H.E. Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General
United Nations
New York, NY 10017
USA
3 December 2010

Dear Mr. Secretary-General

I am pleased to confirm that HASSELL Ltd supports the ten principles of the Global Compact with respect to human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.

With this communication, we express our intent to advance those principles within our sphere of influence. We are committed to making the Global Compact and its principles part of the strategy, culture and day-to-day operations of our company, and to engage in collaborative projects which advance the broader development goals of the United Nations, particularly the Millennium Development Goals. HASSELL will make a clear statement of this commitment to our stakeholders and the general public.

We recognize that a key requirement for participation in the Global Compact is the annual submission of a Communication on Progress (COP) that describes our company’s efforts to implement the ten principles. We support public accountability and transparency, and therefore commit to report on progress within one year of joining the Global Compact, and annually thereafter according to the Global Compact COP policy.

Sincerely yours

Robert Backhouse
Managing Director

Email rbackhouse@hassell.com.au

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Public commitment (www.hassell.com.au/sustainability)

_ Sustainability @ HASSELL
Our teams of planners and designers apply their skills across five key areas and collaboratively integrate the activities of their colleagues and specialist advisers to provide resilient solutions.

Through the receipt of numerous project awards and as a founding member of the Green Building Council of Australia, HASSELL has long demonstrated an understanding and respect for the natural environment and a commitment to sustainable design and building practices.

We have established the Sustainable Futures Unit to increase our own environmental performance, to continually improve our collective skills and knowledge about sustainable design and innovation, and to apply this knowledge in a way that benefits our clients through better performing buildings, and spaces that have lasting value.

We use this growing body of knowledge to provide strategic and policy level advice to businesses and government and to promote change
In all of our studios we are committed to practicing what we preach, and to that end we are progressively implementing an Environmental Management System certified to ISO14001:2004. All Australian studios were certified in 2008 and all our Asian studios in 2009.

We conduct annual reporting of our green house gas emissions which is independently verified. HASSELL is committed to the ongoing management, reporting and reduction of our emissions.

We are also in the process of redesigning our studios to achieve better environmental performance and energy efficiencies, as well as healthier working environments for our people. We are doing this to demonstrate our commitment as well as the workability of our solutions to our clients.

We are convinced that designing for sustainability makes good business sense. It will reduce operating costs for water, energy and facility maintenance, increase the satisfaction level of our people and reduce our exposure to risk from anticipated future regulations designed to enforce lower energy consumption and lower carbon emissions.

Environmental Policy (contained within the HASSELL Professional Practice Manual)
HASSELL influences directly and indirectly the environmental impacts of communities internationally, therefore environmental and social responsibility is integral to our core values and our mission - Creating Exceptional Sustainable Places.
The HASSELL Environmental Management principles are based on resource conservation and management, provision of services based on full life cycle costs, pollution prevention and continuous improvement. Our principles include:
_Decision-making processes which integrate both long-term and short-term economic, environmental, social and equitable
_The precautionary principle; if there are threats of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent or mitigate environmental degradation
_The principle of inter-generational equity; that the present generation should ensure that the health, diversity and productivity of the environment is maintained or enhanced for the benefit of future generations
_Improved valuation, whole of life costing and incentive mechanisms should be promoted
HASSELL is committed to providing sustainable communities through:
_Innovative sustainable planning and design services
_International sustainable operations for our studio operations
_Leading thinking education and training of employees in environmental principles, practices, technologies and systems
_International ongoing research and knowledge leadership in the pursuit of sustainable environments
Through the Professional Practice System, we aim to achieve our vision for projects by:
_The setting of environmental objectives and targets as part of the opportunity and risk profiling process
_Wherever practical, benchmarking the carbon footprint of a project against specific targets
_Using the expertise of the Sustainable Futures Unit (SFU) and other accredited staff members to best advantage in the setting and meeting of sustainability objectives
_Continually refining sustainable design methods and systems to ensure that environmentally friendly options are sourced discussed and integrated into the design process
From an in-house studio perspective, this will be achieved by:
_Benchmarking our performance against other similar buildings
_Each studio working with the SFU to identify and implement sustainability initiatives which will reduce our carbon footprint
_The ongoing training and support of staff in the areas of sustainability and environmental management
_The ongoing reporting of sustainability performance in each studio with targets adjusted accordingly

The HASSELL Environmental Management System is certified to international standards ISO 14001. The EMS incorporates guides and forms for both the design and planning or our projects and the operations of our studios.

The HASSELL’ Carbon Report’ has been compiled annually since 2007, and independently verified since 2008.

The HASSELL ‘Our Environment’ Report has been compiled annually since 2009 and is independently verified.

The HASSELL ‘Our Community Report’ has been compiled annually since 2008 and independently verified since 2009.

HASSELL Carbon Report 2010 has been completed and is in the final process of independent verification

HASSELL ‘Our Environment’ Report 2010 has been completed and is in the final process of independent verification

HASELL ‘Our Community’ CSR Report 2010 has been completed and is in the final process of independent verification

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