Awareness of how property can have a social impact is growing in the industry.
Given the magnitude of its social, economic, and environmental effect, the real estate sector is in a unique position to enhance people’s lives.
For this reason, the Property Council’s National Social Sustainability Roundtable spearheaded the establishment of a Collective Social Impact Framework (CSIF) as a way to assess and quantify these efforts across the sector.
Cameron Leggatt, Executive General Manager Development, Frasers Property Australia said Frasers wants to create belonging in stronger, smarter, happier neighbourhoods, which is one of the reasons why the group reported against the CSIF.
“This demands an ongoing investment in social sustainability initiatives which resonate with, and reflect, the people in the communities we create,” he said.
“Voluntarily reporting against the Collective Social Impact Framework means we are accountable for the investments in community and social sustainability initiatives we make, it helps us determine the success of such initiatives on an industry scale but also in human terms, and it aligns with the other industry standards we benchmark against, such as Green Star nationally and GRESB globally.”
Reporting against the benchmark will give Frasers an insight into their performance within the context of the industry allowing them, and other firms, the opportunity for greater social impact.
“As an organisation, we are curious, and our people are empowered to investigate new opportunities and innovations with the potential to positively impact our people, customers and communities,” he said.
“The Collective Social Impact Framework is a valuable resource which we can leverage to consider, adapt, interrogate, implement and evaluate. We look forward to remaining engaged in the Framework in an industry sense, by participating in the working group and through other opportunities to contribute to its ongoing operation.”
The Framework enables voluntary reporting on actions and initiatives underway by member organisations. Members can leverage their current efforts by reporting against the Framework which has been mapped against, and aligned to, existing industry standards.