2006 saw the opening of Legal & Generals new offices in Hove. We were delighted that two of the three buildings obtained a ‘Very Good’ rating according to the Building Research Establishments (BRE) scheme Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM).
In September 2006 the TUC Annual Congress took place in Brighton, which was followed by a visit to City Park by the Rt Hon David Miliband, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Brendan Barber, the TUC General Secretary. The ethos of the TUC conference was based largely on climate change and the environment, and they wished to visit Legal & General, on recommendation by the local council, to see an example of business acting responsibly towards the environment.
In December 2006 the facilities team at City Park Building One were externally audited and successfully added to Legal & General’s Facilities Management ISO14001 certificate for operating systems compliant to the environmental management standard.
As at the end of 2006, over 95% of Legal & General’s UK occupied offices were covered by the facilities management certificate.
As a reflection of the Company’s commitment to tackling climate change, in October 2006 we supported ‘The Climate Challenge’, a campaign aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions in the Brighton and Hove area and contributing towards reducing overall UK emissions by 20% by 2010. The key objective of the initiative was to promote energy efficiency amongst the general public, businesses and other organisations through public information campaigns and a pledging scheme, which encouraged individuals and businesses to commit to take steps towards greater energy efficiency. Communications activities included a high profile launch event, local press articles and information materials including leaflets, posters and booklets. We were delighted that over 600 of our Hove employees made a pledge to improve energy efficiency in their own homes as part of the campaign.
We continually strive to minimise the impact of transport, particularly car use. The majority of our offices are in city centre locations where green travel planning is essential. Some offices are not so accessible and, in particular, the Kingswood site in Surrey has a history of parking problems which require ongoing management. As a result of various car-sharing initiatives, however, the number of car sharers at our Kingswood office averaged about 400 people per day in 2006.
Transport options are carefully considered at new office locations, and Local CSR Committees at all major offices have green travel plans including video and voice conferencing, car sharing, cycling and the promotion of public transport. With many offices in city centre locations it is relatively straightforward to reduce the proportion of staff driving to work. In Cardiff, however, the Committee took car reduction a step further by holding a ‘Leave your car at home day’, aimed at raising awareness of the health and environmental benefits of alternative ways to travel such as cycling, walking, bus and train. All managers were asked to support the campaign by leaving their car at home, and those who did drive in were invited to pay a £20 ‘fine’ to the Amelia Trust Farm.
The Rt Hon David Miliband (right), Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, learns about Legal & General’s environmental initiatives
Our new state-of-the-art offices at City Park, Hove
“We were delighted to welcome both the Rt Hon David Miliband and Brendan Barber to our new offices in Hove. It was a wonderful reflection of our commitment to both the environment and our partnership with Amicus that the local council suggested they visit us as an example of a local company working with its employees to really reduce our environmental impact.
David and Brendan were particularly interested in our employee schemes to reduce the environmental impact of the daily commute to work – not just our car sharing programmes but also our free loans for public transport season tickets and loans to buy bikes.”
Caroline Fawcett, Customer Strategy Director, Kingswood