Andrew Griffiths, MD and regional head UK, Prologi

Twenty years ago, when Prologis in the UK was founded, industrial logistics buildings (or sheds as they are affectionately known) were regarded as little more than places to protect the goods inside from theft and the worst effects of the British weather. At that time, conversations about sustainability within the commercial property industry were still in their infancy; however, we couldn’t help thinking that our buildings could be working a lot harder and delivering better environmental and cost saving benefits for our customers and the local community. When you think about it, it’s not such a strange idea. After all, one of the functions of a logistics building has always been to protect things, so why shouldn’t it protect the environment, local communities and indigenous people in the rainforests as well? This idea became a reality back in 2008 when we certified the first building at Prologis Park Pineham and became the first UK property company to measure, reduce and mitigate the carbon emissions embodied in the structure and fabric of our new buildings. Today, every new building we develop has its environmental sustainability officially certified by The Planet Mark Sustainability Certification. Over the past decade 40 Prologis developments, which amounts to an overall reduction of over 250,000 tons of CO2 – the equivalent of over 617 million miles driven by an average family vehicle. This legacy of sustainable development is something we gift to every owner or occupier of a Prologis building in the UK, allowing them to start their own sustainability journey, but the story doesn’t stop there. We feel passionately that, as a property company, we should play our part in reducing average lifetime carbon in our buildings and bring the benefits of sustainability to our customers, the local community and beyond. For this reason, we decided to go over and above what is required by the Planet Mark certification scheme and mitigate 100% of the embodied carbon in our buildings by working with Cool E

A decade of protection: how our partnership with T