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Leveraging healthy buildings as a tool to apply a people-centric approach to ESG
Corporate Real Estate Journal,
13
(1),
32-43
(2023)
Abstract
Resilience, or the ability to respond effectively to the unexpected, has always played a vital role in the corporate real estate (CRE) sector. That importance has only intensified in recent years in the face of numerous crises, including COVID-19, natural disasters and financial market stagnation. Prioritising people and their well-being has emerged as an effective tactic for not only increasing resilience, but also for aligning with environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards across all three pillars. This paper begins by discussing the role ESG plays within the CRE sector, with a focus on the importance of taking a people-centric approach. It presents the co-benefits framework as an effective tool for optimising ESG efforts and identifies several key data sources that aid in reporting ESG metrics. The paper concludes with a case study of a company that leveraged data to better understand how its ESG efforts were supporting its overall financial outcomes.
Keywords: ESG; healthy building; public health; certification
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Sara Karerat MPH, is the Managing Director at the Center for Active Design (CfAD) and leads the organisation’s translation of public health research into actionable solutions that optimise the built environment for health, both domestically and internationally. She holds a Master of Public Health from Columbia University with a certificate in health promotion research and practice.
Adele Houghton FAIA, DrPH, LEED AP, is President of Biositu, LLC, working at the intersection of buildings, public health and climate change. She is a member of the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows and received a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her book Architectural Epidemiology (Johns Hopkins University Press 2024) combines neighbourhood data with participatory community engagement to produce community benefit design that generates new value for multiple stakeholder groups.
Grace Dickinson MPH, MUP, is an Associate on the Applied Research Team at the Center for Active Design (CfAD). Grace supports the translation of public health research into solutions and strategies that optimise the built environment for health and well-being. Prior to her time at CfAD, Grace completed a dual degree programme at Columbia University for a Master of Public Health, focused on population and family health, and a Master of Science in urban planning, centred on the built environment.
