Towards a fairplace award: the evolution of a scheme to reward property management which respect people, planet and community

In 2009 a team from Kingston University led by Sayce was commissioned by the Ethical Property Foundation (EPF) to scope the possibility for developing a ëmarkí which would recognise that non-domestic properties, even though not necessarily of a specification which would allow them to gain a building certification such as BREEAM or LEED, could make a significant contribution to driving more sustainable behaviour in respect of how buildings are managed. The driver behind this was an increased realisation that building use is as important as building design and quality in achieving a range of environmental and social benefits. The results of that unpublished scoping study (Sayce et al.), combined with the views expressed in focused invited workshops, encouraged the EPF to further develop the notion. This paper will report on the initial, but more importantly, follow-up research work including interviews with a range of key industry stakeholders. The results have reinforced the need for a ëmarkí or ëawardí that emphasises the social aspects of sustainability equally to the environmental. A Working Group of both EPF and industry and academic advisors, including the author has now developed a framework for an award. A further workshop to be held in March 2012 will help the Group to refine the criteria and prepare the scheme for a meaningful building mark which will neither replicate existing schemes such as BREEAM in Use (which relates to reduction of operational costs and environmental performance) nor require those seeking to achieve it to develop new streams of data. The paper will report on all steps of the research to date and moves towards the launch which is intended to take place no later than early 2013.