HEALTHY MOMENTUM Asset Managers Focus on Wellness Attributes HEALTHY BUILDINGS are moving up the wish lists of institutional investors and office tenants alike. A recent global survey of commercial real estate asset managers finds that COVID-19 has intensified pressure to support physical, social and emotional well-being within the built environment, but that many investors, owners and managers were already embracing healthy building principles ahead of pandemic-triggered challenges. Survey participants collectively held CAD $7.3 trillion (USD $5.75 trillion) in assets under management (AUM) as of December 2020, with a majority confirming that a multiplicity of drivers — COVID-19; general health; tenant satisfaction; market differentiation; reputational benefits — underpin plans to focus on health and 50 April/May 2021 | Canadian Property Management
wellness within their portfolios over the coming year. The accompanying joint report from the United Nations Environment Programme Financial Initiative (UNEP FI), the Centre for Active Design (CfA D) a nd BentallGreenOak (BGO) concludes the growing weight of ESG (environmental, social, governance) criteria in investment decision-making is both the impetus to act and the vehicle to implement and verify health-promoting standards and practices. “Our fiduciary responsibilities are increasingly taking us into new territory that requires attention to the multitude of social factors that impact asset value,” observes Amy Price, President of BentallGreenOak. “Our collective experience with the first modern pandemic
in our lifetimes is teaching us how closely tied investment performance is to operational excellence, tenant engagement and community relationships.” PEGGING VALUE The report defines healthy buildings as those that are designed, operated and managed in a manner that considers occupants’ health, safety and well-being, offering amenities/services to support active lifestyles and connections to nature. These considerations are linked to the S in ESG — the initial that, to date, has been more intangible and with fewer performance indicators than the environmental or governance pillars. However, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers’ pioneering
