Driving social change with the workplace
BY BASIL DEMEROUTIS FOREPARTNERSHIP.COM
Basil is Managing Partner of FORE Partnership, the purpose-driven property fund that believes in driving social and environmental innovation in the built environment. Prior to founding FORE, Basil was a partner at Capricorn Investment Group, the family office of Jeff Skoll (eBay), overseeing global real estate and serving on the firm’s investment committee. Previously he was Managing Partner at property fund Jargonnant Partners and spent the early part of his career in investment banking.
BNPPRE: What does the office building of the future encompass? Basil Demeroutis (BD): The last 12 months has been a period of transformation for the office, but I think that has been a long time coming; the nature of the office has been in constant change. It’s something to embrace, and make sure that we tackle it head on. Everyone talks about the office of the future being a place for collaboration and for activities that you can’t do in your own home and of course, that’s true. However, that’s a little shallow as an answer – what does collaboration mean? How does a physical space, foster creativity and collaboration? That's a much more challenging and deeper question that no one is really answering.
If we think back to the 1950s, the office was a convenient aggregator of infrastructure. You go there to have a desk and a telephone. More recently, a fax machine, computer and a printer. All of this infrastructure, only the office could provide. Now, we don’t need any of that in an office as we have it in our pockets.
So what if the office isn’t providing infrastructure? What is this elusive concept of collaboration? I think that for sure part of the answer is that it is a primary vector for transmitting the company’s brand, and its core values. And so, above all else it has to be authentic. If you can’t authentically communicate your brand and your values then you’re dead in the water. And in addition, the office will become all about connecting people with people, as that’s why we’re going back to work. That’s the direction that architecture is going to have to take – reconnecting people with people as opposed to people with place.
BNPPRE: Is it possible for real estate owners and developers to make a genuine social impact? BD: It’s not only possible, it’s an absolute requirement. It’s imperative. If you think of real estate as being the stage on which life’s dramas play out, it has a huge influence.
First and foremost, property is directly responsible for 40% of carbon output. Equally, we as building owners directly influence how people commute, what they do in their leisure time, how they meet, how they have friendships, how they learn or how they’re inspired. Everything comes back to real estate and I say that with a degree of humility. So in a way, all real estate has an impact, it’s really a question of whether it is positive or negative.
BNPPRE: Has the "S" of ESG been neglected by the real estate community in recent years or generally? And this is perhaps because of its difficulties around how you measure such an impact? BD: I think the "S" has been the understudy of the "E" but it’s time is here. We’ve always considered the “E” & “S”, not only of equal merit, but actually as being deeply intertwined. We always have an eye towards how we can leverage the same bit of infrastructure to create positive social outcomes as well as positive environmental outcomes. The social impact is a lot harder to identify and quantify than the environmental impact. We can measure kilowatt hours, but how do you measure the changes that you make to someone’s life through creating better literacy or reducing gender inequality? These are difficult questions.
The interventions that we make need to be well thought through. The social value that we’re generating is not just some theoretical concept calculated on the spreadsheet, but is actually a positive impact on a real person’s life.
BNPPRE: What are the benefits to embedding social value and can you generate returns from it? BD: There are huge benefits to creating social value. This is true both for our buildings in isolation, but also for the wider urban systems in which our buildings sit. Of course, you must create a place that people want to come to. If I’ve got tenants who are engaged in our social programs, they’re more likely to feel connected to one another and to the building. This could translate to a positive view of their experience in our buildings which will in turn mean that they’re going to want to stay longer. For investors, this results in longer, more secure income streams with better quality occupiers.
BNPPRE: Are there any examples of this within Fore’s portfolio? BD: Firstly, Cadworks in Glasgow. It’s going to be an all-electric net zero carbon building which will be delivered in October 2021. We’ve done a huge amount of work there around cycling infrastructure, removing the car park and creating Scotland’s first cycle-in, cycle-out ramp. At the same time, we’ve partnered with a social enterprise called ‘Soul Riders’ who work with disadvantaged families in the community to help them access bicycles and cycling as a way to keep healthy and get to and from work.
Windmill Green in Manchester, the city’s first BREEAM Outstanding office building which includes a whole host of environmental and social innovations. We’ve hosted a number of local social enterprises and charities in the building – one of which was Wood Street Mission for a program tackling literacy issues amongst disadvantaged members of our community. And finally Tower Bridge Court in London where we’re about to start on-site. In many ways it will be our best vision of the future of the office. It will be net zero carbon, and will push the very latest thinking on several key areas of design, whilst at the same time integrating social impact. It will include what we’re calling an urban village hall, which is a 3,500 sq ft space that will be free to use for anyone in the community that needs space. We’ll co-curate that space with local community groups to make sure that the social value can be maximised.