No 8, No 10 and No 12 Princes Dock at Liverpool Waters, are among a growing list of the Peel L&P buildings which have achieved net zero carbon status.

With the addition of two recently verified retail outlets, Peel L&P have eighteen buildings that have successfully undertaken the annual third-party process to be verified or re-verified as net zero carbon in operation against the UK Green Building Council’s (UKGBC) framework.

Furthermore, some of these buildings were the first in the UK to be verified in 2019. In total, the net zero carbon buildings have saved over 1,750 tonnes of emissions in the last financial year.

The re-verified properties are located across the country and range from 25,000 sq ft to over 120,000 sq ft, including The Venus in TraffordCity, No.8, No.10 and No.12 Princes Dock at Liverpool Waters and ten properties at MediaCity in Salford. (Full list below).

The two retail destinations are the first assets of their kind in Peel L&P’s portfolio to achieve this important status, demonstrating the company’s commitment to climate resilience by rolling out net zero carbon initiatives across its estate.

All have been verified against the UKGBC’s net zero carbon framework, based on their operational carbon emissions, action taken to reduce those emissions and their renewable energy use. In 2021, many of Peel L&P’s assets were transferred to a 100% renewable electricity tariff linked to named wind farms, which considerably reduced carbon emissions across the property portfolio. Within the retail outlets, energy efficiency programmes have included upgrading lighting systems across all spaces including public areas, food courts, back office and advertising signage.

Jo Holden, Peel L&P’s Sustainability and ESG Director said: “This is a huge milestone. To have achieved net zero carbon with two significant retail destinations is a UK first and shows just how serious we are at taking action to reduce carbon emissions across our portfolio.

“Net zero carbon status has really driven our energy team and everyone around the business to seek out ways of using less energy and more renewable sources. The impact on our carbon emissions has been far-reaching and the effort of our people shouldn’t be under-estimated. But it is our ambition to build on this and make our properties even more resilient to climate change, which is why we were so proud to have eighteen buildings verified at the end of 2022, including two key retail centres.”

Yetunde Abdul, Head of Climate Action at UKGBC said: “The challenge of decarbonising the UK’s built environment is a complex one, but Peel L&P’s long-term commitment to aligning their built assets to UKGBC’s net zero carbon buildings framework demonstrates their ambition to take this challenge head-on. Given that buildings are directly responsible for around a quarter of the UK’s carbon footprint, businesses across the sector must work together to fundamentally change the way we construct, operate and de-construct our buildings, and ultimately drive a more sustainable built environment.”

Peel L&P’s work to reduce carbon emissions across its assets is part of its five-year sustainability plan which supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) to help create a fair and sustainable planet by 2030. In 2022, Peel L&P unveiled its Climate Positive Plan, a promise to take more greenhouse gases out of the air than it produces by 2030.

The eighteen third party verified buildings are:

• 8 Princes Dock, Liverpool Waters
• 10 Princes Dock, Liverpool Waters
• 12 Princes Dock, Liverpool Waters
• The Vic, MediaCity, Salford
• The Alex, MediaCity, Salford
• Digital World Centre, MediaCity, Salford
• Quay West, MediaCity, Salford
• White Tower, MediaCity, Salford
• Blue Tower, MediaCity, Salford
• Dock10, MediaCity, Salford
• Tomorrow, MediaCity, Salford
• Orange Tower, MediaCity, Salford
• Garage, MediaCity, Salford
• Quayside Media, Salford
• Venus, TraffordCity, Greater Manchester
• Princes Dock multi-storey car park, Liverpool Waters
• 16 Robertson Street, Glasgow
• Gloucester Quays, Gloucester

Net Zero Carbon reports for each building are available here.