Better Buildings Partnership chief executive Sarah Ratcliffe has been announced as the new chair of the Green Property Alliance as part of a relaunch.
The GPA, which has existed as part of the wider Property Industry Alliance since 2008, will be regrouping with plans to “unite and convene” real estate on climate, ESG and sustainability with Ratcliffe at the helm. A particular focus on sustainability policy and regulation, data and metrics, engaging with the investor community, retrofitting and technology will set the agenda in the first instance.
EG spoke to Ratcliffe and Bill Hughes, global head of real assets at Legal & General Investment Management and chair of the PIA, about the crucial role the GPA will play in helping real estate collaborate to tackle some of the biggest issues the sector, and indeed the world, is facing and why a “voice of leadership” is desperately required to inspire and motivate action over promises.
Meaningful industry collaboration around ESG and climate issues is closer to being achieved than many might think, says Ratcliffe.
She hopes this new role as chair of the GPA will give her the opportunity to create the space required for that collaboration to flourish.
“In my role at the BBP I get involved in lots of conversations across the industry and one key observation is how many of those conversations have common threads. The interests of organisations are very aligned. There just hasn’t been a space for them all to come together.”
Hughes adds that having had “an epiphany that the real estate industry can do a lot better” he decided the GPA had “massive potential” with a new chair to be more influential. Ratcliffe, he says, doesn’t just have the passion and credibility but the ability to convene a sprawling, often competitive and sometimes fractious industry. “The GPA had been drifting for three to five years. Now we have handed it over to Sarah we have all recognised the fact there is an opportunity to ramp it up.”
All about action
In terms of what the relaunched GPA will set out to achieve, Ratcliffe says action is crucial. Having identified its initial priority areas from regulation to data and tech and retrofitting, the GPA is in the process of establishing a number of initiatives with the collective backing of the body’s 14 members.
“These might not be reports being produced or guidance being published,” says Ratcliffe. “They might be more about getting some coordinated messaging out there about government policy.” As for more detail, that will come she says. And soon.
In the interim, does an industry unification on such a wide scale feel daunting? “That’s an interesting word,” she says. “Because I don’t know how you can look at what we are facing in the world at the moment in terms of environmental challenges and not feel daunted. But I do have a passion for sustainability and a passion for the built environment and the really positive role the sector has to play in addressing these challenges.”
As for the fresh voice of the GPA, will it take on the sometimes accusatory urgency the real estate sector has had plenty of experience of in recent months and years? Or will there be a more positive, forward-looking call to action tone? A bit of both says Ratcliffe.
“Ultimately members want the voice of leadership,” she says. “There is a requirement for a tone of voice that acknowledges what has happened in the past but also demonstrates what can be done in the future.”
Hughes adds that it is crucial the industry, as represented by the GPA, “looks for solutions and adopts a constructive rather than a negative posture.”
For Ratcliffe the biggest challenge will be bringing together a fragmented sector to make real changes. “We talk a lot about system change and market transformation. I want to actually make that into a reality.”
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