Big Yellow Group PLC
Annual Report and Accounts 2018

Corporate Social Responsibility Report

Corporate Social Responsibility Report

Big Yellow is committed to responsible and sustainable business practices.

1.0

INTRODUCTION

Big Yellow is committed to responsible and sustainable business practices. The Board recognises that corporate social responsibility (“CSR”), when linked to clear commercial objectives, will create a more sustainable business and increase shareholder and customer value in both the medium and long term. People, Planet and Profit need to be aligned to make a sustainable business.

Big Yellow seeks to meet the demand for self storage from businesses and private individuals by providing the storage space for their commercial and/or domestic needs, whilst aiding local employment and contributing to the local community.

Our CSR policy covers all the parts of Big Yellow’s operations, as both a developer and operator of self storage facilities. We recognise that our business activities can have significant economic, environmental and social impacts. We are committed to assessing our CSR risks and opportunities, and thereafter taking appropriate steps to mitigate negative impacts and where possible enhance positive impacts for the benefit of our business, our stakeholders and our local environment.

The result of operating responsibly is the social value that we create.

2.0

CSR EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Big Yellow is pleased to deliver another year of steady CSR progress across the Group, full details of which can be found in our online report ( “Full CSR Report 2017/18”) with the highlights presented here.

2.1 Changes this year

This year a number of changes are reflected in this report and in the Full CSR Report. The most significant changes are:

>
the CSR strategy has been broadened to formally include five key stakeholder groups:
>
environment (same as current);
>
customers (new);
>
suppliers (new);
>
employees (significantly modified through the Big Yellow Foundation); and
>
communities (significantly modified through the Big Yellow Foundation).

These five groups are supplemented by a further three broader stakeholder groups: investors, national and international bodies and local government (all same as current):

>
a refresh and launch of our CSR Policy to reflect strategy changes; supplemented by a CSR Policy Standard published in November 2017 to demonstrate how we do things;
>
a refocus of Big Yellow’s interest in, and commitment to, ‘the social value we create’;
>
the alignment of CSR programmes and initiatives; and
>
the publishing of a separate draft GRI Index and EPRA table – this is the first time we are publishing tables and we will show some gaps in our reporting. Closing these gaps will help inform our CSR programmes going forward.

2.2 Highlights for this year

Social and economic value we create

We commissioned an independent report this year to examine the economic value our stores bring to their local communities; the findings are impressive:

Across the whole country, Big Yellow’s stores:

>
are home to over 7,700 businesses;
>
these businesses generate a national GVA of over £1 billion;
>
these businesses create around 23,000 jobs;
>
for half these businesses it’s the only space they have; and
>
60% of these businesses are start ups.

Our stores contribute significantly to their local communities – we further add value through our community investment and engagement programmes, our environmental programmes and the broader initiatives with all of our stakeholders, such as our suppliers.

The total amount of Community investment in 2017/18 is £714,000.

The Big Yellow Foundation: with the roll-out of our Big Yellow Foundation on 12 February 2018 we have piloted work and volunteering programmes with our six charity partners – we intend to continue to evolve and grow these programmes in the coming years.

In the first few weeks of rolling out, we have raised over £11,000 from customer donations, which is matched by Big Yellow. Together, we hope to raise £150,000 during 2018/19 for our chosen causes.

Our People

During 2017/18 we employed 335 full time equivalents (“FTEs”1) across our stores, head office and Maidenhead and invested heavily in their training and development.

Health and Safety Record

This has continued at a high standard at both our stores and on our construction projects. Measured by both the number of recorded Minor Injuries and by RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulation), our high standards of Health & Safety have continued to protect our customers, staff, contractors and other visitors.

There were no “Fatal Injuries, Notices or Prosecutions” during the year ended 31 March 2018 in any part of our operations.

Our Environment

Between 2015 and 2017 we have made significant investments of over £540,000 in internal and external LED lighting upgrades and motion sensor installations. Despite a growing store portfolio over the same time, the investment has allowed us to minimise any increase in energy use.

We have beaten our emissions reduction target of 34% by 2020. From our baseline year of 2008, we have achieved a 45% Scope 1 and 2 emissions reduction.

Energy Performance Certificates (“EPCs”): 63.5 % of our stores have EPCs (up from 42% during 2016/17), 78% of which are rated A or B.

Our Solar generation as % of grid use is 3.5%, slightly lower than in the previous year. However our latest store in Guildford Central has been equipped with a 50kWh installation and we hope will contribute to a higher % next year.

With the completion of our major LED & motion sensor lighting investment programme, we intend to review our mid-term and long-term energy and emission strategy during 2018/19.

We remain committed to the UK government’s emission reduction commitments.

We have initiated a broader review of resources and have embarked on a programme to remove 1,600kg of single-use plastic over a four year period (mainly outer bags of our packaging materials).

