Every year, the GRESB Report changes to (hopefully) improve ease of reporting, accuracy in results, and better sustainability benchmarking. This year, a number of changes were made to required supporting evidence of the 2017 GRESB Real Estate Survey, but the basic structure and key elements are the same.
Key Focus Areas on GRESB 2017
1. Define the area of each building: Set each building’s leasable area and define which part of the building each meter serves for your whole portfolio to ensure accurate reporting in Data Coverage. Here’s a how-to video using Measurabl.
2. Enter Projects, Audits, Certifications: Make sure all of these are updated for each building since these three sections are critical points on GRESB.
3. Omitting assets: Clearly define your reporting boundary in “Portfolio Characteristics”. If you use Measurabl, you can include or exclude buildings from your report with a simple “on/off” switch.
4. Annual GRESB Survey Changes: The following list summarizes changes to the questions and documents required for the 2017 GRESB Real Estate Report. Update your assessment accordingly.
GRESB 2017 Updates for Measurabl Users
Measurabl users now have NCMR (new construction and major renovation) buildings in both CDP and GRESB surveys this year. Users can enter those NCMR buildings into their portfolio, just like Operational buildings, and Measurabl’s system will automatically assign data for the buildings to the appropriate survey questions.
List of Changes to GRESB 2017 Report
Q13 Remove the open textbox: Now requests supporting evidence in the form of an uploaded document.
Q15.2 Remove the upload: The intent (to see if the entity assesses environmental risk exposure of all assets) did not align with the requested information (anecdotal, at best).
Q16 % Portfolio Covered & Score Adjustments:
The percentage of portfolio covered in the report is necessary for accurate benchmarking and data analysis.
Water, Waste and Health & Well-being technical building assessments were introduced in 2016, with intention to be scored in 2017. Total points available in Q16 increases to 4.5.
– 2p for Energy (instead of 3p)
– 1.5p for Water (instead of 0p)
– 0.5p for Waste (instead of 0p)
– 0.5p for Health & Well-being (instead of 0p)
Q17 Score Adjustments: 3p, instead of 4p.
Q18 Score Adjustments:
2.5p, instead of 3p.
New Waste Monitoring Indicator:
The new waste indicator identifies which data collection methods are used and how much of the portfolio is covered in order to support the achievement of waste reduction and diversion targets; for reporting purposes only in 2017. We will update this post with the corresponding question number when it becomes available.
Q25.1 Clarification to the Energy Consumption table:
Participants are required to provide the TOTAL floor area of:
– Managed Assets (Common Areas, Tenant Spaces and/or Whole Building)
– Indirectly Managed Assets (Whole Building)
– Floor area supplied with shared services (any energy type)
The total combined floor area associated with each space type for both Managed and Indirectly Managed Assets should be aligned with the floor areas of each property type reported in RC5.1. The values must be provided per property type, regardless of energy supply and energy data availability.
Q41.1 Expand the Scope & Request Supporting Evidence:
– Now includes all property/asset managers, internal and external, to reduce confusion on reporting scope, and provides opportunities for differentiation between the monitoring methods on internal and external property/asset management.
– Supporting evidence via upload is mandatory for Validation Plus and Site Visits to ensure the requirements specifically apply to the reported stakeholder group.
NC2, NC3, NC8, NC9, NC11 Structure Adjustments: Move the group of “Requirements/standards” below the Upload requirement to differentiate that the requirements and standards are for reporting purposes only and are not required to be evidenced in the upload provided.
NC4 Remove the open textbox: The open text box was introduced for reporting purposes (not scored) in 2016, but it duplicates the reporting and documentation.
NC 6, NC7.1, NC12.1, NC13 Remove the upload: The necessary documentation for these indicators was too difficult and the answers could have been drawn from other levels of information.
In case you missed it, catch up on 2016 GRESB Reporting changes. Need more info? Read the full 2017 GRESB Real Estate Assessment Guide.