European real estate owners Steen & Strøm, UBS Real Estate, Workspace and Gecina feature among the top global performers in the 2014 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) survey.

European real estate owners Steen & Strøm, UBS Real Estate, Workspace and Gecina feature among the top global performers in the 2014 Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) survey.

North American property group Bentall Kennedy heads the top-11 global ranking, followed by Steen & Strøm, the Nordic subsidiary of shopping centre specialist Klépierre. UBS Real Estate's German Logistics Property Fund 2 is third in the global ranking, with UK REIT Workspace and French REIT Gecina coming 10th and 11th respectively.

REGIONAL LEADERS
GRESB identifies regional sector leaders for Asia, Australia/NZ, Europe and North America. Sector leaders are the companies and funds with the highest overall GRESB score for their property type in their region. The overall GRESB score is based on the weighted scores for each of GRESB’s seven unique sustainability aspects

This year, for the first time, GRESB divided its regional sector leaders into two categories – large gross asset value (GAV >$1 bn) and small GAV (<$1 bn) entities. This segmentation is designed to take account of the different opportunities and challenges that exist for smaller and larger GRESB participants.

The top performer in the large cap category for Europe is Legal & General Property's UK Property Income Fund. The top performing small cap is M&G Real Estate's M&G UK Property Fund. CLICK HERE for more on the top European performers.

GRESB is an industry-driven organisation established five years ago to assess the sustainability performance of real estate portfolios (public, private and direct) around the globe. More than 130 members, of which 42 are pension funds and their fiduciaries, jointly representing $8.9 tln (€6.8 tln) in assets under management, use the GRESB benchmark results throughout the investment management and engagement process, with a clear goal to optimise the risk/return profile of their real estate investments.

GRESB measures the sustainability performance of more than 630 real estate portfolios around the globe, with a total of more than $2 tn in assets under management.

FULL GRESB SURVEY RESULTS