From the very beginning, part of the fundamental ethos at Attic Self Storage has been to have a diversified approach to business. Our founder has always believed in balancing the needs of the business with that of our customers and the local environment in which we operate. This is still true of the company today, and enshrined in the principle of “Enlightened Self Interest” which guides our business and investment philosophy.
In order to instil this principle across the wider business we have developed, and continue to evolve, our own Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) policy. The aim is to help us keep a perspective on things that are important to the wider context in which we operate such as sustainability, our environmental impact and the communities and people in the locations where we operate. Having an ESG policy enables us to demonstrate that we are a responsible company, measure our improvements, hold ourselves accountable for our actions and strive towards continuous improvement. We plan to publish our targets and achievements in due course but in the meantime, we wanted to share a few details of the areas that we will focus on in the short term.
Below you can read more about the sorts of things that we are already doing to bring our policies to life. This includes links to other areas of our site where we can offer more details.
For us, this covers both the local environment in terms of our impact on our local community (including aspects such as the visual appearance of our buildings, health & safety and our impact on the macro environment) as well as factors such as electricity consumption, water consumption and long-term sustainability. We believe that we can help to drive change in wider society by taking a strong and honest approach towards our local environment which will then impact on the wider environment.
Here we focus on the ethical code by which we run the business, and our approach to all stakeholders including the communities in which we operate. We aim to take a fair approach, to build on our relationships and make a positive contribution with our interactions. Being a service-led business, our teams are at the heart of our operations and brand. The employee strand of our policy aims to demonstrate and build on the strong role that our teams play within the success of the company. It is important for us to be able to focus on developing and nurturing our teams. We very much see ourselves as part of the communities in which we operate, and we therefor aim to take a considerate approach from supporting local causes to minimizing any negative impact our operations may have or potentially have on our neighbours. We view CSR as a fundamental part of our social approach.
One area where we aim to make significant improvements is in our supplier selection. As we are now expanding this is of increased significance for us as a business. We are developing specific targets in areas such as making sure that we select ethical suppliers, understanding local supply options and those suppliers who are themselves taking a strong environmental and ethical stance in their own production and supply chains. We will also consider our own processes in selecting suppliers and reviewing these to ensure fairness.
Our people represent the Attic brand to our customers and for this reason have always been a core focus for the business. To date we have committed to, and implemented, several initiatives to support our staff but the development of the social element of our ESG policy has enabled us to identify further areas that we would like to explore. These include, but are not limited to, HR polices, well-being development and personal development opportunities such as volunteering in the local community. More details on these will follow but for now we can demonstrate steps we have taken in the areas below.
Governance is the means by which we set targets, monitor and improve our performance. We have robust processes in place and are continuing to add to these to enable us to effectively track performance as well as to ensure that we are making continuous improvements. It is our expectation that these processes and measurements will continue to evolve as the company develops and grows. We are aiming to achieve alignment in the approach and values of all employees and the way in which we carry out our roles. We have more work to do in this area but we already have strong processes in place in relation to the running of our stores.
We’re always keen to hear from our customers so that we make sure we are continuously improving our service levels. It may be helpful for you to read what our customers say about us too.