FirstPort has renewed its commitment to improving and strengthening its environmental performance and process systems’ management, being awarded ISO 14001 and 9001 certifications for the second consecutive year.
In 2021, FirstPort became the first organisation in the industry to receive the internationally-recognised certifications, which have now been successfully renewed, following an extensive auditing process.
The IS0 14001 certification looks at how an organisation’s activities affect the environment, and identifies continuous improvement plans around its sustainability efforts.
The renewed certification recognises the continued commitment from Firstport to its overall sustainability framework, which includes key areas from across the business, including carbon footprint, biodiversity, waste reduction and resource consumption.
As a managing agent for over 310,000 developments, FirstPort’s sustainability framework is vital to ensure that its environmental practices are suitable, given the scale of the business and the footprint of FirstPort’s operations across England, Scotland and Wales. Teams across the business, as well as members of FirstPort’s supply chain, have continued to strive for new ways to minimise environmental impact.
The scale of FirstPort has also presented proactive opportunities to promote sustainable practices, with an array of green open spaces, woodlands and an estimated 100 lakes across its management portfolio. FirstPort colleagues continue to work alongside customers and the wider community to nurture and develop these areas and drive environmental improvements, including at a development in Surrey, where FirstPort worked with local conservation students, creating an ecological plan to conserve and improve the ponds, grassland, and ancient woodlands at their local retirement development.
The ISO 9001 certification is designed to help organisations meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders, by providing a framework that helps ensure consistent quality in the provision of services. It covers areas such as training, complaints handling and supplier management.
Following the initial award in 2021, this year’s inspection of FirstPort’s processes and procedures highlighted the organisation’s continual progression, including increased employee engagement across the business, allowing individual departments to better understand how their work contributes to the business’ overall performance, and how their operations can be streamlined to allow teams to work together with greater efficiency.
To achieve the required standard for ISO 9001, FirstPort had over 40 processes reviewed, many that directly impact customers’ experiences.
Christian Phipps, Sustainability Manager at FirstPort commented on the certifications:
“We are extremely proud to have achieved both of these prestigious standards for the second consecutive year. When we were first awarded these certifications in 2021, we were clear that while they highlighted the things we were already doing well, they would also give us the framework to continue developing these areas of our business operations in the long term.
“As the UK’s largest provider of residential property services, we understand the importance of robust and efficient processes, to ensure the best service for our customers, whilst also maintaining the utmost diligence when considering the impact our business has on the environment.
“As with last year’s success, we remain committed to continually reviewing our practices, to ensure they are the best they can be, and the clear benchmark that ISO certifications provide will allow us to continue this approach going forward.”