>
Over £540,000 invested in energy saving initiatives over three years
>
EPCs up – now at 63.5% of GIA
>
Emission reductions target achieved
>
Plan in place to tackle single-use plastic

CSR Performance Benchmarking

We continue to participate in our sustainable benchmarking initiatives and deliver competitive results:


FTSE4Good		 Carbon Disclosure Project
(CDP)		 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB)
Our FTSE ESG Rating of
2.8 is a slight improvement from the prior year (2.7)		 Our Management score of B means we have outperformed the industry average We achieved a rating of 59/100, ranked No. 1 among peers
1
Please note, FTE equivalent number used for H&S reporting for example was 335 FTEs. For our GRI reporting, we count each individual, making it 380.
3.0

OUR PEOPLE

Introduction

Our people are at the heart of our Company, bringing our values to life through the service that they provide and through the energy and passion that drives us to become an ever more responsible and sustainable business.

We recognise that recruiting, retaining and motivating individuals with talent and integrity, and ensuring that we listen to our people and maximise their skills and performance, is key to the continued success of our Company.

We encourage a culture of partnership within the business and believe in staff participating in corporate performance through benefits such as customer feedback rewards, bonus schemes and share incentives. We recognise and reward the exceptional performance, achievements and ideas of our people through a Points Recognition Scheme, and allocated £55,000 of points for the year ended 31 March 2018.

This year, we are including employment data as per GRI requirements2 wherever we are able to – we intend to improve on delivering meaningful data in the coming years.

>
£55,000 of points allocated to reward performance & achievements
>
HR GRI indicators published
>
Continued high level investment in employee training and development

Wellbeing and Support

We aim to promote employee wellbeing through a range of flexible working options, which include flexi-time, staggered working hours, home working and sabbaticals. We provide Childcare Vouchers along with a comprehensive range of medical support and advice through our private healthcare scheme and occupational health providers. We have arranged corporate gym membership on a national basis, as well as a “Cycle to Work” scheme and an Employee Assistance Programme.

Communication and Engagement

We continue to recognise the importance of communication and consultation with our employees and deliver an annual Spring Conference, regular formal and informal business meetings, quarterly newsletters and weekly operational updates. The Head of CSR has also introduced a CSR blog with employees being encouraged to participate and comment. In addition, the Directors and Senior Management spend a significant amount of time in the stores and are always accessible to employees at all levels.

We value feedback from our employees and are committed to periodically assessing their levels of engagement. We specifically seek feedback on day to day working life, learning and development, communication management style and leadership. We regularly carry out internal employee surveys or external Benchmarks. We plan to take part again in The Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For in 2019.

Training and Development

We continue to promote the development of our staff through ongoing training and regular performance appraisals. For the year ended 31 March 2018 a total of 1,330 training days were provided across the Company, comprising of both sales and operational training, and personal and management development.

With the opening of our new training hub at Guildford Central in March 2018 we can now offer our employees an even better environment to develop their skills and grow within our organisation.

2
Please see our Full CSR Report 2017/18
4.0

OUR COMMUNITIES

Community Investment and Engagement

This year, we have significantly increased our Community Investment and Engagement activities – mainly through the roll-out of the Big Yellow Foundation to all Big Yellow and Armadillo stores.

This has become an integral part of how we do business and we intend to provide ongoing information on how progress in the Annual Report.

It is part of why our employees enjoy working for us and therefore a critical element to continued employee wellbeing.

Community Investment

For the first year we are measuring our total community investment – we intend to report on this performance annually and are considering setting targets for this in the future. Please see the Targets and Commitments section for further information.

  2018
Free Space donated for community or charity use (£) £684,000
Payments to Social Enterprise organisations (£) £5,000
Total employee Big Yellow Foundation fundraising & Big Yellow matched funds (£) £2,000
Other funds raised3 £23,000
Total Community Investment £714,000

The Big Yellow Foundation
Introduction

The Big Yellow Foundation was rolled-out to all our stores on 12 February 2018, after nearly two years of development and preparation.

The Big Yellow Foundation works with charity partners supporting vulnerable people to find employment and create a better future for themselves; through our Foundation we want to engage with charities who will make a real difference in today’s society.

We have therefore selected six innovative charities that tackle more challenging aspects of our society and are as a result often forgotten about. They are Breaking Barriers, Bounce Back, the Down’s Syndrome Association, the Back UP trust, Hire a Hero and St Giles Trust.

>
First 6 month work placement complete (with Breaking Barriers)
>
Just under £45,000 raised during the pilot phase
>
One employee fundraising event held – three more planned

In the words of James Gibson, CEO of Big Yellow Group PLC and Chair of Trustees, The Big Yellow Foundation:

“We try to help our customers who are often going through a stressful event in their lives when they use our services our values and philosophy are all about making our customers’ lives easier.

