ESG | Northern Group | Property Experts in Manchester

Our Commitment
to ESG

Northern Group. We do more.

We are passionate about reviving historic Manchester with a focus on protecting our local community and prioritising the planet. We ensure that all operations meet our environmental, social, and governance high standards. Ultimately, we believe property management can do more, so that's exactly what we do. Our team goes above and beyond to redefine property management with an ethical focus.

Our Values

Empowering People

We invest our time and resources into our people. We treat everyone with respect and we recognise that each person brings a unique set of skills, perspectives, and experiences to the table. By embracing diversity and inclusion, we create a culture that fosters innovation, collaboration, and growth.

Protecting the Planet

Our processes focus on sustainability and driving the operational efficiencies of our buildings. We’ve installed EV charging points in our car parks to support our green business initiatives and strive to minimise our environmental impact through sustainable practices, such as reducing waste, conserving energy, and using eco-friendly materials whenever possible. We believe that by taking care of the planet, we can create a better future for ourselves and our communities.

Complete Integrity

Integrity is at the core of everything we do, it serves as the guiding principle that shapes our actions and decisions. We prioritise ethical standards to ensure that our clients, tenants, and colleagues receive the utmost respect and fairness they deserve.

Supporting Manchester

We are truly passionate about the potential of Manchester and support the city in every way we can. As a company that is deeply rooted in the local community, we believe in the power of collective growth and prosperity - we work closely with local organisations and initiatives to help drive opportunity and community development.

Our Founder, Nathan Ezair, says…

“It’s a privilege to have a forward-thinking and determined team. Each of our team members offers something fresh to Northern Group. They uphold each of our values and provide expert insight and innovative thinking. ESG is at the core of our business strategy. We’re always re-evaluating how we can drive efficiencies and maintain the work culture we’re proud of.”

Environmental

We do property properly by driving the operational efficiencies of Manchester’s buildings, creating homes and spaces to work that meet the modern needs of Manchester’s residents. The property industry is responsible for more than 40% of global energy consumption and over 30% of greenhouse gas emissions. We’re pioneering sustainable change in our industry from the expertise we provide, to our choice of light bulbs in our head office.

Sustainable Building

We avoid building new where possible, regardless of cost. Our focus is to repurpose Manchester’s existing buildings for modern use. We give away any unused stock brick to prevent unnecessary landfill.

Agent and landlord discussing property management services

Education

Sustainability is our passion and as part of our commitment, we actively seek opportunities to inspire and educate others on how they can make small differences every day to make a big impact on the planet. For instance, we provide videos for all of our tenants on how to increase the energy efficiency of their space.

Responsible Travel

Our company cars are all electric and we have our own EV chargers at our office. We encourage our team to cycle to work with showers, drying facilities, and bike storage at our HQ. Long journeys to work are prevented with online meetings when appropriate as well as a local team in close proximity of each other.

Energy Efficiency

We use Passive Infrared Sensors so lights automatically switch off when a space is unoccupied. All of our Build to Rent projects use a long-term mindset so they’ll be just as efficient in 30 years as they are today. We monitor all our tenancies to ensure we’re not wasting energy.

Waste Management

We’re carbon conscious when it comes to waste management, preventing it from entering landfill. We adhere to a defined recycling policy and recommend this same policy to our tenants. Our chosen waste management company, B&M, are also recycling-led.

Supply Chain

We carefully evaluate our suppliers, prioritising local suppliers to invest back into our community. Quality is what we look for so everything we purchase has a longer lifespan.

Renewable Energy

Along with our fleet of electric vehicles, where possible, we also install solar panels on our commercial buildings.

Single-Use Items

We avoid all single-use items, plastics, as well as paper usage where possible. We opt for digital copies of everything. The used coffee grounds from our offices are also upcycled to become fertiliser.

Social

Looking after our team

Each of our 65+ team members brings new expertise to Northern Group. We harvest an encouraging work culture that celebrates everyone's achievements. Here’s how we take care of our team:

Mental health is always the priority. We truly care how our team is doing. Unrealistic expectations are rejected to prevent stress. Our morning meetings ensure we can regularly touch base so we can identify when someone needs additional support.

Meet The Team
Inspire young talent. With a drive for learning and progression, we create opportunities for the young people of Manchester with apprenticeship roles.

Recognise our team. We actively identify achievements with our monthly Above & Beyond Award and bi-annual personal development plans meetings.
Work around commitments. Everyone is different, so their role can be altered around their commitments. From childcare needs to a preference for remote work, we listen to our people and ensure they have work-to-life balance.

We prevent burnout. With paid sick leave, we discourage our team working when they’re not feeling their best. We host regular team events to unwind and have some fun!
Equal respect for all. Everyone is treated with kindness and with equal opportunities regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or political stance.

Supporting the community of Manchester

It’s our home. When we started over 20 years ago, Ancoats was very different to what it is today. It’s been amazing to invest in its regeneration. Across Manchester, we want to continue this by supporting the community in every way we can.

Shopping local – Manchester is fortunate to have so many incredible independent businesses. We buy from these for all our team events.

Preventing homelessness – We donate any unused furniture to local homeless charity, Mustard Tree. We encourage our tenants to do the same rather than binning.

Grassroots football – Our founder, Nathan, coaches and financially supports his own football team. This helps Manchester’s youth come together, and have fun enriching experiences.

Supporting Manchester Young Professionals – We partner with MYP to support and inspire young professional in Manchester.

Entrepreneurship - We support entrepreneurship and startups in our community by offering discounted day pass events, memberships to MYP events, quarterly workshops, as well as free to attend networking events.

COVID-19 – During the pandemic, we held off on rent reviews to help our community bounce back economically.

Community

/ Digital Thursdays
/ MCR Cares
/ Fuse
/ Colony Quiz
/ Mustard Tree
/ Fuse

What do we have in place?

We have appointed an ESG committee that meet on a bi-annual basis and report on progress with the team at our annual weekend away - headed up by our Head of Marketing, along with our community co-ordinators.
We also have an appointed social committee that arranges quarterly socials, team building events, and an annual company-wide weekend away.
ESG initiatives and awareness campaigns are carried out with members to reduce coffee waste. We also have recycling and regular health and well-being events for all members.
We work with Skills for Growth to provide training for staff and encourage personal growth and development.

Our ESG Commitments

Governance

Our Policies

We have certain policies in place that clearly define our business standards and expectations for our people and the business as a whole. These include:

Equal Opportunities - aims to promote equality, harmony and respect amongst individuals and to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation of all kinds.
Health & Safety - ensures the health, safety, and welfare of all employees.
Data Protection - our commitment to safeguarding the privacy and confidentiality of personal information collected from customers, clients, employees, or other individuals.
IT Communication & Monitoring - ensures compliance with all applicable laws relating to data protection, information security and compliance monitoring.
Attendance & Punctuality - outlines our policies regarding various types of leave and attendance expectations.
Compliance/Ethics - sets expectations for ethical behaviour, integrity, and professional conduct within the organisation.
Performance Management - outlines our approach to employee performance evaluation, feedback, goal setting, and career development.
Grievances - outlines the steps and procedures employees should follow if they have concerns, complains, or grievance related to their employment.

Support for Everyone

We are committed to providing support to people in any way we can. For example:

We provide wheelchair access support to ensure equal accessibility for all of our members and residents.
We diligently select the most qualified candidates for each job role, irrespective of gender, and ensure that equal pay is always provided.
We actively encourage our tenants to voice their concerns to us by asking them to be present at our inspections, providing them with an opportunity to discuss any necessary improvements they may require for their living spaces.

Our Commitment to ESG