41061 Unite AR22 HI-RES WEB-READY - Flipbook - Page 128
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THE UNITE GROUP PLC | Annual Report and Financial Statements 2022
SUSTAINABILITY COMMITTEE continued
Through the Committee’s oversight, the business reviewed
the framework for communicating our sustainability
strategy and determined to communicate the essential
elements of the sustainability strategy in terms of impact
on People and Places.
Our people
Everyone is unique. Everyone is important. And
everyone belongs in a community where they are
safe, respected and included and we strive to make
that happen.
The Sustainability Committee oversees that the
sustainability strategy is being embedded across the
business, with engagement sessions with managers, “Unite
Live” sessions with employees and The NUS Positive Impact
programme. This programme is a collaboration between
the business and the National Union of Students aimed
at helping students adopt lasting sustainable living habits
through wellbeing, community and social impact initiatives
and comprised of a network of champions across the
operation and support side of the business.
Our employee forum, Culture Matters, has become a very
valuable forum for understanding and engaging with
employees, offering two-way communication between
the senior leadership team and the wider business by
way of elected representatives. Through our Designated
Non-Executive Director for Workforce Engagement, the
Sustainability Committee receives regular updates on
our people. Through this engagement, the Sustainability
Committee helped oversee the launch of the Group’s
first Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging and Wellbeing
strategy, We are US, in 2022. The strategy is authentic to
Unite and sets out clear objectives to deliver our Home
for Success purpose and our value of “creating room for
everyone”. Full details of our DEIB & Wellbeing strategy can
be found on page 50.
Our continued commitment to employee engagement can
be seen by our regular employee engagement surveys and
addressing concerns raised by all teams. The feedback of
these surveys is presented to the Sustainability Committee
which monitors the process for identifying and addressing
concerns raised by the employees. Through engagement
with the Sustainability Committee, the Academy was
launched in October 2022 providing tailored learning and
development opportunities for employees to enhance their
knowledge and skills.
The Sustainability Committee is keen to ensure the
wellbeing, both physically and mentally of everyone across
the business remains one of the Board’s key priorities.
Safety is part of everything we do and is woven through the
entire business and culture with further details on page 52.
Our places
We want our places to deliver sustainable growth. For
our people, our communities and the planet. We are
working towards net zero carbon and finding ways
to use less resources, future-proof our buildings and
enable people to do their bit for the environment.
The Sustainability Committee is keen to ensure the
continued implementation of the sustainability strategy
and its ambitions and targets become “business as usual”
for our employees and is intrinsically aligned with Home
for Success.
Following the publication of our Net Zero Carbon Pathway
in December 2021, the Sustainability Committee continues
to provide oversight of our pathway to net zero in both
our operations and developments. The Sustainability
Committee tracks our progress using reporting metrics
covering the key activities for delivery of our strategy as
detailed below.
Step one – reduce absolute carbon emissions
by cutting operational energy use
To support our targeted energy reductions, the
Sustainability Committee has overseen the £10 million
of energy initiatives delivered in the year including EPC
improvements and the launch of a student behavioural
change pilot, MyFootprint. This is a data-led energy
reduction pilot using data to drive change and set
expectations at the individual customer level. Further
information can be found on page 59.
Step two – decarbonisation of our energy supply
through investment in renewable energy
We already source around 25% of our annual electricity
supply from a Scottish wind farm under a corporate power
purchase agreement and continue to review options for
further power purchase agreements in the future, as part of
our commitment to source 100% renewable power by 2030.
Step three – reducing embodied
carbon of new buildings
The Sustainability Committee reviews and has oversight
of our developing sustainable construction framework
including the application of alternative design and
construction approaches such as modular construction, the
use of lower carbon materials including timber and cementreplacements, and a focus on cutting construction activityrelated emissions.