Through the Big Yellow Foundation, we want to extend this philosophy to charities who will make a real difference in today’s society, giving people a helping hand back into the workplace. I have personally met with all of these charities and now look forward to us creating meaningful partnerships with them.”

Find out more here https://www.bigyellow.co.uk/foundation/

3
For example, charities own collection tins in stores – collection tins are being phased out

Breaking Barriers

Breaking Barriers offer a unique approach to helping refugees in London find meaningful employment and thus rebuild their lives and integrate them into their new home.

"Partnering with Big Yellow has been incredibly exciting for us. It is rare to find an employer so passionate and dedicated to providing meaningful placements to vulnerable groups, such as refugees. Yuel, has not only developed the professional skills to enter employment, but the confidence and support network to help him on his journey. Thanks to all the lovely people who supported him throughout the 6-month period."

Matthew Powell, CEO Breaking Barriers

Bounce Back

Bounce Back is a Charity and a social enterprise focussed on training and employment of ex-offenders. They firmly believe that everyone has the ability to change and working in several prisons, along with London Probation, they offer training, work experience and employment to offenders at the end of their sentences using the skills developed both in custody and on release.

The Back Up Trust

Every 8 hours someone in the UK is permanently paralysed through a back injury.

Back Up inspire people affected by spinal cord injury to get the most out of life.

"Back Up are delighted to have been chosen as one of Big Yellow’s partner charities. We are looking forward to partnering with them in a number of areas from supporting people with spinal cord injury back to work as well as engaging staff in different areas including staff fundraising."

T Farr, Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser

The Down’s Syndrome Association

The DSA provides advice, guidance and support to families, carers and professionals to children and adults and their families with Down’s Syndrome. The DSA actively support individuals into work through their Workfit programme.

Hire a Hero

Hire a Hero supports Service Leavers and Veterans to make the successful transition into civilian life.

Trained Hire a Hero staff, Career Coaches and Volunteers working with Service Leavers and Veterans to help them make the right choices through the transition period.

St Giles Trust

St Giles Trust is a charity helping people facing severe disadvantage to find homes, jobs and the right support they need. They help them to become positive contributors to local communities and wider society.

They passionately believe everybody is capable of changing their lives. Their mission is to help their clients achieve this through offering support from someone who has been there. Their peer-led services form the backbone of their work.

For 2018/2019 we have set an overall target of raising £150,000 for the Big Yellow Foundation.

5.0

OUR CUSTOMERS

Introduction

Our Annual Report provides insights into our customers and how Big Yellow meets their needs, such as flexible, short term space when moving house or for home improvements, a permanent base for running a business or extra distribution hubs for our national accounts customers.

Our most material commitment to all of our customers is to provide a safe, secure, welcoming and friendly environment.

We report on the following aspects:

>
Customer and Visitor Health & Safety – please refer to the Health & Safety section of this CSR Report.
>
Customer Service performance, security of our stores and the financial stability of our organisation – please refer to the main Financial Annual Report.
>
Our commitment to the Environment, in particular running efficient stores – please refer to the Environmental section of this CSR Report.
>
Our commitment to and investment in our local communities – please refer to the Communities section of this CSR Report.

Big Yellow Foundation Engagement

We have successfully engaged our customers with the Big Yellow Foundation this year and invited them to donate. Big Yellow in turn matches total customer donations.

We monitor customer donations as an indicator of engagement success.

6.0

OUR SUPPLIERS

Introduction

Big Yellow recognises that it can have a significant impact on its suppliers and that its supply base can represent an important aspect to help Big Yellow to deliver against its environmental and social responsibilities.

Supplier payments and small suppliers

In 2017 we signed up to the Prompt Payment Code (PPC), joining a host of other companies who are committed to trading ethically and setting standards within their supply chain.

The PPC sets standards for payment practices and best practice and is administered by the Chartered Institute of Credit Management. Compliance with the principles of the Code is monitored and enforced by the PPC Compliance Board. The Code covers prompt payment, as well as wider payment procedures.

You can find out more about the PPC on www.promptpaymentcode.org.uk.

Read more about our plans with and for suppliers online in our Full CSR Report.

7.0

OUR HEALTH & SAFETY

Big Yellow recognises the importance of maintaining high standards of Health & Safety for our customers, staff, contractors and any visitors to our stores. Our Health & Safety Committee reviews Policy, Risk Assessments, performance and records on a quarterly basis. The Policy covers two distinct areas – our construction activities and our routine store operations.

The Health & Safety Committee discuss and review any issues reported from our regular meetings held at Bagshot (our head office), Maidenhead (our distribution warehouse), the stores and our construction sites. Our Health & Safety Policy states that all employees have a responsibility for Health & Safety, but that managers have special responsibilities. The responsibilities of Adrian Lee, Operations Director, are to keep the Board advised on Health & Safety issues and to ensure compliance with the Policy in respect of Construction (via the Construction Director) and store operations (via the Facilities Manager and Head of Store Operations). Externally, other interested stakeholders include the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and Local Government Authorities.

