2016 – 2020
2
Genesis Housing Association
Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2016
3
Contents
Chief Executive’s foreword
3
Chief
Executive’s
foreword
Introduction4
Delivery of the strategy
6
Monitoring delivery of the strategy
7
Environmental sustainability goals
8
Environmental
sustainability will
be part of how we
run our business
and central
to achieving
our mission –
creating and
sustaining
thriving
communities
Genesis’ Environmental Sustainability Strategy is our blueprint for
becoming a sustainable housing provider fit for the 21st century. It sets
out how we will reduce our environmental impact and deliver significant
benefits for our customers, staff and business.
Our world is experiencing profound social and environmental changes.
Populations are growing, resources are becoming scarcer, and
temperatures are rising. We know these changes will affect our business
and the communities in which we work as commodity costs become more
volatile and climate change creates new risks, for which we need to be
better prepared.
Going forward, environmental sustainability will be part of how we run our
business and central to achieving our mission – creating and sustaining
thriving communities. We believe that by addressing sustainability
challenges we can deliver better quality services in a world where
resources are increasingly limited. Our operations will become more
efficient, our homes more affordable to run and our customers will be able
to enjoy healthier, more prosperous lives.
I’m proud to be able to launch Genesis’ Environmental Sustainability
Strategy, which reflects our ambitions to become a more sustainable
organisation. The strategy marks an important point on our sustainability
journey. It will bring together staff, residents, and other stakeholders
whose collaboration, energy and inspiration will be essential in achieving
many of our commitments. If there’s a defining element of the strategy
we want it to be engagement of residents, staff and everyone we work
with. We hope that by striving to reach our goals we can continue to build
customer trust and collaborative working, both of which are fundamental
to being a successful housing provider now and in the future.
Neil Hadden
Creating and Sustaining Thriving Communities
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Genesis Housing Association
Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2016
5
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
This strategy marks the
commencement of our
sustainability programme. It
consists of 26 goals that span
our entire business and services.
Our vision is to achieve the
highest rating (Platinum) on the
Sustainable Homes Index, SHIFT,
by 2020.
The goals have been developed
taking into account changing risks
and opportunities. We believe
sustainability underpins many
of our corporate outcomes and
contributes towards improving the
wellbeing of communities we serve,
increasing customer satisfaction
and employee engagement and
delivering efficient, value for money
services. Recent polls show that
people are more interested in
living sustainably and there are
huge opportunities for Genesis
to build customer satisfaction by
making our residents feel part
of the sustainability journey. If
there’s a further driver for change,
it’s that businesses are expected
to provide an increasing amount
of information on their social
and environmental impacts. By
demonstrating our progress on
environmental performance we
can improve relationships with
all our stakeholders and be clear
about what we stand for.
Recent polls show that people are
more interested in living sustainably
and there are huge opportunities for
Genesis to build customer satisfaction
by making our residents feel part of the
sustainability journey.
We are committed to making
sustainability part of how we run
our business. To achieve this, we
have aligned our sustainability
goals with the three key areas of
focus in our Corporate Strategy:
• People, both our customers and
colleagues – We will support
people to live sustainably and to
lower the cost and use of energy
in homes
• Investing in the delivery of new
homes and maintaining our
existing stock – We aim to make
homes more energy efficient,
safer, and affordable to run and
maintain
• Being operationally excellent –
We can create high performing
services by minimising our use
of resources and waste, and
by setting high environmental
standards for our offices and
supply chain, so we can stand
up to scrutiny and reduce
operating costs
Genesis has very
low business vehicle
emissions compared to
other housing providers
Genesis should be proud of its
achievements already. We were
awarded Silver in the housing
sector’s sustainability index, SHIFT,
in 2014. We have low business
vehicle emissions, flexible working
arrangements, and a number of
our new housing schemes are built
to high sustainability standards
like Code for Sustainable Homes
Level 4.
