THE GROUP’S SOCIETAL COMMITMENTS IN FAVOUR OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Participate in territorial, economic and social development

Promote local employment and regional development

The Patrimoine & Commerce Group works closely with regional cities and medium-size towns with high development potential. By investing either in its existing stock for renovation or in new projects, it creates direct employment connected to the construction work and then the availability of commercial or office space allows different kinds of activities to develop, which in turn generate jobs. Sepric Promotion offers partnerships with local employment agencies for its tenants’ recruitment phases.

Thus, the jobs generated by Patrimoine & Commerce’s tenants result from the immediate proximity of the stores, thus helping to reduce CO2 emissions by shortening as much as possible the employees’ commute to and from work.
Indeed, the Patrimoine & Commerce Group rents premises to retailers whose activities are an important source of local employment. Despite the difficulty of collecting this type of data, the Patrimoine & Commerce Group is working to improve the database that it began to establish in 2013, in order to estimate the number of jobs created.
For maintenance and care of the properties, but also during the construction phases of a building, the principle of the Patrimoine & Commerce Group is to use the services, as far as possible, of local companies rather than forming a specialised, centralized team responsible for all of its properties. Thus, some examples:

• For the Étrembières (74) and Salaise-sur-Sanne (38) project sites, Sepric gave priority to companies located within 80 km of the sites.
• For the Échirolles project site (38), the companies were recruited within a 60 km radius around the site.
• For the Lempdes project site (63), the companies were recruited from the Clermont Métropole area, within a radius of 30 km around the site.

Moreover, by rehabilitating the commercial buildings of Salaise-sur-Sanne and Lempdes that were in danger or empty, Sepric gave new life to these sites and helped create some 60 jobs on these two sites. In 2019, if the two new sites of Échirolles and Étrembières are included, more than 80 new jobs were created by the tenants of Patrimoine & Commerce’s new projects.

Encouraging the development of the neighbouring or local populations

By taking part in the revitalisation of cities, the Patrimoine & Commerce Group encourages their economic environment to develop, as well as that of their urban fabric.

Organising dialogue with individuals or organisations interested in the Group’s activities

The Patrimoine & Commerce Group has established permanent dialogue arrangements with the various stakeholders including, in particular:

• its tenants and suppliers for the real estate activity,
• the neighbours of project sites, local authorities and suppliers for the real estate development activity.

Take sustainable development into account in relationships with subcontractors and suppliers

Social and environmental issues are taken into account in the procurement policy

In the case of the construction of new commercial buildings, Sepric Promotion acts as the Project Owner initiating the real estate project, and monitoring the various construction stages until it is resold.
During these various stages, Sepric Promotion uses the services of various providers such as an architect/project manager, engineering design office, installers, etc. The project manager’s main tasks are designing and monitoring the work. They are also in charge of the site’s regulatory compliance, in conjunction with the Health and Safety Protection Coordinator, the preferred contact for the Labour Inspectorate

Social and environmental responsibility taken into account in relations with suppliers and subcontractors

When carrying out an operation to obtain an environmental approval, Sepric Promotion uses the services of a project owner management assistant specialised in the sustainable development field.
This competence is essential to ensure that the environmental requirements are met at all stages of a project. To choose each of these actors, Sepric Promotion relies, in addition to technical skills, on financial strength and qualitative references, which are a guarantee of trust.
This trust is based in particular on the contractual commitment of the contractors in ensuring their subcontractors receive approvals, thus providing details of the subcontracting contract. Sepric Promotion, also pays the subcontractors directly thus ensuring their fair remuneration.
Moreover, Sepric Promotion endeavours, as regards its subcontracts, to obtain the written commitment of its subcontractors to respect the statutory provisions of French law in this field and in particular the provisions relating to the fight against undeclared work.

Loyalty of practices

Actions taken to prevent corruption

The Patrimoine & Commerce Group is committed to fighting corruption. Corruption exists from the moment there is a minor influence, which could result, for example, in favours being granted by a supplier in exchange for priority to receiving orders from the Patrimoine & Commerce Group.

This commitment is reflected in the following actions that the group plans to implement:

• Analysis of the risks of corruption within the Patrimoine & Commerce Group’s business scope: this task requires identifying the main financial flows coming into and going out of the Patrimoine & Commerce Group, as well as those persons involved in these transactions (issuer/receiver). An example could be passive corruption when land is acquired below its market value,
• awareness of those persons exposed to the challenges of fighting corruption: during 2019, all employees of the Group received Sapin 2 training on exposure to corruption risks and the deployment of the Sapin 2 system,
• in the development context, contracts are concluded after an open tender which invites at least five companies to bid; the file can moreover be viewed on an internet platform accessible to other potential candidates.

Measures taken in favour of the health and safety of consumers

In order to protect occupants of rented premises against any risks, as well as to protect persons visiting these premises, the Patrimoine & Commerce Group complies with the regulations in force.