Environmental Responsibility

• We consider it our mandate to invest in an environmentally prudent manner and conduct environmental site assessments on each property we acquire;
• We have a proven track record of cleaning up and redeveloping contaminated brownfield sites;
• We develop safe, practical, and long-term sustainable projects, build to the latest industry standards and processes;
• We create pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly shopping destinations; and
• With internalized property management, we continue post-development to look for ways to improve efficiency at our sites, including through energy conservation measures.
• We have a comprehensive LED program, where we are replacing inefficient lighting with LED. To date, the program is expected to reduce electricity consumption for the subject projects by ±30%, saving over 1,000,000 kWh per annum and reducing CO2e emissions by ±260 tonnes.
• We completed a building envelope enhancement, where we improved air sealing and insulation, resulting in an 80% reduction in electricity consumption and reduction of C02e emissions by ±40 tonnes.  As the project was very successful, we are analyzing similar enhancements at other properties.

Social Responsibility and Community Investment

• We know our success is driven by our people and we strive to provide a safe, happy and healthy working environment for all of our colleagues where everyone is treated equally and with respect;
• We are committed to fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion in the workplace;
  • Overall, our workforce is 56% female; at the VP level and above, 46% female, including 20% female NEO’s;
  • We also believe that diversity is an important attribute of a well-functioning board. Three of Plaza’s seven Trustees, or 43%, are also female.
  • Plaza continues to encourage leadership opportunities for women and has recently launched an initiative known as Woman @ Plaza.
• Just as we conduct ourselves in our affairs, we require all external contractors to comply with occupational, health, and safety laws and regulations on-site;
• For our tenants and the communities we serve, we are committed to offering safe places to shop by providing safe pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicle access, secure and well-lit common areas and clean environments on our sites; and
• We are dedicated to supporting fundraising for community-based charities and organizations.
• We were one of the leaders in adopting CECRA and are currently assisting our tenants wherever we can with the CERS and other assistance programs.
• We accommodated various provincial health departments with COVID testing and vaccination clinics at no cost.
• While employees worked from home (during the first wave of COVID-19 and continuing in certain jurisdictions) we maintained constant engagement via various forms of communication, including video conferencing and regular updates from the CEO.

Governance and Ethical Business Conduct

• Our board of trustees believes sound governance practices to be essential to our success and the board is committed to fostering an environment of good governance;
• We have a written code of business conduct and ethics which governs how we conduct ourselves in all our affairs; and
• We conduct business with integrity, transparency, and are committed to maintaining the highest standard of legal and ethical conduct.
• We created a Responsibility & Sustainability Committee, comprised of diverse representatives from various levels of the company.  The mandate of the committee is to assess, review and advance ESG initiatives, as well as enhance disclosure of same.

More at Corporate Governance