9 September 2020
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Longevity Partners has achieved tremendous results, continuing its growth trajectory and mission to transform the property industry over the last six months.
We prioritized our team’s health & wellbeing, while ensuring our projects were delivered in a frictionless manner and our clients remained satisfied. We hired 11 young new talents since March 2020, creating green jobs to keep the economy going. We have paid bonuses to staff when other firms reduced salaries and cut jobs. We did not use any government money across all subsidiaries.
The safety and mental health of our team is of extreme importance. Our response to the virus was immediate: in early March, long before Government guidelines were announced, we encouraged our employees to work on flexible hours to avoid public transportations or work from home when possible. Since the company’s inception in 2015, everyone could and was equipped to work from home. There was therefore hardly any disruption when the whole team was working from home from March 16th.
At Longevity, every employee is given an hour a day to do sport, an initiative we implemented in 2019 to maintain good general level of mental and physical fitness. Additionally, we gave one mental health day to every employee in April to relax, and organised numerous internal support events online (weekly informal catch ups, virtual drinks, quizzes, sport challenges).
The key priority for me was to ensure the team was rowing in unison, delivering services in a frictionless manner.
Despite external chaos, everyone adapted very quickly, everyone knew what they had to do, and everyone responded positively to change. We managed the submission of GRESB accounts worth more than £25BN, delivered 300 BIU certifications in 15 countries and delivered numerous ESG strategies.
This year, we were able to win c. £1.5m of new instructions with some of the largest property companies in the world such as Brookfield Properties, Axa Investment Management, JP Morgan, CBRE Global Investors, Land Securities, Unite Student, DWS, Invesco, Bouwinvest, CLS Holdings, Segro and Blackrock, to name a few. The work ranges from pan-european ESG and climate risk related legislation assistance, certification, ESG and risk management strategies and renewable energy. While expanding our list of new clients, we have also expanded in new territories with new instructions in India and Japan, where we are now assisting local clients on their ESG strategies.
I am hugely grateful for the trust our clients give us as well as their continual support which allows us to support them in return.
Being able to deliver the large spectrum of services at the highest industry standard across so many jurisdictions is what makes Longevity unique in the ESG world, but this is also what our customers need in a globalised capital market industry.
As a response to our clients’ requirements and the planet’s needs, we will be opening four new offices in the next few months. Three in the USA (San Francisco, Austin and New York) and one in Munich in Germany. Given the current climate circumstances, it is crucial to accelerate the transition rate and curb the emission curve in the property sector. The impact will only work if this is done globally and systemically. We are lucky to be expanding the Longevity group using the company’s profits, without the need to raise any capital.
We are also preparing to create a new subsidiary for the power side of the business, which has grown significantly in the last few months. This entity will be entirely dedicated to large scale energy and electric vehicle infrastructure projects together with the management of PPAs to deliver net zero carbon strategies. The task ahead is gigantic, but we have an incredible team working on it around the clock.
I founded Longevity Partners in 2015 and as an entrepreneur, the five-year mark is always a milestone because 93% of businesses fail within five years. We are somewhat survivors and I am now pleased to say that all group subsidiaries will achieve a profit this year based on secured instructions.
We usually celebrate the creation of the firm in May every year, often with margaritas and mariachis (a Longevity signature), but this year was slightly different. We have blown our fifth candle in lockdown, but we look forward to an even bigger party when we can do that safely.
We have only been able to do this with the support of our partners and the huge personal commitment of the team to deliver the best they can. Our culture and team make Longevity so special and attract the best talent in the industry.
As we keep rowing in unison towards new territories to deliver the green economy globally, we all need to remember that the next decade will be crucial to avoid climate tipping points and secure a safer future for our children. What is important is that we all play our part to address this collective responsibility.
Thank you and stay safe!
Etienne