Deloitte LLP undertake a limited level of assurance on select health and safety and environmental indicators, in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (ISAE 3000 Revised).

Big Yellow Store Customer, Contractor and Visitor Health & Safety

Executive Summary

>
One ‘reportable injury’ was recorded; to a customer at Finchley North who suffered a cut to his finger.
>
In addition to the one reportable injury, we recorded 61 ‘minor injuries’ during the year to 51 customers and to 11 visitors (no recorded contractor injuries). Customer injuries were mainly minor cuts, grazes and strains relating to the handling of their goods. Most of these injuries and those of ‘visitors’ could have been avoided by personal protective gloves and foot-wear.
Store Customer, Contractor and
Visitor Health & Safety
Year ended 31 March		 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Number of customer move-ins 72,772 75,097 75,438 71,715 73,928
Number of minor injuries 31 50 58 41 61+
Number of reportable injuries (RIDDOR) 3 4 4 1 1+
RIDDOR per 100,000 customer move-ins 4.1 5.3 5.3 1.4 1.3

Please note: + indicates data reviewed by Deloitte LLP. See page 54 for their independent assurance report.

Big Yellow Staff Health & Safety (Stores & Head Office)

Executive Summary

>
Fourteen staff injuries were reported, thirteen of which were Minor Injuries, with one being a Reportable Injury (one member of our staff in our Chiswick store hurt his back). The injuries related to a range of minor hand, arm or leg injuries. One of the staff injuries resulted in a maintenance call out to remedy the item that caused the injury.
Big Yellow Staff Health & Safety (Stores & Head Office)
Year ended 31 March		 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Average Number of Staff 289 300 318 329 335+
Number of Minor Injuries 13 15 10 9 13+
Number of Reportable Injuries (RIDDOR) 1 1 1 0 1+
AIIR* per 100,000 staff 346 333 314 0+ 299+

Please note: + indicates data reviewed by Deloitte LLP. See page 54 for their independent assurance report.

Our rolling facilities maintenance programme, our annual senior management store visits, and the external Health & Safety consultant audits, all play vital parts in identifying potential hazards that could cause injury to anyone accessing our stores.

Big Yellow Construction ‘Fit Out’ Health & Safety

Executive Summary

>
There were 2,726 ‘Man Days’ worked on new store construction ‘Fit Out’ projects in 2018, an increase of 245% from 2017.
>
Three Minor Injuries and no Reportable Injuries were recorded during these works.
Construction Health & Safety (Fit-out Contractors and Visitors)
Year ended 31 March		 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Number of Total Man Days worked 3,315 3,005 6,560 1,111 2,726+
Number of Minor Injuries 2 1 3 0 3+
           
Number of Reportable Injuries (RIDDOR) 0 0 0 0 0+

Please note: + indicates data reviewed by Deloitte LLP. See page 54 for their independent assurance report.

>
The final assessment made by the independent Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) for our new Guildford Central store was completed in January 2018 and delivered very good scores. We scored ‘Very Good’ for ‘Securing everyone’s Safety’, ‘Care about Appearance’, ‘Valuing the Workforce’ and ‘Protecting the Environment’ and an Excellent was scored on ‘Respecting the Community’.
8.0

OUR ENVIRONMENT

Introduction

Environmental Responsibilities

Our CSR Policy sets out the aspects of what we manage. Our CSR Policy Standard, launched at the end of 2017, provides further information on how we manage the impact of our business on society and the local environment, to control our risks and manage our opportunities in a sustainable manner.

External Benchmarking

We also use the detail in the full CSR Report to participate in other benchmarks, such as the annual Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) which allows us to engage with our Ethical Investors. Notwithstanding this and in order to maintain an efficient and sustainable business for its stakeholders, we have continued to commit significant resources to the environmental and social aspects of our store operations, property portfolio, new store developments and site acquisitions.

For more details on our applications for the above benchmarks see our ‘Basis of Reporting’ in the CSR section of our Investor Relations website.

Compliance

In this report we state our energy use and carbon emissions in compliance with the Companies Act and the Climate Change Regulation on Reporting Greenhouse Gas (“GHG”) Emissions for listed companies.

We have used the DEFRA Department Environmental Reporting Guidelines (UK DEFRA 2017 Emissions factors database (published 4 August 2017)) conversion factors for our annual GHG Emission calculations and reporting.

Approach

We have provided a summary of our Scope 1 ‘onsite’ gas use, solar electricity generation and refrigerant use, and our Scope 2 ‘off site’ supplied electricity for our carbon dioxide equivalent emissions and a brief narrative to explain variances where applicable.

We report on a range of environmental key performance indicators and – where relevant – identify them using the codes from the Global Reporting Initiative (‘GRI’), as applied by the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA) at the request of some of our stakeholders.

