL HealthSafety Rating was a “no brainer”, says Kohn. It is also an excellent precursor to going for WELL Portfolio.
“WELL Health-Safety Rating’s pricing is reasonable especially when applied across such a wide array of assets. And the pandemic further pushed the decision. It also prepares different regions and teams for the idea of a portfolio rating in the future.”
Achieving the WELL Health-Safety Rating has also helped building occupants make the transition from COVID-19 lockdown back to the workplace, particularly in Oxford’s Canadian properties. In the US the return has been a little slower, but the rating has given people more confidence, says Kohn.
“It has been a good piece to get them back. It adds an extra layer to help people feel safer.”
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