However, we acknowledge there
are improvements to be made.
Some of our homes could be made
more energy efficient, and we can
do more to engage our customers
to help them save energy and live
sustainably. The strategy will bring
about the step change we need
to fully address risks and realise
the benefits of becoming a more
sustainable organisation. We will
integrate sustainability into service
delivery, explore new business
models and innovate.
Carbon emissions (KgCO2 emissions per home managed)
*SHIFT housing providers are members of the sustainability benchmark scheme, SHIFT
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Genesis Housing Association
Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2016
7
Title
Title
Delivery of the
strategy
Monitoring delivery
of the strategy
We consulted with staff and
residents between September and
November 2015 through a variety
of different means including our
staff intranet, workshops with
representatives from teams across
the organisation, briefings at
team meetings, and the resident
Regional Committees. All the
views gathered during this process
contributed to the development
of our goals and action plan.
Sustainable Homes, a leading
sustainability consultancy, provided
expert advice to help us develop
targets that are deliverable and
ambitious enough to enable us to
achieve our vision.
An action plan has been developed
that sets out in more detail how
we will achieve each objective in
our Environmental Sustainability
Strategy. It includes information
on timescales and responsibilities
for different projects and where
resources are required for a
particular objective to be delivered
a business plan will be developed.
The Markets and Portfolio
Directorate has oversight of the
strategy and its delivery and will coordinate action across the business,
measure progress and produce an
annual report.
Given the holistic nature of
the strategy most Genesis
departments are contributing to
the delivery of it and many will have
specific targets incorporated in
their service delivery plans.
We want to make our
Environmental Sustainability
programme as visible as possible
to help colleagues and residents
understand what is being done,
and feel positive. Throughout
the delivery of the strategy we
will continually engage and
communicate with Genesis
colleagues, customers and our key
partners.
We are committed to monitoring
progress towards our goals
transparently.
Every year our sustainability goals
will be reviewed to ensure they
continue to address our main
risks and deliver benefits for our
customers and business. We intend
to meet regularly with teams, heads
of service, advisory groups and our
regional committees to deliver this
– ensuring we consult groups with
a diversity of skills and experience.
Progress against our goals will be
reported annually and a number
of our sustainability goals will
have corporate key performance
indicators.
As part of our commitment to
transparency we will benchmark
our progress against our peers
by participating in SHIFT - an
independently certified public
sustainability assessment. SHIFT
is endorsed by the Department of
Energy and Climate Change, the
Environment Agency, Homes and
Communities Agency, Mayor of
London, UK Green Building Council
and WWF, and provides a robust
framework for monitoring our
progress.
Most new homes built by Genesis in the last 4 years
meet high sustainability standards and achieve Code for
Sustainable Homes Level 4 or Level 3
Number of Sustainable
Homes at Level 4
1596
Number of Sustainable
Homes at Level 3
895
Number of ECO Homes
at ‘Very Good’
132
Creating and Sustaining Thriving Communities
8
Genesis Housing Association
Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2016
9
Environmental sustainability goals
Environmental sustainability goals
Environmental
sustainability goals
GREENING OUR STAFF AND RESIDENT OFFER
GREENING OUR HOMES
Strengthen the
communities
we support and
our workforce
by encouraging
people to
participate in
activities that will
enable them to live
sustainably, and by
providing support
to lower the cost
and use of energy
in homes
Ensure our
investment
approach improves
the livelihoods of
our customers
and delivers value
for the business,
by making homes
more energy
efficient, safer,
resilient to future
climate impacts
and affordable to
run and maintain.
