Situation
 

Frasers Property holds the largest business park portfolio under single ownership in the UK. All their business parks are well-connected, with landscaped green spaces, safe street infrastructure, cafés, gyms and events. This strengthens the connection between people and their place of work. 

Through its Rethinking Sustainability strategy, Frasers Property UK is committed to enhancing its business parks to support customers and global sustainability goals, including promoting health and wellbeing. After developing and implementing a health and wellbeing framework across all its parks, Frasers Property decided to seek formal external accreditation through Fitwel. This global certification standard assesses holistic health, including:

• Public realm access and pedestrian connectivity.
• Proximity to open spaces.
• Outdoor fitness areas and community destinations.
• The provision of healthy food.
• Embedding social resilience, occupant safety and emergency preparedness.

Drivers for certification included communicating the health and wellbeing benefits of business parks to occupiers. Wellbeing credentials are a powerful part of the appeal of business parks, particularly after national lockdowns, with their outdoor spaces providing opportunities for physical activity, social interaction and connection to nature.

Together with managing agent MAPP, Frasers Property began the process of Fitwel accreditation in February 2021 at Winnersh Triangle in Reading, Chineham Park in Basingstoke and Farnborough Business Park in Farnborough. 

Actions
 

Frasers Property UK’s Sustainability Manager, Amira Hashemi, led the process internally, supported by MAPP’s Sustainability Manager and local property teams, who gathered evidence for each park.

The Fitwel scorecard assesses outdoor and common areas on site accessible by all occupiers. These are in abundance at Frasers Property’s business parks, which feature green public spaces, nature trails, public art installations, outdoor gyms, social seating, pathed walkways connecting to infrastructure and universal access for wheelchairs and pushchairs, as well as access to healthy food options and free bikes for use around the parks. 

The teams gained extra points for health-promoting events open to all occupiers, such as yoga, pilates and bootcamps. Frasers Property and MAPP were also recognised for their extensive occupier engagement, including through events and surveys. At Winnersh Triangle, a valued existing occupier and fitness expert, Move HQ, was recently involved in the design of a new sports building on the park, called The Cabin, and an AstroTurf pitch, called The Court, which they were then invited to operate.

Through the certification process, Frasers Property and MAPP identified opportunities to enhance the consistency of some policies across the business parks, including cleaning protocols, hazardous waste management and pest management. A gap analysis for each park also identified upgrades that the team is now prioritising to further boost mental and physical wellbeing for occupiers and meet extra Fitwel criteria upon recertification. These include:

• Planting a fruit and vegetable garden for occupiers, at least 2,500 sq ft in size, that includes raised beds and has a weekly maintenance plan during peak season.
• Installing drinking water fountains in all outdoor areas, with bottle refilling taps, compliant with international standard ISO 21542:2011.
• Launching air quality testing in outdoor spaces such as fitness areas and car parks. This will be in addition to existing indoor air quality testing. 
• Introducing an idle reduction policy and installing signage, to encourage drivers to reduce emissions and enhance air quality.

Farnborough Business Park gained three stars, the top rating for Fitwel, achieved by only 5% of Fitwel projects globally – and the first for a business park. Winnersh Triangle and Chineham Business Parks both achieved two stars, representing wellbeing excellence. Frasers Property now plans to hold a Fitwel engagement tour for occupiers, highlighting features that support wellbeing and outlining improvement opportunities.

Financials

It cost around £15,000 per business park to achieve certification. 

Benefits

The value gained from Fitwel exceeded expectations, including:

• Demonstrated to occupiers how Winnersh Triangle, Chineham and Farnborough Business Parks promote physical and mental health, showcasing the wellbeing benefits of business parks.
• Identified health-promoting upgrades to further enhance the parks for occupiers, including through green spaces and policy improvements.
• Opened up additional opportunities for occupier engagement and supporting their ESG goals.
• Demonstrated good ESG management to investors, achieving two global firsts on Fitwel. 
• Increased marketability and responded to changing occupier demand post-Covid.

Jaime-Louise Morley of MAPP: “Health and wellbeing within the workplace is becoming increasingly important, more so now than ever before. Fitwel is a great tool to use as a starting point to complete a gap analysis and introduce initiatives to improve the site overall. This project really highlighted all the great aspects the parks already had in place and how they stand out from the typical business park model. It really shows that Frasers Property is committed to having a positive impact on their sites as well as the surrounding community.”

Joanna Frank, President and CEO of Fitwel and the Center for Active Design: “We commended Frasers Property on their Fitwel certification and for being leaders in the healthy building movement. The implementation of Fitwel’s strategies and best practices demonstrates Frasers Property’s commitment to prioritise their tenants’ health and wellbeing. As lockdown restrictions are lifted, Frasers Property is proactively ensuring the safety of the people in their buildings by being the largest certified area in the world.”