L&Q releases annual sustainability report
L&Q makes significant strides to reduce its negative impact on the environment and improve its positive impact on residents and the communities where they live.
L&Q has published its latest sustainability report, outlining its performance against its own environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities and the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing (SRS) criteria.
Last year, L&Q began mapping its full carbon footprint to better understand its total carbon emissions and, in turn, develop plans to address and reduce its negative impact on the environment.
Alongside this, the housing association implemented its Decarbonisation Plan for Existing Homes and continued to improve the energy efficiency of its operations.
Measures are wide-ranging and include: upgrading windows, doors and boiler systems in its homes; optimising communal heat networks; and, transitioning its fleet to electric vehicles.
L&Q’s energy efficiency improvements will be enhanced following a successful bid for the Government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF), with the housing association being awarded £27 million to retrofit and upgrade over 3,000 homes that have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating below C.
L&Q has also completed an in-depth Climate Risk Review, to consider the risks to residents and homes posed by a changing climate.
Physical risks such as flooding, extreme weather and heat stress have been modelled alongside changes to regulations and technology. Progress on managing climate risks has been assessed against good practice guidelines and for the first time is being reported in line with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
L&Q launched its new Place Standard last year, which outlines its approach to placemaking.
The Place Standard acknowledges the relationship between environmental and social sustainability. L&Q’s distinct social purpose is expressed through both the L&Q Foundation and L&Q Living. The housing association invested a total of £3.3 million directly into local community organisations where our residents live.
The L&Q Foundation continued to support its residents who need it most, supporting 564 residents to manage their tenancies more successfully, getting over 500 people into paid employment, and helping more than nearly 2,900 residents secure an additional £10.6 million.
L&Q Living continued to deliver L&Q Inclusion, offering monthly activities with varied themes including dignity, disability awareness, and mental health and dementia.
As well as regular activities, more than 2,000 residents benefited from over £9,000 in grants awarded to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Celebrations included barbecues, party games and singalongs.
The Sustainability report and TCFD report are published alongside detailed performance tables against L&Q’s own ESG priorities and SRS criteria.
L&Q puts sustainability at the heart of its work and is committed to reporting its activities transparently.
Read our Sustainability report 2023 (PDF).
Fiona Fletcher-Smith, CEO at L&Q, said:
“Despite a challenging environment, we are making very clear progress to improve the energy efficiency of our existing homes, alongside progressing our wider environmental, social and governance goals.
"We aim to be sustainable in everything we do, to ensure we are looking after our residents and the world around us today, without compromising the ability of future generations to do the same.
"We have seen several exciting developments over the past 12 months, most notably L&Q and Trafford Housing Trust (THT) coming together as one organisation on 31 March 2023. We are closely aligned on sustainability and together, we will build on that foundation to develop and improve our reporting further.
"Our sustainability report provides a layer of scrutiny, helping to demonstrate our progress against our priorities. Along with how we are managing the many risks we face; it aims to show our strengths and what’s special about L&Q, but also where we must do and learn more.”