Grosvenor’s sustainability head searches for lessons in the crisis

Grosvenor Britain & Ireland’s first head of sustainability was barely in the job for two months when the UK lockdown came into force. Now she hopes the coronavirus crisis will present the Grosvenor estate and other property owners with a valuable opportunity to re-set their agendas. In an interview with EG to mark Earth Day, Tor Burrows said the Covid-19 pandemic has put “a completely new lens on everything” in her new role. “In sustainability, innovation and adapting to change, it’s even more important and comes even more to the fore,” she says. Burrows took on the role of director of sustainability and innovation back in January, the first appointment made by James Raynor, the new chief executive of Grosvenor Britain & Ireland. Raynor was “fundamental in advocating for this role”, Burrows says, and was “very clear from the start of his tenure that he wanted this representative on his executive committee”. Announcing her role – Burrow’s latest in almost a decade with the company – Raynor described climate change as “the single biggest risk to our business today”, adding: “We need to transform the way we do business to meet that challenge.” Burrows, unsurprisingly, agrees. “If we don’t do something about [the climate crisis] now, it doesn’t matter who owns what bit of real estate or who’s letting it – it won’t be there,” she says. “So we need to hugely ramp up our efforts to start combating it.” There is a broad spectrum of business risks coming from sustainability issues, Burrows adds, “whether stranded assets, whether it’s not being able to get financing, whether it’s not attracting tenants because we’re not building or operating sustainable buildings, whether it’s not being able to let them because of regulation”. If we don’t do something about [the climate crisis] now, it doesn’t matter who owns what bit of real estate or who’s letting it – it won’t be there The coronavirus crisis now presents a fresh challenge. With developments paused, Burrows has tasked Grosvenor teams with revisiting plans – including those mapped out years ago – to see where they can boost a scheme’s environmental performance. The group is also working on a report to analyse its development pipeline against commitments made in its Sustainable Development Brief. “This is the perfect opportunity to make sure we’re reviewing them and taking time to get them right,” Burrows says. And with her innovation hat on, Burrows is exploring how the new working patterns coming out of the lockdown can be brought back to the office when it reopens. “Covid is horrendous, but if we look for a silver lining, the opportunity that’s come is that it’s completely disrupted business as usual,” she says. “How can we create the new business as usual, getting rid of all the old working practices that probably aren’t fit for the future and what do we want to be doing going forward? “We’re questioning everything that we’re doing and how we make decisions, and trying to be much more nimble and agile now we’re all working at home. My priority is how do we capture that and make sure we don’t lose that when we eventually go back into the office?” Taking the time to learn from this crisis will be an important stage of moving past it, Burrows adds. “It’s making sure we spend time learning as we’re going through it, rather than being in crisis mode and then rushing back to business as usual. We don’t want to just rush back to the way we’ve done this before.” To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@egi.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @estatesgazette