As a developer, we can help shape parts of cities and create neighbourhoods for future generations. This is a unique and privileged position and we are using it to bring about change. To transform what and how we build, and to improve urban life for everyone, everyday.
We work hard to design socially, environmentally and economically sustainable places where people and nature can thrive. We also look beyond building performance, focusing instead on how communities perform as a whole. With buildings responsible for almost 40% of global carbon emissions, we must get this right.
King’s Cross is a carbon neutral estate
Brent Cross Town - net zero town
Hudson Yards - Manhattan’s 1st LEED Gold neighbourhood
We are committed to reaching net zero carbon across all our projects.
The latest thinking, technology and design is being used from the very beginning to reduce environmental impact and create a better, greener, healthier future.
We need net zero cities, but we also need resilient cities. We’re designing our developments to support a circular economy and to handle the impact of a changing climate.
We’re also actively responding to the UK’s ecological emergency by ensuring that nature can thrive in our cities. We do this through diverse habitats, community gardens and green roofs, together with green corridors to strengthen ecological connectivity.
In November 2021, the King’s Cross estate achieved carbon neutrality – one of the first major destinations to do so. Since then, we have been laser-focused on reaching net zero carbon by 2035.
One of the first steps is to decarbonise the energy network. The estate is already supplied using gas and electricity from 100% renewable sources. Transferring to an all-electric energy network using heat pumps and electric boilers will eliminate the use of fossil fuels entirely.
We also have a large cluster of BREEAM ‘outstanding’ buildings, but to reach net zero carbon, we must continue to improve, working alongside occupiers to reduce operational energy. Measures such as lighting improvements, smart building technology and end-user training and awareness are vital.
Businesses are increasingly looking for buildings with strong environmental credentials that align with their ESG goals, so it is impossible to reach net zero without working in partnership: developers and asset managers must coalesce around collective goals to tackle the climate emergency. The quarterly ESG Forum at King’s Cross does exactly that, allowing landlord and occupier to meet and share best practice.
At Brent Cross Town we’re committed to delivering a net zero town.
This requires a significant reduction in both embodied and operational carbon emissions which can be achieved through highly efficient design and resource use. We’ve partnered with the Swedish energy provider, Vattenfall to design, build and operate an on-site energy centre that will serve a masterplan-wide low carbon heating and cooling network.
We’re taking a whole-lifecycle approach to carbon emissions to reduce the impact of our buildings and public spaces over their lifetime – from design and construction to operation, refurbishment and their eventual repurposing at end of life.
And we’re empowering everyone who lives and works here to make lower carbon lifestyle choices. Our Parks, Proximity and People report revealed that 70% of people want support in leading more environmentally friendly lives, so this is what we are doing.
The built environment has the power to shape lives.
We are constantly mindful of this and are always seeking to create opportunities and bring positive change to the communities with which we work.
This means skills and training programmes that help local people access job opportunities. It means creating parks and green spaces for the community to enjoy, often before a single building is built. It means investing in new schools and social mobility programmes like upReach and Skillsbuilder.
It means creating a Flourishing Index so that we can understand and measure community wellbeing in a meaningful way.
KX Recruit is the free recruitment service that matches employers and jobseekers at King’s Cross.
The agency works closely with educational, local government and community organisations, helping businesses find staff and helping local people to access the jobs created by the King’s Cross development.
The service has been running since 2014, during which time more than 1,500 people have been helped into work.
The Brent Cross Town Community Fund supports local initiatives and community groups.
The fund was launched in 2019, and so far, 57 groups have received grants, benefiting from a total of £230,000 funding. In 2023, for the first time, the community was asked to vote to allocate £10,000 of this funding for ‘people’s projects’ awards.
The annual fund supports a variety of projects and activities with grants of up to £5,000 each. Examples include Keep Rolling, a project that builds confidence, mental wellbeing and aspiration among young women through a variety of activities including workshops and skateboarding, Our Yard, a sustainable community-run hub on a mission to build and support resilient communities around Clitterhouse Farm and wider north west London and Mapledown School, a secondary school in Barnet for students with severe and complex learning difficulties, which works together with stakeholders to help meet the pupil’s needs and facilitate learning.
Brent Cross Town is a visionary development built on core values of social connectivity, environmental sustainability and health & wellness. It is committed to building responsibly and sustainably and creating and environment where we can all thrive.
Download
This report sets out our sustainability vision and explains how King’s Cross will continue to be a place where people and the planet can flourish.
Download
This study seeks to identify the long-term changes that influence how people want to live, work and flourish, to understand how we can best support them.
Download