1. From 2015, incorporate regular
and comprehensive advice on
energy saving and sustainable
living in our communication
activities, and ensure more
advice is available digitally
2. Engage an increasing number
of customers year on year in a
range of activities designed to
help them save energy and live
more sustainably
3. Explore the benefits of smart
pay-as-you-go meters and
deliver a pilot project by
2016/17
4. From 2015, provide a suite of
sustainability related training
courses for staff to support the
delivery of our Environmental
Sustainability Strategy
5. Look at innovative ways to
procure affordable utilities for
residents
100%
of colleagues have
access to training
on sustainability
topics online
New homes
Existing homes
6. D
evelop a comprehensive new
Genesis Sustainability Standard
by 2016 so new homes are
designed to be: cheaper to run
and maintain, resilient to future
climate impacts, easy to use and
digitally connected
9. Improve the energy efficiency
of Genesis existing homes to a
minimum SAP of 65 by 2020
7. By 2017, set up pilots of
innovative construction
initiatives such as Passivhaus,
BIM and off-site manufacturing
(OSM), to reduce the
construction, maintenance and
operational costs of new homes,
and improve design quality
8. B
uild over 90% of our homes on
previously developed land
10. B
y 2016, review opportunities
for installing water-saving
measures in homes through
works to existing stock and
develop an implementation
plan
11. By 2016, increase biodiversity
in green spaces on our estates
through better maintenance
and management practices
12. Source an increasing proportion
of materials for works to existing
stock from sustainable sources
13. D
evelop an efficient asset
investment strategy for
renewables across the housing
stock by 2016/17
14. B
y 2017, develop pilot projects
to explore the best options for
refurbishing homes to high
sustainability standards, for
example an energy (SAP) rating
of 70 and above
15. Implement a comprehensive
plan to improve the efficiency of
our energy centres on housing
developments 2015-17
16. Improve the quality and scope
of asset data held by Genesis
to support delivery of energy
efficiency programmes,
especially SAP and EPC data by
2016
Creating and Sustaining Thriving Communities
10
Genesis Housing Association
Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2016
11
Environmental sustainability goals
Environmental sustainability goals
GREENING OUR BUSINESS APPROACH
REPORTING AND
BENCHMARKING
Contribute
towards creating
high performing
services by
minimising our
use of resources
and waste, and
by setting high
environmental
standards for
our offices and
supply chain, so
we can stand up
to scrutiny, and
reduce operating
costs
17. Measure energy and water
usage associated with our main
offices by 2016, and agree
what improvements can be
implemented by 2020
18. I ncrease the proportion of
waste that is recycled across
all our operations, and aim to
divert 95% of waste from landfill
by 2020
19. Work with suppliers to procure
responsibly sourced office
consumables, increasing the
proportion purchased from
sustainable sources year on year
with the aim of achieving 100%
by 2020
20. C
ontinue to promote
sustainable transport and
set reduction targets in 2016
for business vehicular CO2
emissions to be achieved by
2020
21. Specify social and
environmental commitments
for our suppliers that cover
ethical procurement, water,
energy and waste
68.5
23. A
nnually update the
environmental sustainability
action plan and report on
progress achieved
74%
of our waste,
on average, is
recycled in our
head office
Genesis homes
24. P
rovide regular and accurate
submissions to SHIFT across
the 43 separate sustainability
issues that are assessed to
enable Genesis to continually
benchmark its performance
against its peers
25. A
ssess the risk of flooding
and overheating for our main
offices, and existing homes
by 2016 and identify what
adaptation measures need to
implemented by 2020
26. A
ssess the incidence of
fuel poverty across Genesis
households and use the
information to target energy
advice and asset investment
programmes to reduce fuel
poverty
The average energy
efficiency (SAP)
rating for Genesis
homes is higher than
the UK national and
housing association
averages.
66
UK social housing
60
UK housing
(English Housing Survey,
Energy Efficiency of English
Housing 2013)
22. Include sustainability
performance targets in service
delivery plans by 2016
Creating and Sustaining Thriving Communities
Proud to be in The Times Top 50 employers for Women 2015
Genesis Housing Association
Atelier House, 64 Pratt Street, London, NW1 0DL
GHA1902 Jan 2016