ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

At The Other House* we recognise our responsibility to protect and preserve our planet for future generations and progress towards greater environmental stewardship across our business activities. We are committed to reducing the impact of our operations on the environment and continuously introduce processes and targets to support a cleaner and safer environment for our guests and local communities where appropriate.

We are committed to:

• Comply, as a minimum, with all relevant environmental legislation, as well as other environmental requirements applicable to our business activities.
• Measure and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with our business activities in line with industry guidance.
• Manage the waste generated from our activities incorporating reduction, reuse and recycling strategies in accordance with circular economy principles.
• operations to prevent pollution and minimise the use of chemicals and hazardous substances.
• Reduce our climate change impact and develop a mitigation and adaptation plan, in line with industry good practice, for continued business resilience from existing and future threats of extreme weather and natural disasters.
• Actively consider opportunities to reduce our energy and water consumption in the development and operation of our assets and facilitate the integration of renewable energy technologies and water efficient fittings where feasible.
• Ensure that when evaluating materials for use, we consider the product life cycle and other environmental criteria.
• Actively look to reduce the consumption of goods within our buildings and promote the sourcing of locally produced, sustainable or ethical goods.
• Protect and enhance local biodiversity during the acquisition, design, refurbishment and operation of assets.
• Design and renovate new assets to prioritise resource efficiency, optimise indoor environmental quality and integrate sustainable design principles as recognised by BREEAM and in accordance with our Sustainable Development Framework.
• Continuously improve our environmental performance and integrate standards of best practice for environmental management into our business operations.

In order to deliver our commitments:

• Our ESG Committee will meet quarterly and report into the board. The ESG Committee will monitor and review our performance against key objectives for managing our environmental performance on a quarterly basis.
• We will engage with our supply chains to ensure that they understand our environmental aspirations and effectively manage the environmental impacts of their activities at our assets and the good they can do.
• We will work collaboratively with our employees to promote improved environmental performance through our employee engagement programme.
• We will promote active consideration of environmental issues in the services we provide to our guests and customers.
• We will promote active consideration of environmental issues by our guests and customers in the way they use our buildings.
• We will review this Environmental Policy on a regular basis.

This Environmental Policy represents our key commitments to address the environmental issues associated with our operations, and the activities we will implement across our business to enable us to achieve the objectives of our ESG Strategy.

*The Other House is the trading name of The Other House OpCo Holdings Limited

HUMAN AND LABOUR POLICY

Labour and Human Rights

The Other House* (“TOH”) is committed to respecting human rights, in accordance with international human rights standards including the UN Global Compact and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

As a supplier of property-related services, we aim to provide our residents and guests with high levels of customer experience and uphold all relevant standards of professional conduct in our sector and expect the same standards from our suppliers. We seek to conduct our business operations in a manner that promotes and enhances human rights. Our Human and Labour Rights Policy applies to all TOH employees including independent contractors and temporary workers employed at any of our properties, offices, or other locations where they may be engaged.

Child Labour and Forced Labour

No form of child labour or labour involving minors is allowed by TOH. The minimum age for employees will be in line with the statutory minimum age for workers.

TOH prohibits the use of all forms of forced labour, slave labour or any other form of human trafficking in our operations.

Diversity and Inclusion

TOH aim to recruit, hire, train, compensate and promote people based on the needs in the organisation and qualifications, skills, experience, and performance of our employees. We are dedicated to fostering workplaces that are free from discrimination or harassment based on race, sex, national or social origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, political opinion, or any other status protected by applicable law.

Health, Safety and Security

All employees will be provided with a safe and secure working environment. TOH seek to prevent accidents and injuries that can occur at the workplace and conduct regular health and safety training and measures to reduce any risks identified. All operations comply with the applicable health, safety, and security laws. See the Health and Safety Policy for more detail.

Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining

The right to freedom of association and collective bargaining shall be recognised and respected in accordance with the laws in the countries in which the employee is employed. Where employees are represented by legally recognised unions, we aim to have constructive dialogues with their chosen representatives and bargain in good faith with such representatives.

Work hours, Wages and Benefits

TOH seeks to compensate all employees with the local Living Wage as a minimum. TOH follows applicable wage, work hours, overtime, and benefits laws in the countries where it operates, or, in the absence of such laws, with international labour standards. TOH will not seek to engage employees on zero-hours contracts which are typical in the industry sector that it operates in but to adopt a strategy that allows for flexible working hours but provides employees with a regular monthly income. We seek to promote a good work-life balance for our employees and apply workplace and worktime flexibility strategies to accommodate this. See the Employee Engagement Program for further details.

Modern Slavery

TOH are committed to ensuring that there is no slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business. We recognise that there is a very small risk for slavery or human trafficking to occur in the supply chain. We also recognise that we should be vigilant in identifying and reporting to the authorities any possible exploitation in the form of modern slavery or human trafficking when we visit properties and/or deal with third parties.

We review our existing business and supply chains for the risks of slavery and human trafficking; we review and revise as needed our procurement processes; and we disseminate relevant information as part of awareness training to our employees.

Whistleblowing policy

We have worked hard to develop an open and honest culture at The Other House which means that team members should be able to raise concerns without fear of discrimination or reprisal so we can act quickly against any potential malpractice and ensure it conducts its business with the highest standards of integrity and honesty at all times. All disclosures will be investigated and dealt with promptly and consistently, always ensuring the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 is applied.

Click here to read our whistleblowing policy in full. 

Community and Stakeholders

We are conscious of the impact our properties and business operations have on our local communities and recognise the opportunity we have to advance local economic development and create a positive impact. We therefore seek to engage with stakeholders and representatives of these communities to ensure that we listen, learn, and consider their views as we conduct our business.

We are committed to partnering with our communities, residents and guests, and social enterprises to engage in a dialogue regarding human rights or labour rights issues related to our business where appropriate, ensuring that we are taking onboard appropriate advice and take action to address local issues at a local level.

The Human and Labour Rights Policy represents our key commitments to address worker’s rights and labour conditions in our business operations and for our supply chain partners. TOH seeks to minimise and manage any risks and develop greater visibility of our activities in our operations and supply chain through the human rights programme. This Policy and our human rights performance are reported on and reviewed by the ESG Committee on an annual basis and reported at board level.

*The Other House is the trading name of The Other House OpCo Holdings Limited