Avison Young helps clients advance sustainability goals through real estate objectives

Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young, the world’s fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm, announced today that it has released its third annual global citizenship report.

Global Citizenship is the umbrella name of Avison Young’s corporate social responsibility, sustainability and philanthropy strategy.

“Our firm’s sustainability initiatives are designed to help clients meet their increasingly complex goals and build long-term value,” comments Rose.  “The Avison Young 2016 Global Citizenship Report, released today, shows that we continue to make progress in the journey to support our clients’ sustainability and corporate social responsibility objectives.  The 2014 launch of this strategy kicked off a more focused effort on embedding sustainability into our culture and services.  In 2015, Avison Young launched key initiatives in corporate social responsibility, sustainability and philanthropy, and in 2016, we continued to expand our corporate social responsibility efforts, along with our sustainability and philanthropy programmes.”

A key pillar of Avison Young’s global citizenship strategy is helping clients achieve excellence in their own corporate sustainability efforts.  The 2016 report features three client examples: An electric-vehicle charging station as part of a new 209,000-square-foot project for G&W Electric in Ontario, LEED-Silver certification for Langan Engineering’s new head office in New Jersey, and LEED-Silver certification for Sands Capital Management’s new office in Washington, DC.

In addition, in December 2016 in Ontario, Avison Young became a founding partner in the Carbon Impact Initiative (CII).  The CII brings industry leaders together to create long-term strategies that establish low-carbon built environments in Canada.  To achieve this goal, CII members work with government leaders to reduce the carbon impact of commercial buildings during all stages of development, from design to operations.

Avison Young also held its third annual Global dAY of Giving in October 2016, when the firm set aside a day for all Avison Young professionals across the globe to participate in volunteer projects that promote social, economic and environmental sustainability in their respective cities.  Employees in 79 offices volunteered 6,740 hours to support 69 charities.  Activities ranged from river and trail clean-up projects at local parks to landscaping and renovation projects at women’s shelters and youth clubs to refurbishing a house for homeless families to collecting coats for a school.

Rose notes: “Our Global dAY of Giving is, perhaps, our largest and most impactful community-minded accomplishment every year.  We were thrilled to expand our philanthropic efforts into Mexico this past year and broaden our global contributions.  This annual initiative is also our way of giving back to the communities that support our company and our causes throughout the year.  Avison Young’s core principles of partnership and collaboration apply not only to our business operations, but also to our efforts to support the communities in which we live, work and play.”

Avison Young Principal Rodney McDonald concurs.

“Avison Young is a different kind of real estate company,” says McDonald.  “For this reason, we are taking a different approach to our global citizenship strategy and our annual global citizenship report.  Our focus in on people – our clients, our employees and the communities in which we serve.”

Avison Young’s 2016 Global Citizenship report also explains the five pillars on which the corporate social responsibility, sustainability and philanthropy strategy is based.  The pillars include support for clients, corporate governance, operational excellence, communities and employee excellence.

For internal operations, the 2016 report documents Avison Young’s energy and water-use intensity and greenhouse-gas emissions for 2015 and 2016, compared with the firm’s 2014 baseline year.  “Although it is too early in our history of data-gathering to identify a trend line, we are seeing a reduction in our electricity and water-use intensity,” says McDonald.  “Due to an increase in the number of Avison Young offices, total GHG emissions are up compared with 2014.”

“Our sustainability efforts will grow organically and exponentially as we continue to expand around the globe,” adds Rose.  “We’re pleased with what we’ve accomplished to date regarding global citizenship – and look forward to doing much more in  the future.”

Click here to read the report.