3 Things to Know about GRESB Sustainability Reporting with Fabriq OS
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3 Things to Know about GRESB Sustainability Reporting with Fabriq OS

Reg Coker
Author: Reg Coker Data Analyst at Fabriq March 05, 2019

As the 2019 GRESB submission cycle will be in the mind of those in the real estate space soon (if it isn’t already), this is a good time to talk about Fabriq's partnership with GRESB and how the Fabriq OS platform is being updated in collaboration with GRESB to make the sustainability reporting process more streamlined for stakeholders involved.

GRESB & Fabriq

1. What is GRESB?

For those who are not familiar with GRESB, it stands for the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark, a standard which has grown in popularity since its launch in 2011. The intensifying focus on sustainable buildings has been prompting institutional investors to be more serious about assessing the environmental performance of real estate assets and subsequently, GRESB has become an important annual scorecard of real estate sustainability.

The seven key GRESB indicators with associated weights are listed below. While the GRESB assessment responses are mainly qualitative in nature, the quantitative responses for the Performance Indicators section, contributing a whopping 25.2% to the final score, are typically submitted through the GRESB portal using a formatted spreadsheet.

  • Management (8.8%)
  • Policy & Disclosure (9.5%)
  • Risks & Opportunities (12.4%)
  • Monitoring & EMS (8.8%)
  • Performance Indicators (25.2%)
  • Building Certification (10.9%)
  • Stakeholder Engagement (24.5%)

In collaboration with GRESB, the Fabriq OS platform is being enhanced to make the submission of the building performance data noted above more straightforward and less error-prone for end users.

2. The Fabriq OS GRESB Module

With the Fabriq OS GRESB module, which is linked directly with the GRESB portal via an API, data housed within Fabriq OS can be used to calculate reportable figures automatically and to then submit these figures directly to GRESB without the need of a spreadsheets. The module therefore allows asset managers and asset owners to seriously expedite the GRESB-submission process.

Diving deeper into the technical side of things, the GRESB module features capabilities that were designed to:

  • Automatically calculate reportable asset-level data for the Energy (PI1.1), Greenhouse Gas (PI2.1), Water (PI3.1) and Waste (PI4.1) categories
  • Aggregate readings for each asset according to main factors such as operating control, utility purchaser, and fuel type
  • Validate and sense-check data prior to GRESB submission
  • Allow users to manually override calculated data for added reporting flexibility
  • Provide audit trail of submissions

By combining the platform’s flexible data-acquisition capabilities (which can be used to organise data at portfolio level all the way down to sub-meter level) with the capabilities of the GRESB module aimed at making the gathering of data and the reporting of data as automated as possible, Fabriq OS can bring end users significant efficiency gains when it comes to submitting reportable figures to GRESB. In addition, quality of responses should increase as well, which will benefit all stakeholders who are interested in gaining insights from data and information submitted to GRESB.

3. The GRESB-Fabriq Partnership

Fabriq first started working with GRESB in 2014, and is currently a GRESB Real Estate Premier Partner. Since 2018, Fabriq has also been a participant of the GRESB Technical Working Group on data quality and is looking forward to additional opportunities to exchange ideas on how quality data pertaining to the sustainability performance of real-estate assets can be monitored and obtained more effectively. The Fabriq technical team also works closely with the GRESB technical team to fine-tune the integration between the GRESB portal and the Fabriq OS platform to make the reporting process as streamlined as possible for end users.

Overall, Fabriq is looking forward to opportunities to refine the Fabriq OS platform further in collaboration with GRESB with the aim to make insightful data on the sustainability performance of real-estate assets more accessible to all stakeholders. Please get in touch if you are interested in learning more about the GRESB-Fabriq partnership as well as the enhanced Fabriq OS GRESB module. Additionally, you can download the detailed brochure here. Happy reading!