Sustainability
for Menkes’ Commerical, Industrial, & Retail Portfolio
Menkes continues to deliver on its long standing commitment to building high quality, people-oriented buildings and communities. Over the past decade, Menkes has been a leader in sustainable real estate by reducing the environmental impact of its buildings, while protecting natural resources and improving the health of the planet.
Our team continues to innovate and find new ways to improve our sustainability performance for new developments and managed assets. Menkes’ goal in developing and managing high performance buildings is to reduce the impact on the natural environment, while promoting the wellbeing of its occupants and employees. In order to deliver on our objectives, Menkes has identified sustainability priorities which are material to our business and those of our stakeholders: Energy, Materials, Nature, Transportation, Water, and Wellbeing.
Energy
Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally are increasing at unsustainable levels. To meet its corporate responsibility, Menkes considers actions to reduce GHG emissions and energy consumption as the most important contribution that we can make to climate change mitigation.
94
Average Energy Star Score across Portfolio is 94
3.8 million
kilowatt hours of annual renewable energy produced in 2020
90%
90% of the office portfolio is certified under BOMA Best
at either Gold or Platinum level
90%
90% of the office portfolio is LEED certified at the Gold or Platinum level
Healthy Spaces
Menkes is focused on engaging occupants to support and guide healthy lifestyle choices and has created the Healthy Spaces program to achieve this goal. With adults now spending up to 90% of their time indoors, the impact buildings have on health is being recognized as critical. The design and programming of the built environment has a direct impact on human health and wellbeing.
The Healthy Spaces program has four mainfocus areas Eating Well ▪ Being Active ▪ Maintaining Health ▪ Engaging Mind. Each areaof focus will include specific initiatives aimed at creating opportunities for nutrition, physicalactivity, preventative health and mental health. The Healthy Spaces program will provide building occupants with opportunities to make healthy lifestyle choices, and will strategically align withMenkes’ commitment to pursue Fitwel, a Certification system for buildings that positively impact occupant health and wellbeing.
Eating Well
Eating Well focuses on creating opportunities for building occupants to make informed decisions about nutrition and healthy eating at work and at home.
Being Active
Being Active focuses on creating opportunities for building occupants to increase physical activity levels during the workday through programming and building amenities.
Maintaining Health
Maintaining Health focuses on preventative measures to support building occupants in maintaining optimal health through education and awareness.
Engaging Mind
Engaging Mind focuses on providing opportunities for building occupants to engage in initiatives that positively impact their mental health and wellbeing.
Transportation
Menkes supports the use of alternative transportation to reduce carbon emissions and promote a healthier lifestyle by promoting walking, cycling, and taking public transit. Menkes also supports strategies to reduce emissionsby promoting carpooling, car share vehicles onsite, and making electric vehicle charging stations available.
Imagine arriving at your desk energized, alert and more productive than ever. Cycling isn’t just a way to get from one place to another, it’s a ticket to health, mobility, fun, and it’s good for the environment plus saves you money.
Menkes is taking a leadership role in making it easier to pedal to work by developing and implementing a Cycle Friendly Building program called PEDAL.
The PEDAL program is a new approach to encourage commuter cycling. By focusing activities and programs on encouragement, education, and infrastructure, the PEDAL program is removing current barriers occupants face in cycling to work.
Cycling is a solution to many complex problems; climate change, traffic congestion, air quality, and low physical activity levels. By advocating for cycling and building the PEDAL program, occupants will know there is a building community that welcomes cyclists, their bike and their gear.
Materials
Resources are being consumed and waste is being generated at unsustainable rates. As a property manager, Menkes’ most significant impact stems from how its management teams purchase and dispose of material resources from our occupants and operations teams.
90%
of the office waste is captured to be recycled
100%
of office property parking has EV Charging stations available
Nature
Menkes respects and values the natural environment, and aims to protect nature’s biodiversity through ongoing assessment and management of our impact. We recognize the importance of ecosystems in how they benefit our business through the provision of natural resources such as food, water, fuel and natural fibres, and through the absorption of pollution and waste.
Water
Water conservation is of growing importance and Menkes is focused on implementing leading water efficiency measures. Managing water resources includes activities relating to efficiency in our water consumption, and our methods for harvesting, and reusing water.
Sustainable Benchmarking and Reporting
Menkes continuously seeks to understand and improve our sustainability performance and promote greater environmental responsibility. By measuring our performance, we can improve the way we do things for our projects, operations, and communities. We measure our performance against internationally recognized environmental standards, and certification programs.
