o What is your organisation/business doing to work towards the green economy?
o What are your current or planned projects locally where you think we could work together?
o What are the challenges associated with STEM skills and recruitment?
o How can we promote STEM clusters in the borough?
Minutes:
The Chairman noted that the Council was making good progress towards its target of being carbon neutral by 2029.
Lee Thomas – Fairlight Group, advised that if funders required ESG targets to be met, this would be something that developers would need to address. Organisations would need to work towards this – larger businesses would have to abide by regulations and be an exemplar, and then SMEs would generally follow suit.
Katy Woolcott – London Biggin Hill Airport, informed the Partnership that they had a corporate sustainability and environmental programme in place. This looked at elements such as employee travel plans; expectations of suppliers; CO2 emissions; and performance certificate categories of buildings. Councillor Gray noted that London Biggin Hill Airport had hosted business brunches, which brought local businesses together discuss ideas on delivering innovation, green initiatives and enhanced connectivity. This was an important agenda, which the airport was taking seriously.
Michael Humphries – Handelsbanken, said that discussions regarding sustainability and the environment took place at every meeting. Banks had a role to play in looking at their own suppliers and how staff travelled to work – and they also spoke with customers about what they were doing, as well as their plans and aspirations. The requirements for EPCs were changing all the time and customers were looking at the quality of buildings and could look to offload weaker stock. Mike Lewis – Michael Rogers LLP, said it was proposed that by 2027, buildings would need an EPC minimum ‘C’ rating to transact any business, and by 2030 the minimum rating would be ‘B’. There were concerns that existing stock would be rated as ‘E’ and if it was not possible to get them to a rating of ‘C’, whole swathes of office space may be unlettable and untransactable. Mr Lewis highlighted that EPCs were produced by trained assessors and not building surveyors, and this needed to become far more stringent.
In response to a question from the Chairman, the LBB Head of Planning Policy and Strategy said that through London Plan policy, a certain level of carbon reduction was received, with the rest offset through a payment. The payment received by Bromley went into an affordable energy pot which could be used to pay for things such as solar panels and LED lighting. There was an ambition to deliver carbon neutrality on sites, but they were not yet at this stage.
Chandra Sharma – FSB, advised that resources and information was available via the FSB Sustainability Hub: https://www.fsb.org.uk/campaign-listing.html and the Zero Carbon Business website: https://zerocarbonbusiness.uk/
Councillor Gray advised that she had been appointed as STEM ambassador for London Biggin Hill Airport and would be leading on the ‘Unite to Inspire’ initiative. This aimed to inspire younger people into science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industries. A ‘Futures Week’ had been held in February 2022, which was designed to inspire and encourage young people interested in pursuing a career in the aviation industry and had provided an opportunity for 14 young people to experience the many roles available in aviation. A work experience week would also be taking place, and apprenticeships with Bombardier were being promoted. In response to a question from the Chairman, Councillor Gray said that London South East Colleges were intending to extend their existing facilities to deliver a STEM provision. Ms Woolcott noted that the airport was working with the College to develop courses. Mr Thomas highlighted that the University of Surrey had set up its own science park and considered that Cray Avenue would be an ideal location to replicate something similar for the borough.