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  2. Our Commitments
  3. Challenge and Innovate

Our Commitment to Challenge and Innovate

We will challenge the status quo and trial new approaches and solutions to support the transition to a Net Positive business.

Moving to a Net Positive business model requires current practices to be challenged and an openness to innovative new approaches. We will be looking at our own practices but also looking at how we can use our role as an influencer to challenge our customers, our consumers and our suppliers.

There are a number of ways we will be looking to challenge ourselves and our partners, and to create innovative solutions. 

Challenge and Innovate Initiatives

Our Scope Three Footprint: We have undertaken a detailed carbon footprint with JLL Upstream as part of the development of our objective to become Net Positive by 2030.  The results have helped us to focus our activities and to set a baseline for tracking progress on this ambitious journey. 

Design Standards: In 2015 we launched the world's first zero energy coffee pod in collaboration with Costa, challenging the status quo of how these shells are created, and how a partnership between landlord and tenant works. In 2017 we subsequently opened a drive thru version of the zero energy coffee pod.

Find out more Innovative Zero Energy Design Roll Out

We used the learnings from the two projects with Costa to deliver the world’s first carbon neutral and BREEAM Outstanding retail park at Elliott’s Field, Rugby. Elliott’s Field Phase II was designed to be carbon neutral in terms of its regulated consumption, with energy efficiency measures reducing the carbon emissions created by such sources as heating, hot water and cooling and on site photovoltaics offsetting the remaining carbon emissions.

Find out more Two World Firsts at Elliott's Field retail Park, Rugby

New Ways to Value Sustainability: In 2016, we undertook a unique project with Sir Robert McAlpine and Trucost using Natural Capital accounting to quantify the environmental and social impact of different design options across a small number of our centres.  

We will continue to explore these more innovative ways to quantify impact. We will also be looking at the role of whole life costing in capital expenditure financial decisions. 

Find out more Natural Capital Report

Innovative New Funding Models: In 2016, we started working with Grid Edge, an entrepreneurial start up originating from Aston University, on a project at Bullring. Their software combines footfall, temperature and energy consumption data to enable proactive energy management through artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. The platform also allows us to see the impact of using our HVAC assets on comfort, carbon, and cost, and in a really exciting development uses predictive learning algorithms to model the building’s future energy profile so energy assets can be controlled optimally in real time.

Hammerson will be continuing to work with Grid Edge to explore further ways we can manage our buildings more effectively using the technology. 

Trialing Pioneering Solutions: At Hammerson we invest in innovation both through our dedicated Product & Innovation team and directly through our centre teams.

In 2016 we launched pioneering food waste management technology ‘BioWhale’ from OWL at Westquay in Southampton. We’ve since installed a unit at Cabot Circus in Bristol too, where the system has helped Cabot Circus to become Net Positive for gas, the first in our portfolio. We’re looking for opportunities to install BioWhales across the rest of our portfolio where appropriate.

Challenge and Innovate Progress

We will share news of our work via our Blog, and via our Initiatives page.