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Reviews current key areas of acknowledged best practice in “green” design and building management systems including the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method, Eco labelling and “green” building materials profiling systems. Identifies and discusses specific problems and “green” refurbishment techniques using examples drawn from recent case studies from commercial portfolios: energy and resource use; internal environmental services and systems; planned “green” maintenance programmes and techniques; “green” building management issues; and cost analysis of “green” refurbishment; cost effectiveness, viability and recovery of investment. The examples cited are from recent case studies undertaken by the Environmental Research Group at Oxford Brookes University as part of an ongoing collaboration with a number of major commercial property owners.

Socially responsible investment (SRI) is now a well established part of equities investment. Questions are now being raised over property investment and whether similar attempts to be “socially responsible” should be incorporated into investment practice. This paper aims to examine the investment practices of large fund managers for both equities and property in order to identify products and activities which are contributing to the progress of SRPI.

Analysis was conducted of equities SRI, and potential SRPI activities, for the top ten UK property fund management using publicly available company literature. This was analysed using simple matrices to understand common activities, industry application, and market‐leading innovations. Relationships between progress in SRI and SRPI, are also explored, along with the consideration of SRPI actions in the context of SRI concepts.

Market leaders were established in terms of their equities SRI products and services, though this did not necessarily equate to progress in the field of SRPI. Only one potentially SPRI product was identified. However this does not represent the overall consideration of sustainability issues in relation to property investment practices. Half of the companies studied were found to be taking actions which demonstrate attempts to consider the impacts associated with property investment.

This paper reflects a call from key SRPI thinkers to assess the current extent of SRPI practices, which will be a useful starting point for further analysis/debate of the most appropriate SRPI methods. It should therefore be of interest to both SRI and general property investors alike.

This study seeks to provide a review of the background and context to the engagement of RICS members with the sustainability agenda, and to examine the extent to which the surveying profession uses relevant information, tools and techniques to achieve the key objectives of sustainable development (or sustainability).

The paper analyses results from a major international online survey of 4,600 RICS respondent members, supported by 31 structured telephone interviews.

The results suggest that, although sustainability is highly relevant to RICS members' work, a lack of knowledge and expertise is making it more difficult for sustainability tools and other information to be used effectively.

The survey is based on a substantial number of responses which are broadly representative of the global RICS population. A key implication is that “laggard” faculties include the disciplines of commercial property and valuation.

The research suggests that key stakeholders must work together to provide better information, guidance and education and training to “hardwire” the sustainability agenda across RICS faculties.

This is the first truly global survey of its kind and focuses particularly on those faculties that play a major role in property investment and finance (i.e. valuation and commercial property), comparing their position with that of other faculties in an international context.

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 purpose of this paper is to improve the quality of monitoring of risk factors that predict the likelihood of people with severe mental illness (SMI) developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes and obesity, major contributors to poor physical health and risk of premature mortality.

The first phase of the AQuA “Don’t just screen-intervene” initiative supported five specialised community-based Early Intervention for Psychosis services in North West England to assess the effectiveness of monitoring of cardiometabolic risk in their patients using standards derived from the Lester Positive Cardiometabolic Health Resource, a nationally acknowledged framework for people with psychosis receiving antipsychotic medication. The initial findings formed the basis for a quality improvement programme which ran from November 2012 until May 2013.

By the end of a six month quality improvement programme the likelihood of a patient receiving a comprehensive cardiometabolic risk screening (evidenced by recorded measurement of body mass index or waist circumference, blood pressure, blood glucose and lipid profile, assessment of smoking status and enquiry of relevant family history) had increased from 10 to between 63 and 80 per cent.

Cardiometabolic risk monitoring from the onset of psychosis and its treatment can be improved utilising quality improvement methodology in real-world specialist mental health services. Earlier identification and treatment of risk factors that predict higher rates of obesity, diabetes and SMI may help people with SMI avoid life-restricting and life-shortening physical disorders.

Given the National Audit of Schizophrenia findings of inadequate screening in those with established SMI alongside evidence that CVD risk can emerge early in the course of psychosis, a group of early intervention in psychosis services in North West England decided to examine this aspect of their routine clinical practice. This service evaluation describes the effectiveness of a quality improvement programme based on the Lester Positive Cardiometabolic Health Resource (referred to as Lester resource henceforth) to improve the effectiveness of monitoring of risk factors that predict the likelihood of people experiencing psychosis and schizophrenia developing CVD diabetes and obesity.

A combination of social disadvantage and unhealthy lifestyles, adverse cardiometabolic impacts of antipsychotic medication and inequitable access to physical healthcare combine to put people with SMI at particular risk from CVD, the single biggest cause of premature death, and much more common than suicide (Brown et al., 2010). Despite higher rates of potentially modifiable CVD risk factors (De Hert et al., 2009) people with SMI appear to be missing out on opportunities to actively prevent conditions like CVD and diabetes compared to the general population.

People with SMI such as schizophrenia die 15-20 years earlier on average than the general population. Around 20 per cent of premature deaths can be explained by suicide and injury, but the remainder arise from a variety of natural causes such as CVD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and certain cancers and infections (Nordentoft et al., 2013). The authors worked with five mental health trusts in the North West of England covering a sample of over 500 cases within early intervention services.

Within the past ten years, the design, procurement and management of “green” buildings has evolved from something of a “fringe” activity into a new and increasingly popular approach to the provision of commercial property. Many UK Government agencies, and international corporations, now include green buildings as part of their property portfolios and green issues are already influencing many aspects of the property development process. This paper explains some of the background to this more environmentally responsible approach to property, identifies the potential benefits to owners and occupiers and discusses some of the building‐related environmental issues which could provide a basis for ongoing research. The paper concludes that the way commercial buildings are conceived, located, designed and managed is changing, often incorporating new technologies, to meet a new set of project‐specific and organisational environmental objectives.