Lendlease drives leadership in buildings for healthier outcomes

CHAPTER 2

Lendlease drives leadership in buildings for healthier outcomes

Lendlease offices. Photo: Lendlease Lendlease has long been a leader in sustainable property and is also something of a trailblazer in creating healthier buildings. In 2020 the company was the world’s first property owner to achieve a WELL Score for its office portfolio and Australia’s first to achieve the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management.

The WELL scope applies to properties in Lendlease’s Australian managed office portfolio including the three towers at Sydney’s regeneration precinct Barangaroo, and International House, Australia’s first engineered-timber commercial workspace, also at Barangaroo. Towers One, Two and Three were also among the first to be awarded WELL Certification for Core & Shell at the Platinum level.

The Sky Park, Melbourne Quarter. Photo: Lendlease

The above infographic denotes the number of people impacted based on reported occupancy data.

Lendlease offices, Sydney In 2020 Lendlease was the world’s first property owner to achieve a WELL Score for its office portfolio and Australia’s first to achieve the WELL Health-Safety Rating for Facility Operations and Management.

“We use positive psychology to help people buffer against mental illness, bolstering mental health during pandemics and building positive processes and capabilities, not just focusing on what’s happening today but thinking about the future.”

DUNCAN YOUNG

Duncan Young, Lendlease’s head of health and well-being, says achieving a WELL Score for the Lendlease office property portfolio was an opportunity for the company to showcase well- being from a listed property point of view and also a continuation of work and research into well-being that Lendlease has been doing for years.

“We had some [preliminary] well-being initiatives that just seamlessly slid into WELL once the scheme became available,” Young says.

One of these was research on discretionary food in the workplace. Lendlease was able to cut out 1022 kilos of sugar in one year by changing food offered within its buildings to high fibre, low added sugar.

Another program in partnership with Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute and Queensland University addressed problems associated with the sedentary habits of knowledge workers.

Detailed information gathered over 2000 days from accelerometers worn by Lendlease employees was built into the design of the Lendlease workplace at Barangaroo, with 41 per cent of all workspace settings sit-to-stand or standing type. The most recent initiative is a global positive psychology program in partnership with leading academics and the Michelle McQuaid positive psychology movement.

“We use positive psychology to help people buffer against mental illness, bolstering mental health during pandemics and building positive processes and capabilities, not just focusing on what’s happening today but thinking about the future”

“So behind our WELL Certification and everything we do there’s a whole lot of research and academic input that flows through all of our buildings. We showcase it but also share our findings across all our tenancies.”

Lendlease offices, Sydney

According to Liam Timms, fund manager, Lendlease International Towers Sydney Trust, the WELL Certification was an opportunity to have its commitment to health and well-being validated by a third party.

“We have a saying in our team ‘we don’t bring companies to work, we bring people to work’.

“We’re very focused on how we enhance the experience for individuals. When WELL Core and Shell was done at Barangaroo it was also a first for WELL so there was a lot of information sharing and learning.

“It involved us committing ourselves both in terms of people, the data and lessons we had as well as a substantial financial commitment. Support from all parts of our business made that happen.

“It took about 12 months from the initial conversation to the end of the process – an enormous amount of document sharing and an enormous amount of benchmarking had to be done.” “Following the introduction of WELL we’ve seen more demand from tenants and investors for WELL certification with interest growing over the last couple of years,” says Ann Austin, head of sustainability, Australia.

“We have definitely seen a deeper awareness of the role of buildings in supporting wellbeing and an appetite for excellence in this space amongst our customers. Certification programs like WELL and Green Star help us demonstrate our commitment to excellence in providing healthy, sustainable places for our customers.”

Liam Timms agrees. He says not only is wellbeing embedded into business, those companies that truly embrace it benefit financially. The performance of the International Towers Sydney Trust, three times named the best sustainable development fund by GRESB (the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark), backs that up.

“We have a saying in our team, ‘We don’t bring companies to work, we bring people to work.’ ”

LIAM TIMMS

In the 2021 GRESB Assessment, the fund achieved a GRESB-first ever score of a perfect 100, and ranking globally first in the office sector.

The fact that GRESB factors in well-being credentials such as WELL Certification and WELL Health-Safety Rating achievements and is highly valued as an investor benchmark clearly shows what investors hold in high value, Timms says.

“I just issued a bond in local market off the back of the fund. I did back-to-back interviews with multiple investors – 40 interviews over two days pitching the bond.

“There was not one investor who didn’t ask a question about ESG and well-being. It’s clear that it is absolutely on everyone’s agenda. A couple of years ago I did a bond off the fund in the US and that did not happen.”

The value of workplace well-being is also reflected in the share price of listed trusts and companies much more than people realise. The resilience of companies that place a high value on ESG and health and well-being has also become apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’ve got one of the best performing funds, with a high unit price, because of applying a holistic view on ESG and well-being to our assets.

And the businesses I’ve partnered with, those that have moved into the buildings, are resilient long-term businesses in their own markets that understand the value of what they’re in – so they weren’t ringing me up when the market hit a speed bump during the pandemic.”

Buildings that can demonstrate their WELL and ESG credentials attract like-minded companies, Timms says. And with people representing the major part of a company’s costs, while real estate is about 7-8 per cent, a building that enhances health and wellbeing and productivity of employees is a very sound investment.

“We attract businesses that already have policies of good business practice, including flexibility, agile environments and team culture.

“COVID probably drove a hot sword through archaic, inflexible workplaces. Disciplined and good ESG and well-being practices are very important to the financial outcome for any business. I’ve had proven experience of it with our occupiers during COVID and it has further reinforced my conviction.”