For the first time this year, we are publishing tables and intend to show:

a)
GRI/EPRA indicators we do report against;
b)
GRI/EPRA indicators that are not directly relevant to the nature of our particular operations; and
c)
GRI/EPRA indicators we will consider reporting on in the future.

Materiality Threshold

Our materiality threshold for energy and carbon emissions is > 5%.

Assurance:

Deloitte LLP undertake a limited level of assurance on select health and safety and environmental indicators, in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (ISAE 3000 Revised).

Environmental Performance

Executive Summary

>
Between 2015 and 2017 we have made significant investments of £544,0004 in internal and external LED lighting upgrades and motion sensor installations.
>
We have made good progress to reduce energy consumption and emissions and have already beaten our emissions reduction target of 34% by 2020, having achieved a 48.8% reduction from our peak year 2011 by 2018.
>
Our total Scope 1 & 2 emissions compared to last year have decreased by 14.7% – this has been largely achieved through a favourable UK fuel mix during 2018 but also by our investments in sustainable lighting and motion sensors.
>
With our investment in LED lighting and motion sensor programmes complete, our energy use and emissions performance are likely to have plateaued during 2017/18. As we add stores in the years to come, we can expect to see an increase in energy use, which we hope to minimise by installing Solar PV and/or other renewable solutions for new build stores.
>
Our Solar generation as % of our grid use is 3.5%, slightly lower than the previous year. However, our latest store in Guildford Central has been equipped with a 50kWh installation and we hope will contribute to a higher % next year.
>
During 2018/19, we will review our renewables strategy to ensure we can reduce our grid electricity use further over time. We will be also looking at specific targets and look forward to report against these within our next annual report.
>
The EPRA referenced table below allows our investors a brief insight into our performance.
EPRA Reference EPRA Definition Current year5 Variance to Trend
ELEC-ABS Total electricity consumption 9,494,954kWhs+ (31.8%) Down Arrow
ELEC-LfL Like for like total electricity consumption 9,488,436kWhs +1.1% Up Arrow
FUELS-ABS Total fuel consumption 646,284kWh (12.9%) Down Arrow
FUELS- LfL Like for like total fuel consumption Not material / /
Energy-Int Building Energy intensity – by GIA (KWh / GIA (m2)6 15.4 (42.3%) Down Arrow
GHG-DIR-ABS Total direct Greenhouse gas emissions 147.5+ (68.9%) Down Arrow
GHG-INDIR-ABS Total indirect Greenhouse gas emissions 3,373+ (50.1%) Down Arrow
GHG-Int Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions Intensity
from building energy consumption		 5.3 (60%) Down Arrow
Water-Abs Total Water Consumption Planned / /
Water-LfL Like for like total Water Consumption Planned / /
Water-Int Building Water intensity Planned / /
Waste-Abs Total weight of waste by disposal route Reported See waste stats Up Arrow
Waste-LfL Like for like total weight of waste by disposal route N/A / /
Cert-Tot Type and number of sustainably certified assets 61% of GIA covered Up Arrow

Please note: + indicates data reviewed by Deloitte LLP. See page 54 for their independent assurance report.

4
As provided by our Facilities department and is based on tracked spending of equipment and installation
5
Variable, depending on indicator
6
We also provide data on Energy-Int for Annual Average Occupancy, please refer to Full CSR Report 2017/18

ENERGY

Long Term Electricity Use

Executive Summary

>
A small reduction in like-for-like electricity use in stores has been achieved against the backdrop of relatively stable store portfolio in terms of the number of trading facilities.

Long Term Store Electricity 2008 to 2018

Electricity

Store portfolio Electricity Use from Peak Energy Year 2011 (GRI Elec-Abs / G4-ENS3)

We have reduced our stores’ electricity use by 31.8% from our peak year in 2011.

Store Portfolio Long Term Solar Electricity Generation (2009 to 2018)

Our portfolio of stores with roof-mounted solar PV installations generate low carbon electricity that is monitored for performance and receives financial payments from energy companies we export to. There are 18 stores, including our newest store in Guildford Central7, with solar installations, many of which have an installed capacity of 50kWh.

7
With 20 days online before year end, during a time of low sunshine hours has not materially contributed to the overall figures.

Executive Summary

>
Solar electricity generation represents a saving of approximately 9 pence per kWh for displaced UK network supplied electricity, a total saving of £30,000 over the year.
>
Since 2011 our solar generation has tripled – we remain committed to our investments in solar. Our percentage of solar energy used in stores with Solar PV capacity of 50kWH was 36.4%.
>
During 2018 we saw a 4.1% drop in our solar electricity generation compared to 2017. This was the result of less sunshine in 2017/18 but is disappointing, as we see solar PV as an important part of our energy and renewables strategy and remain committed to installing Solar PV on all new stores (where possible).
>
We anticipate that our maintenance contract with a new service partner will result in improved data quality and deliver swifter responses to any future solar installation issues.

