Federated Hermes Real Estate, a responsible real estate investment manager, has joined forces with TRUUD to examine and deliver health as an element of the built urban environment.
TRUUD (Tackling Root causes upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development) is a £10m research project, based at the University of Bristol, looking at how urban centres can be planned to reduce health inequalities.
Federated Hermes Real Estate is an international institutional investment manager with $8.3bn (as at September 30, 2023) of commercial real estate assets under management, offering client-focused property investment solutions.
Federated Hermes is supporting TRUUD’s real estate research intervention led by the University of Reading to help understand and change the way investors put a value on urban health outcomes. Federated Hermes Real Estate will provide access and share expertise on two placemaking projects, St Mary le Port, Bristol, and Paradise Birmingham, to examine how TRUUD’s health evaluation tool, HAUS, can aid investment decision-making.
This innovative collaboration builds on findings from 21 in-depth interviews and follow-on consultations with professionals in real estate finance and investment which revealed that investors want to act on healthier, socially sustainable cities. However, a lack of robust evidence on health benefits is an often cited barrier and a shared private-public sector narrative on healthy development is needed for impactful delivery.
Kathy Pain, Professor of Real Estate Development at the University of Reading Henley Business School said: “The longstanding enthusiasm of Federated Hermes for engaging in this collaboration provides an opportunity to explore how health evidence can be incorporated in investment management company decision-making for societal wellness and prosperity.”
Chris Taylor, Head of Real Estate, Federated Hermes Ltd., adds: “Our long track record in placemaking and urban regeneration has shown us that the built environment has huge potential to create more meaningful cities, providing citizens with a sense of belonging and relevance as well as addressing health and wellbeing issues. We are proud to be partnering with TRUUD to support their pioneering research into valuing health outcomes and look forward to integrating these findings into our investment decision-making process to drive greater health equality in the societies in which we operate.”
Notes for Editors
About Federated Hermes
Federated Hermes, Inc. is a global leader in active, responsible investment management, with $757.6 billion in assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2023. We deliver investment solutions that help investors target a broad range of outcomes and provide equity, fixed income, alternative/private markets, multi-asset and liquidity management strategies to more than 10,000 institutions and intermediaries worldwide. Our clients include corporations, government entities, insurance companies, foundations and endowments, banks and broker/dealers. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Federated Hermes has more than 2,000 employees in London, New York, Boston and offices worldwide.
About TRUUD
Tackling Root causes upstream of Unhealthy Urban Development (TRUUD) is a research project, based at the University of Bristol, looking at how urban centres can be planned to reduce health inequalities. The TRUUD consortium includes the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Reading, Manchester, Stirling and the University of the West of England across disciplines of public health, law, psychology, management, systems engineering, environmental and health economics, real estate, planning, urban development, policy and public involvement.
TRUUD has created an economic valuation model – Health Appraisal of Urban Systems, (‘HAUS’) – that allows developers or planners to consider and adjust a range of health factors. HAUS provides unit costs for more than 70 health outcomes, separated so that they can be attributed across multiple agencies from a societal perspective.
TRUUD is supported by the UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP), an initiative funded by UK Research and Innovation Councils, the Department of Health and Social Care and the UK devolved administrations, and leading health research charities.
