Welcome to the webinarIf necessary hold on for others to joinIntroduce myself20 - 30 minutes durationIf you have any queries during the webinar please use the chat/questions function to send them to me and I will review them at the end of the session.Following todays’ webinars, the Powerpoint and Recordingwill go on the GRESB website.
The 2013 was launched on the first of April and last day to submit your data is the first of July. Within these 3 months our Helpdesk is available for your questions, which we will answer as soon as possible.When you submit your Survey in time, your response is included in our 2013 Report. Which will be released in the first week of September. That’s also the first week of a period with several launching events, at least one in every region. My colleagues and I hope to see you there in person! We will also organize a webinar to present the results, easy to attend if you cannot join us in person.
About the Survey. This year it includes some additional questions compared to last year. Based on the feedback we got from Respondents during our Consultation period, our Benchmark Committee and Advisory Board. This results in 42 questions and another 11 on New developments.Performance Indicators are obviously key when it comes to sustainability, but we surely see it from a wider perspective by also asking questions on management, risk assessment but also Environmental Management Systems, certification and Stakeholder engagement.Questions are asked at portfolio level, however we have integrated asset-level rating tools in our questions like LEED, Enegy star, NABERs, EPC an BREEAM.
Accuracy of data in required for the quality of our Benchmark. That is secured using the online portal in which we ask for uploads since this year. Mainly from a verification point of view.Next to that we’ll do a Response check and Verification of over 100 data points. We have also improved the transparency of our scoring, I’ll come to that later but it relates to our tailored comparison within regions and property type.
In the following slides I’ll guide you through the Respondent portal. You can get there via our homepage at gresb.com and simply click Respondent portal.
Did you register as well last year? You can use your existing username & password from 2012. If you forgot or lost your password? Please click on forgot your password.When you’re new this year? Click on register and create your personal account.We advise you to keep your login credentials to yourself.
Your asked to complete your registration and you can simply click on next after completing all the fields. You will then receive an email with your login credentials. It could take a while, when it’s very busy.
Once you’ve logged in you get a welcome message, followed by an overview of the GRESB Survey process and available documents as well as our suggestion how the Survey submission procedure could be executed. When you click on NEXT you get to a one-page Guidance document on how to use the Portal. You can only see that once. So if you require more support on functionalities within the portal, you can use these slides. They are available on our website from the end of today,Before you can actually go to the 2013 Survey, you first have to accept our Terms and Conditions and then click NEXT to continue to the Survey.
This leads you to the Overview page. This eventually provides you with an overview of all funds for which you’ll submit the Survey. The process bar provides you with an overview of the status per fund. Once a Survey is actually Submitted you see that next to where it says Survey now,When you want to go the the Survey (per fund), just click Survey.
When we then look at the left side of the Overview Page, you see the Navigation bar. Easily click on the headings to navigate.Under Help you find more information on the Process. The Q&A contains the most frequently asked process related questions as well. If you have any other question, please contact our helpdesk via Survey@gresb.comUnder Settings you find your personal details and you could change your password as well.You can see your scoring history, from last years’s Survey.To support you in the response process, we provide you with a editable PDF and Excel. This can be used for data gathering internally and externally. This year we’ve also added a more extensive Guidance, which also includes more info on the scoring per question. For NAREIT members, we have a special supplement.
Let’s go to the Survey questions. Before you can actually do so, you must first complete Portfolio Characteristics section. Once that’s completed, you can start with the other 8 sections which you can find at the left side of the page. You can navigate by clicking on the section, but again only after you’ve finished portfolio characteristics! After you complete a section your bullit get’s market OK.New developments is a separate section, which are scored separately
Several questions can have multiple answers per question, please select all that apply.When answers require additional information, please complete that in the designated place. Like for instance the name of a consultant or a other aspect than listed already.Please do not use those spaces for other comments.When you want to go to a previous page, simply click back. When you’re ready to go on, click next and your answers are saved automatically while you go to the following question.
As mentioned we ask for uploads this year, to support your answers. For us it’s mainly from a data verification perspective.
Per property type within the fund we ask for performance indicators on energy use, water and waste. As said performance indicators are key for sustainability, however if you’re unable to submit them, it’s not required to be able to respond to the GRESB Survey. Fortunately the response rate to this section has strongly improved over the last years.
The improved guidance document can be downloaded separately from the Overview page. Here is also an online guidance per question. You can click on guidance behind every question.Both include intent of the questions, used terminology and requirements to get a score as well as supporting material and references we used for this question and the potential answers.
Once you’ve gone to all 8 sections and answered all questions you have the opportunity to request for a response check. But only if you are one of the first 100 requests, before the end of May. You can request one by clicking Response check request.Before you actually submit the Survey please review your response and confirm accuracy and completeness. Then you can submit the survey by clicking Submit Survey and we will initiate the verification of your response.
About Scoring and methodology. We score your Survey submission per question but also relative to property type. You can find the scoring per question and its explanation in the Guidance document (you can find it at the Overview page).The weighting for this years’ Survey per Aspect or Section is comparable to 2012.
Logically our data verification and analysis is a key part in our process. That’s why we’ve added the response check this year as well the uploads.
The 2013 report will be presented in the first week of September and as mentioned we will launch it personally together with our partners and associate members in all regions. This report does not include scores per Respondent. The only names disclosed in the Report are the regional sector leaders. Individual respondent results are published at the same time.Every Respondent get’s a GRESB Scorecard free of charge, which provides you with an overview of your score.GRESB designs respondents’ Scorecards and Benchmark Reports to be flexible and user-friendly tools for engagement with investors and other stakeholders that can be used for external communication as the basis for a standalone corporate social responsibility report. In addition to the Scorecard and Benchmark Reports, Survey respondents who are also GRESB members are able to use GRESB’s Member Portal. This enables investment managers to select their portfolios to compare results e.g. individual results for a single portfolio or a group of results for portfolios with assets located in a particular region or country or a particular property type. Managers are also able to create reports that show the aggregate performance of the whole investment management house.
What will GRESB do with my data?Once data is submitted online, it is stored securely and is only accessible to GRESB staff and their authorized agents (IT providers). Over the summer, the data is processed and analyzed. GRESB’s annual Survey results are published in September each year. Who will see the data that I submit via the GRESB online portal?Data is submitted to GRESB via an online secure platform. All data you provide and all supporting information are kept confidential. Only the GRESB team (including our IT providers) sees this information. Once the data has been processed and analyzed, the aggregate results are published in the annual GRESB Report at the beginning of September. The only names disclosed in the Report are the regional sector leaders. Individual respondent results are published at the same time.Data access for Members and RespondentsRespondents are able to see a Scorecard showing the headlines of their annual GRESB Survey results for each fund/company with which they participate in the Survey. For an additional fee respondents are also able to obtain a Benchmark Report, which is a detailed report covering all aspects of a respondent’s Survey results and benchmark. GRESB members who are investors in real estate are able to monitor the annual GRESB Survey results for all their investments and, if they invest in listed real estate securities, all listed company results. GRESB members who are real estate investment managers are able to monitor the annual GRESB Survey results for all internally and externally managed fundsI submit Surveys for more than one portfolio and some answers are the same. Is there an easy way to duplicate the answers for more than one portfolio?Each Survey submission has to be completed separately using the online respondent portal.For data collection purposes you can use the downloadable PDF and/or Excel versions of the Survey. Where you submit identical responses, you can copy responses from the PDF/Excel document into each Survey.