Store Solar Generation 2009 to 2018

Solar Generation

Total Energy Use (Electricity and Gas) and Materiality

Executive Summary

>
Our gas use does not contribute significantly to our overall energy use. During 2017/18 it represented 6.4% of overall energy use.
>
It is anticipated that improved data monitoring processes in 2018/19 will allow us to understand drivers for gas variances better, specifically occupancy of our flexi-offices and the climatic temperature patterns.

Scope 1 and 2 Emissions Executive Summary

Total Scope 1 and 2 Emissions

>
We have reduced our Scope 2 emissions by 50.1% from our peak year 2011.
>
Reductions are due to both our energy efficiency programmes and more recently, compared to last year, due to a favourable UK fuel mix.
>
Our annual average carbon emission reductions from 2011 is approximately 7% per annum; more than double the target set for the commercial property sector to meet the UK Government’s GHG emission target of a 34% reduction by 2020 (or a 3.5% reduction per annum to 2050).
>
In 2018 total Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG Emissions achieved a reduction of 48.8% from our peak year 2011. This reduction is partly due to the increase in Scope 1 refrigerant efficiency and for Scope 2, the improved UK fuel mix and contributions from our Solar PV installations.
>
Scope 1 emissions from our stores represent only 4.2% of our combined Scope 1 and 2 emissions in 2018.
>
This year’s refrigerant top up was significantly smaller than 2017.
>
Please note, Scope 1 and Scope 2 reference different years for their peak consumption – for the combined emissions total we use 2011 as our benchmark year.

Scope 1 and 2 GHG Emission Intensity

Our GHG Emissions ‘intensity’ indicators are based on average customer occupancy (m2), total Group revenue (£) and gross internal floor area (“GIA” per m2).

Executive Summary

>
Our strong occupancy and revenue growth over the last few years are the key drivers for our very pleasing intensity improvements.
>
Our GIA Intensity has improved by 60%, our Occupancy Intensity by over 70% from our peak year 2011, and our Revenue Intensity by over 72%.
Year ended 31 March 2011 2016 2017 2018 % change from
2011 Peak
Total (tCO2e) 6,879.5 4,456.2 4,126.9 3,520.5+ (48.8%)
Average Occupancy (m2) 197,884 304,964 325,537 344,566 + 74.1%
kgCO2e /Occupancy 34.8 14.6 12.7 10.2+ (70.7%)
Revenue (£000) 61,885 101,382 109,070 116,660+ 88.5%
kgCO2e / Revenue (£) 0.11 0.04 0.04 0.03+ (72.7%)
GIA (m2) 545,490 621,050 629,686 659,347 20.9%
kgCO2e / GIA (m2) 12.6 7.2 6.6 5.3+ (57.9%)

Please note: + indicates data reviewed by Deloitte LLP. See page 54 for their independent assurance report.

WATER

In-store use

Water use has been assessed as a “low environmental impact” for self storage (we used 28,486 m3 of water in 2016).

Our data has provided an average of (20.3 tCO2e) emissions per year. This represents less than 0.5% of combined Scope 1 and 2 emissions, which is below the materiality threshold for carbon emissions.

However, water use monitoring is continued in order to review water use efficiency.

Flooding and Droughts

As part of our Climate Change mitigation and adaptation initiatives, our stores have features that take the local aspects of ‘water’ into consideration – either by incorporating Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDs) or Rain Water Harvesting8 (see our Asset List in our Full CSR Report 2017/18).

We conduct detailed site assessments throughout our planning, acquisition and construction phases to ensure risks are adequately mitigated and our store infrastructure can cope with a variable future.

8
Some of our stores may still show RWH although some may have been temporarily disconnected due to technical issues – we are looking to address these in the coming year

WASTE

Waste Sources and Segregation

Our main source of waste is from the operational activities of our stores (mainly retail and office activities) and these have a relatively low environmental impact. Our store staff apply best practice waste segregation for general and mixed dry recyclable materials at our stores.

Executive Summary

>
Since our ‘total waste’ benchmark of 2011 (244t) our store portfolio has increased from 62 to 74 stores (an increase of 19.4%), and total waste has increased to 343t in 2018, an increase of 40.2% from 2011.
>
Our in-store recycling performance has declined – we have issued all our stores with separate recycling bins and communication during 2017/18 and will seek to improve our recycling performance going forward.
>
We will be evaluating schemes for cardboard recycling during 2018/19.

New Store Construction ‘Fit-out’ Waste Management Performance

In 2018, Guildford Central was under construction ‘Fit Out’ phase and generated 51.3t site waste. 99.2% of the waste generated was recycled with plasterboard 100% recycled.

Guildford Central achieved a BREEAM SMART Waste Benchmarks Amount of waste tonnes per 100m2 of ‘3’.

