The Boston-based firm worked alongside BRE and Assessor Longevity Partners to certify nearly seven million square feet of industrial real estate

Leading real estate investment management firm TA Realty (‘TA’) announced today the successful certification of nine industrial assets under BREEAM’s In-Use certification standard in 2021. This achievement further demonstrates TA’s growing commitment to improve the sustainable performance of these traditionally complex industrial assets, and the firm currently plans to continue completing BREEAM certifications across its core industrial portfolio.

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The developments that have achieved BREEAM certification include nine assets which were constructed between 2016 and 2019, comprising nearly 6.7 million square feet of real estate across six states including Georgia, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas, and Washington. Notably, almost half of the assets received a perfect score in the Pollution category, while the overall highest rated categories across the portfolio of certified developments were Health & Wellbeing, Resources, and Resilience.

“While most of the real estate industry has begun to seriously consider pathways to improved ESG performance, the industrial sector has historically lagged in the deployment of sustainable solutions, largely due to the limitations of a triple net approach,” noted Anne Peck, Vice President and Head of ESG+R at TA Realty. “For most players in the sector, solar power has been one of the only feasible options for improving sustainable performance without sacrificing financial success; with the guidance of BREEAM and its various resources, we’ve been able to achieve sustainable performance upgrades while maintaining our fiduciary duty to stakeholders and retaining a strong return on investment.”

BREEAM, the leading science-based sustainability assessment developed by BRE Group (‘BRE’), was chosen by TA Realty based largely on the standard’s unique compatibility as the only certification program that offers independent pathways for certifying the physical performance and operational management of industrial assets. This provides the industrial sector with a means of evaluating the performance of assets. Beyond this alignment, TA partnered with BRE based on the extensive resources offered by the assessment platform throughout the certification process. Specifically, the firm was eager to tap into the on-site support and education BRE provides to the property management teams at each development — valuable context for the in-depth certification process and ongoing improvements that these teams will be required to maintain. By taking advantage of the top-tier client support offered by BRE and the expert insights from Longevity Partners (‘Longevity’) — the third-party assessor on this project — TA’s property managers have gained a better understanding of asset-specific opportunities for improved ESG performance.

One significant benefit of using BREEAM is the platform’s holistic approach to asset performance, which looks closely at factors that extend beyond environmental impact, such as resilience and health and wellbeing of occupants/tenants.

“We’re thrilled to work with TA Realty to demonstrate the possibilities for continued sustainable improvement within the industrial market,” said Breana Wheeler, US Director of Operations at BRE. “At a time where real estate firms can feel heavily pressured to deploy ESG initiatives quickly to be seen as taking action, TA has taken a more deliberate and intentional approach to ensure thoughtful, significant improvement at each of the assets included in this project. We look forward to seeing how the measured benefits of this meaningful sustainable strategy influences other leaders in the sector as we continue to work with TA on further certification.”

The assets’ certification process was led by an independent third-party assessor at Longevity, who played a critical role in supporting TA’s achievement of sustainability goals at each of the nine assets and completing the third-party verification of each building's sustainable quality and ESG performance.

“Longevity Partners is honored to be the certification partner of choice for TA Realty’s portfolio-wide certification across the US," said Sarah Welton, Business Growth Director at Longevity Partners. “We understand the value of certification in creating a global, comparable and data-driven benchmark for real estate sustainability and we are uniquely positioned to help our clients execute their ESG strategy, future proof their assets and ultimately, safeguard their business’ long-term returns.”

About TA Realty

TA Realty is among the largest and most experienced providers of real estate investment management services to U.S. and non-U.S. institutional investors. Since its inception in 1982, TA Realty has managed more than $35 billion of real estate assets through core, core-plus and value-add strategies and customized separate/advisory accounts. TA Realty’s investment philosophy focuses on creating diversified real estate portfolios that aim to generate strong cash flow, receive intensive asset management and seek to achieve long-term value creation. For nearly four decades, TA Realty has maintained this philosophy through multiple real estate and economic cycles, a strength recognized by pension funds, endowments, foundations and high net worth individuals. For more information, please visit www.tarealty.com.

About BRE & BREEAM

BRE delivers innovative and rigorous products, services, standards and qualifications which are used around the globe to make buildings better for people and for the environment. For a century we have provided government and industry with cutting edge research and testing to make buildings safer and more sustainable. Learn more at www.bregroup.com.

BREEAM is the world’s leading science-based suite of validation and certification systems for sustainable built environment. Since 1990, its third-party certified standards have helped improve asset performance at every stage, from design through construction, to use and refurbishment. Millions of buildings across the world are registered to work towards BREEAM’s holistic approach to achieve ESG, health and Net Zero goals. It is owned by BRE - a profit-for-purpose organization with over 100 years of building science and research background. Learn more at www.breeam.com/usa.

About Longevity Partners

Operating in over 40 countries, across four continents and for more than 100 institutional investors across all asset classes, Longevity Partners provides all services required to future-proof property investment portfolios. From carbon foot-printing to climate risk and ESG strategy development and implementation, our experts provide all the tools to respond to ESG performance requirements from pension funds and asset owners. Longevity works hand-in-hand with real estate owners to position their assets for the demands of tomorrow, while improving the well-being of users and net operating income today. For further information, please visit https://www.longevity-partners.com/.

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