Search results

Socially responsible property investment (SRPI) has taken on increased significance in recent years, as property investors have given an increased priority to environmental, social and governance issues in their property investment decision making. The purpose of this paper is to establish SRPI performance indices for UK property companies and empirically benchmark their risk‐adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits over recent years.

Using five socially responsible investment (SRI) performance eligibility criteria, the UK property companies contributing to these SRI measures are identified. These UK property companies are used to establish a number of SRPI market cap‐weighted performance indices over 2003‐2008. These SRPI performance indices are used to assess the risk‐adjusted performance and portfolio diversification benefits of UK SRPI property companies.

This paper objectively identifies the UK property companies actively involved in SRPI and finds that the UK SRPI property companies delivered superior risk‐adjusted returns than the overall UK property companies sector, with this performance being achieved with no loss of portfolio diversification benefits.

Much of the previous SRPI research has focused on the broad concept of SRPI with no empirical analysis. This paper is the first attempt to rigorously and empirically assess the risk‐adjusted performance of UK SRPI property companies by establishing SRPI performance indices for UK property companies. Given the increasing significance of SRPI, this research enables empirically validated, more informed and practical investment decision making regarding the performance‐based supporting of the SRPI agenda by property investors.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the investment decision‐making process of major stakeholders in the property sector, with a specific focus on determining the impact of location quality (the quality of the immediate and wider environment within which the site is located) on the property investment decision.

The research was undertaken in the context of UK business parks in two regional property markets; South Yorkshire and the South East. Interviews were undertaken with key stakeholder groups adopting an innovative approach utilising graphics and visualisations to explore the impact of landscape quality on investment decisions.

When landscape quality in business parks is considered holistically, it has only an indirect role to play in the property investment decision. Occupiers in South Yorkshire and the South East have low expectations of landscape quality on business park sites, but there are elements of landscape quality that occupiers appreciate and consider to add to the quality of the site. However, investors and developers do not consider landscape quality plays a role in their decision process. There exists the potential for the “removed” perspective of investors and developers to result in a dislocation between their perception of occupiers' requirement and reality.

This study represents the first attempt to explore, in detail, the role of landscape quality in property decisions of key stakeholders in the UK property market. It also uses innovative methods to convey complex concepts of landscape quality to non‐technical participants.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a preliminary exploration of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues being addressed and reported by the UK's top ten property investment companies.

The paper begins with a short discussion of the origins and characteristics of CSR. The empirical information for the paper is drawn from the CSR reports and information posted on the world wide web by some of the leading construction companies.

The findings reveal substantial variations in the nature and the extent of reporting. The paper specifically focuses upon four sets of CSR issues namely those relating to environment, marketplace, workplace, and community and then provides some reflections on them and on CSR reporting.

The paper provides an accessible review of the CSR issues and agendas being reported by some of the UK's leading property investment companies and as such it will interest academics and practitioners working in property investment.

The purpose of this paper is to review recent government policy to provide a context for an exploratory study of broadband take up and use by small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Thames Valley region of the UK. In recent years, the business environment has been fundamentally altered by the information and communication revolution that has changed the way in which businesses are created, operated and managed. However, the take up of broadband amongst SMEs remains low. Recent government policy has focussed on stimulating both supply and demand sides of the market for broadband technology as an entry point for SMEs.

The paper discusses the impact of government policy upon the use of broadband by SMEs and considers how occupiers are using and benefiting from the use of broadband.

The research undertaken indicates that government policy promoting broadband take up amongst SMEs has been effective in terms of the achievement of targets. The majority of SMEs in the case study are now equipped with broadband. However, their use of broadband appears to be limited to the more rudimentary uses for communication and searching for information as opposed to advanced applications such as e‐business and marketing.

Current government policy is aimed at promoting ICT for SMEs, but their effectiveness and success is yet to be measured. There is a need for more research in respect of the impact of broadband upon the working practices of SMEs, their business performance and relative competitiveness.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), corporate governance (CG) and socially responsible investment (SRI) are now established terms among most large corporations, particularly in the field of investment. The aim of this paper is to explore the issue of social responsibility (SR) in property investment in the UK.

A review of existing literature across different disciplines sought to explore the scope and boundaries of these issues. This was followed by a review of the approaches to, and reporting protocols of the activities of the five largest property investment management companies in the UK.

The study revealed a significant variation in the way UK property investment management companies define and use SR‐related terms, both within and between companies in the same industry.

The potential for confusion, difficulties in communication (both within and between companies) and dilution of the true meaning of these terms is significant for the sector. These issue need to be addressed to ensure that SR‐related activities can make a more widely‐adopted contribution to the property in particular and to society in general.

The paper aims to present the findings of a “situation review” of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), focusing on energy performance certificates (EPCs) to highlight areas of specific importance for the UK property investment community. The paper is based on research commissioned by the Investment Property Forum (IPF) and funded through the IPF Research Programme (2006‐2009).

Interviews were undertaken with experts from the fields of property investment and building engineering. The interviews were undertaken with to identify: the current knowledge of EPCs in the property investment sector; key issues with practical implementation of the legislation; and perceptions of the potential impacts of legislation, particularly in relation to value stakeholder and behaviour.

The paper finds that, although the regulations have been published, there is still a need for clarification in the marketplace with regard to some of the detail of regulations and the certification process. The following areas are of most concern to property investors: costs of surveys; potential difficulties with the process; and a shortage of assessors. With respect to these impacts it is becoming clear that investors who have not yet started considering the EPBD and its requirements within their strategy are likely to face difficulties in the short term. The most significant value‐related impacts of EPBD are expected to be value differentiation of properties and “price chipping” against the rental or capital value of the property, where an occupier or potential purchaser will use the recommendations contained within an EPC to force a reduction in value. The latter is expected to emerge in the short term, whereas the former is expected to be realised over the medium to long term. Both these impacts have potentially significant implications for property investment holdings and also future investment behaviour.

The paper provides useful information the importance of EPCs.

The purpose of this paper is to set out to explore the similarities and differences between jargon used to describe future‐focussed commercial building product. This is not so much an exercise in semantics as an attempt to demonstrate that responses to challenges facing the construction and property sectors may have more to do with language than is generally appreciated.

This is a conceptual analysis which draws upon relevant literature.

Social responsibility and sustainability are often held to be much the same thing, with each term presupposing the existence of the other. Clearly, however, there are incidences where sustainable commercial property investment (SCPI) may not be particularly socially responsible, despite being understood as an environmentally friendly initiative. By contrast, socially responsible assets, at least in theory, should always be more sustainable than mainstream non‐ethically based investment. Put simply, the expression of social responsibility in the built environment may evoke, and thereby deliver, a more sustainable product, as defined by wider socially inclusive parameters.

The findings show that promoting an ethic of social responsibility may well result in more SCPI. Thus, the further articulation and celebration of social responsibility concepts may well help to further advance a sustainable property investment agenda, which is arguably more concerned about demonstrability of efficiency than wider public good outcomes.

The idea that jargon affects outcomes is not new. However, this idea has rarely, if ever, been applied to the distinctions between social responsibility and sustainability. Even a moderate re‐emphasis on social responsibility in preference to sustainability may well provide significant future benefits with respect to the investment, building and refurbishment of commercial property.