RESOURCE USE

Big Yellow is committed to using its resources carefully to meet our present requirement without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

For the highlights section in this report, we would like to draw your attention to our single-use plastics initiatives. For the full report on Resource Use, please see the Full CSR Report 2017/18.

Plastic & Packaging Materials

Using good quality packaging materials that keeps our customers’ possessions safe during transport is our primary reason for selling packaging material – we believe the benefit of keeping items intact throughout transport and storage can potentially outweigh the negative environmental impact of producing our packaging.

We want to make sure our customers can purchase our products without having to worry about the potential negative impacts our products or their packaging has on the environment. We have been carefully selecting the material make up of our boxes for many years, they contain up to 100% recycled card and this year we have moved onto other products.

Plastics

During 2018 we conducted a review of potential single-use plastic and identified approximately 1,600kg of material, mainly contained within the packaging of the products we sell, for example the outer bag of our sofa covers.

Over the next four years, we will work with our suppliers to replace the single-use plastic with environmentally better alternatives, where available.

GREEN STORE PORTFOLIO

Executive Summary

>
The performance of our Green Store portfolio has improved significantly during the year. 63.5% of our total gross internal area (“GIA”) has an EPC performance of C or above.
>
We are furthermore making a commitment that all our new built stores will be assessed at a BREEAM standard of ‘very good’ or above (or the equivalent where the standard is not applicable) at pre-construction assessment stage.
>
All stores have energy efficient LED lighting (internal and external) and motion sensors.
  2017 2018 2025
Target 		Trend
GIA covered by Green aspects (%) 41% 61% 100% Up Arrow
EPC ranking of A or B ratings in certified stores 76% 79% 100% Up Arrow
New-built Stores BREEAM pre-construction standards ‘Very Good’ or above No new stores built Guildford Central BREEAM very good  

Checked

LEGISLATION & STANDARDS

LEGISLATION

Mandatory Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Statement

The ISAE 3000 Standard provides an evaluation methodology for both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of our carbon management and our energy use. We report our ‘self storage’ portfolio emissions and the ‘absolute’ emissions that include our ‘non store portfolio’.

We report energy use and carbon emissions in compliance with the Companies Act and Climate Change Regulation on Reporting Greenhouse Gas (“GHG”) Emissions for listed companies.

For more details on our applications for the above benchmarks please see the ‘Basis of Reporting’ section of the CSR section of our Investor Relations website.

An overview of both the following schemes and our performance is provided in our Full CSR Report 2017/18:

>
Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Scheme;
>
The UK Energy Savings Opportunities Scheme’ (ESOS); and
>
Energy Performance Certificate (EPCs).

STANDARDS

We subscribe to the following standards (where relevant):

Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (‘BREEAM’)

We commit to a minimum standard on all new built stores of BREEAM ‘Very Good’ at pre-construction assessment stage.

Considerate Construction Scheme (CCS)

We commit to all contractors signing up to CCS scheme with a target score of 35 points both fit out and shell, with an ambition to exceed expectations where circumstances allow.

European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA)

We report on our environmental key performance indicators and identify them using the codes from the Global Reporting Initiatives (‘GRI’), as applied by the European Real Estate Association.

Global Reporting Initiative (‘GRI’) Standard

We have referenced a number of KPIs with the relevant GRI reference. We intend to publish a separate GRI table once our annual report has been published, so we can link answers and evidence.

HR specific indicators have already been published – please refer to the appendix in the Full CSR Report 2017/18.

9.0

TARGETS

With the review of our CSR strategy, we have looked at our current targets and KPIs and assessed them against our new CSR programmes, material impacts and current and emerging stakeholder concerns, such as single-use plastic.

At the same time, we recognise that our new strategic areas, such as ‘Communities’ required a new set of targets.

We have published a review of previous years’ targets and our new targets and commitments in our Full CSR Report.

We remain committed to the long-term emissions reduction targets of 34% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 from our baseline year of 2008.

10.0

STAKEHOLDERS

During 2017/18 Big Yellow performed a stakeholder review and has refreshed its CSR strategy.

Big Yellow has defined its material impacts to be on Customers, Employees, Suppliers, Communities and the Environment and it defines its wider stakeholder group to include Investors, Local Government and National and International bodies.

We developed and published a Stakeholder Engagement Plan, which we intend to review and update from time to time.

For more information on our stakeholder engagement programmes, please see our Full CSR Report 2017/18.

11.0

INVESTORS

The GRESB and CDP benchmarks inform our investor community of our general ESG performance, our governance approach, risk management protocols and a range of other indicators that give reassurance that our business is ‘sustainable’.

For more information on these benchmarks, please see the ‘Benchmarks, Legislation and Standards’ section.

Our Directors run a programme of face-to face investor’s engagement activities by holding roadshows following annual and interim reporting cycles and attend Investor Conferences, both in the UK and internationally.

