2degrees: "How Hammerson is greening its property portfolio" (Apart from the 29,000 extra cars every day at Brent Cross)

"FTSE100 company, Hammerson is one of Europe’s leading property companies, with a real estate portfolio in the UK and France worth £5.6 billion - including 20 major shopping centres and 18 retail parks.

2degrees caught up with head of sustainability, Paul Edwards, to find out about some of its latest initiatives to tackle sustainability."

"Brent Cross in West London receives around 14 million customer visits a year."
Link to '2degrees' web site

"Edwards says:

"I think one of the challenges for our business recently has been around communication. [So what were the challenges to your business earlier then, when you dreamt up the Brent Cross Cricklewood development? Unaccountable and unsustainable greed?]

We've been doing some great stuff, but how do we communicate that?" [You go to London Communications Agency, of course! (When it says "The Mayor of London gave a strong personal endorsement of [to?] the scheme", it means he called it "Dead in the Water", by the way.)]

"Hammerson's response has been its 'Positive Places' programme, which it introduced at the end of 2012. [Which explains why there's nothing on the web site.*] This is the banner under which everything the company does on sustainability will be badged:

"It’s basically saying we’re going to move from a company that does efficiency, to one that does effectiveness. This programme will enable us to do this as a business, whether you’re cycling into one of our assets [oops!] or standing up as CEO, and making corporate statements about where we’re doing. [sic. Or maybe David Atkins talks like that.]

Everything drives [by car?] towards delivering positive places; that’s for us, our staff and the communities we work in".

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* Although there is this, from 2001 (here):

"At Brent Cross in the UK, a public inquiry into a proposed 27,000sq.m. expansion of the shopping centre resulted in The Secretary for State's refusal to grant planning consent in April 2000. This decision was overturned on appeal in October and the application will now be re-determined by a new inquiry. Hammerson will continue to work closely with The London Borough of Barnet and other interested parties to plan a future for Brent Cross to maintain its position as the pre-eminent shopping area for north west London."