Sustainability Award
In 2024 CBRE Investment Properties took on a seven-year mandate as investment advisor to the Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund as part of that mandate CBRE has supported the venture fund to uphold its social value ambition by creating an ESG framework for the sites.
Local authority pension funds play a crucial role in local investment and addressing geographical inequalities across the UK. In 2024 UK Government mandated that 5% of all local authority pension funds should seek to create a positive impact, which represents a £25 billion worth of AUM under management in the UK.
In this effort Greater Manchester Property Venture Fund is already ahead of the curve. Launched in 1992, the fund has approximately £950m investment allocation to local property development, focused on the North-West and West Yorkshire, and aims to:
Gain cost effective, diversified exposure to property development assets located in the North-West of England and West Yorkshire with a clear emphasis on Greater Manchester.
Add value to the local economy by driving economic development, long term job creation and improving living standards.
Invest responsibly and sustainably in equity, mezzanine and senior debt to achieve the portfolio target return.
As with most funds that have an “impact” label, their challenge is to not only create a positive impact on through investment alone, but through the quality of the places they make, and how sustainably and ethically they go about developing those places.
In 2024 CBRE Investment Properties took on a seven-year mandate as investment advisor to the fund. This has enabled investment by the venture fund to gather apace, but also as part of that mandate CBRE has supported the venture fund to uphold its social value ambition by creating an ESG framework for the sites.
This framework assesses potential sites to acquire into the fund across 35 key performance metrics that reflect best practice in sustainable development and social value creation. This framework is used during acquisition to identify risks to achieving holistic sustainable development and identify opportunities to resolve these. Performance against these will then be measured on an ongoing basis to encourage development partners and contractors to improve their efforts and secure successful outcomes across the following issues:
- Economic resilience
- Inclusive communities and societies
- Acknowledging climate change
- Wellbeing
The thematic areas align with the priorities of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and address the needs of the local communities. The specific metrics were developed following a thorough review of leading building certification schemes, recognised sustainable development frameworks, and recommendations from industry groups.
Efforts were also made to ensure that the framework focused on the additional impact created by the fund, i.e. what goes over and beyond what would be provided by traditional investment vehicles.
Over the next decade, local authority pension funds could play a crucial role in reducing inequality and its effects on local communities in the UK. However, this potential can only be realised if the investments are directed to where they are most needed and if the overall impact of any development is thoroughly considered.
View the CBRE profile in the MCA Members Directory.