This year, we have changed the front page of the Investor section of our website to include our csr@bigyellow.co.uk email address. We hope that this will make it easier for our investors to ask relevant CSR questions directly.

CSR Report
  • Since 2011, our solar generation has nearly tripled.
  • Our solar energy usage in stores (with a Solar PV capacity of 50kWh) was 36.4%. We remain committed to our solar investment strategy.

12.0 INDEPENDENT ASSURANCE

Deloitte.

Independent assurance statement by Deloitte LLP (“Deloitte” or “we”) to Big Yellow Group PLC (“Big Yellow”) on selected indicators disclosed within their Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2018 (“Report”)

What we looked at: scope of our work

We have been engaged by Big Yellow to perform limited assurance procedures on selected Group level Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) performance indicators (“the Subject Matter”) for the year ended 31 March 2018. The assured data are indicated by the + symbol in the Report.

Carbon footprint indicators:

>
Store electricity (tCO2e)
>
Store flexi-office gas emissions (tCO2e)
>
Refrigerant emissions (tCO2e)
>
Absolute carbon dioxide emissions (tCO2e)

Store electricity use, CO2 emissions and carbon intensity:

>
Electricity use (kWh)
>
Like-for-like electricity use (tCO2e)
>
Absolute carbon emissions (tCO2e)
>
Carbon intensity (kgCO2e/m2 gross internal area)
>
Carbon intensity (kgCO2e/m2 occupied space)
>
Carbon intensity (kgCO2e/£ revenue)

Renewable energy generation and CO2 emissions reductions:

>
Total renewable energy (kWh)
>
Renewable energy percentage of total store use (%)

Staff, customer, and visitor health and safety:

>
Average number of employees
>
Minor Injuries
>
Reportable injuries (RIDDOR)
>
Annual Injury Incidence rate (AIR) per 100,000 staff
>
Notices

Construction ‘fit-out’ health and safety

>
Minor Injuries
>
Reportable injuries (RIDDOR)

What we found: our assurance opinion

Based on the assurance work we performed, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the selected CSR performance indicators, as noted above, have not been prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with Big Yellow’s reporting criteria as described at: http://corporate.bigyellow.co.uk/csr/csr-reports/

What standards we used: basis of our work and level of assurance

We carried out limited assurance in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 Revised (ISAE 3000). To achieve limited assurance ISAE 3000 requires that we review the processes and systems used to compile the areas on which we provide assurance. This standard requires that we comply with the independence and ethical requirements and to plan and perform our assurance engagement to obtain sufficient appropriate evidence on which to base our limited assurance conclusion. It does not include detailed testing of source data or the operating effectiveness of processes and internal controls. This is designed to give a similar level of assurance to that obtained in the review of interim financial information. This provides less assurance and is substantially less in scope than a reasonable assurance engagement.

What we did: our key assurance procedures

Considering the risk of material error, our multi-disciplinary team of CSR assurance specialists planned and performed our work to obtain all the information and explanations we considered necessary to provide sufficient evidence to support our assurance conclusion. Our work was planned to mirror Big Yellow’s own group level compilation processes, tracing how data for each indicator within our assurance scope was collected, collated and validated by corporate head office and included in the Report.

Key procedures we carried out included:

>
Making inquiries of management to obtain an understanding of the overall governance and internal control environment relevant to management and reporting of the subject matter;
>
Understanding, analysing, and testing on a sample basis the key structures, systems, processes, procedures, and controls relating to the aggregation, validation and reporting of the subject matter set out above; and
>
Reviewing the content of the CSR Report 2018 against the findings of our work and making recommendations for improvement where necessary.

Big Yellow’s responsibilities

The Directors are responsible for the preparation of the Report and for the information and statements contained within it. They are responsible for determining the CSR goals, performance and for establishing and maintaining appropriate performance management and internal control systems from which the reported information is derived.

Deloitte’s responsibilities, independence and team competencies

Our responsibility is to independently express a conclusion on the performance data for the year ended 31 March 2018. We performed the engagement in accordance with Deloitte’s independence policies, which cover all of the requirements of the International Federation of Accountants Code of Ethics and in some cases are more restrictive. The firm applies the International Standard on Quality Control 1 and accordingly maintains a comprehensive system of quality control including documented policies and procedures regarding compliance with ethical requirements, professional standards and applicable legal and regulatory requirements. We confirm to Big Yellow that we have maintained our independence and objectivity throughout the year, including the fact that there were no events or prohibited services provided which could impair that independence and objectivity in the provision of this engagement.

This report is made solely to Big Yellow in accordance with our engagement letter. Our work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company those matters we are required to state to them in an assurance report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than Big Yellow for our work, for this report, or for the conclusions we have formed.

Deloitte LLP
London, United Kingdom
21 May 2018

Back to Top