“As environmental stewards, we place an emphasis on incorporating sustainable elements into our communities. We encourage others today and every day to celebrate Earth Day.” – Ting Qiao, Wan Bridge CEO
Since 1970, the world has come together on one day each year – Earth Day – to diversify, educate and be a part of the environmental movement worldwide. The April 22 event mobilizes more than one billion individuals for the future of the planet and more than 75,000 organizational partners working to drive positive action.
How does Wan Bridge – a growing developer, builder, and manager of single-family build-to-rent (BTR) communities – help drive environmental sustainability?
Taking a close-up view, each home Wan Bridge builds begins with a focus on energy efficiency. Every house is installed with high-efficiency appliances and tall, double-pane energy efficient windows that allow for plenty of natural light. We are also proud of our landscaping, as each front and backyard is loaded with greenery from bushes and trees to native flowers – all of which are taken care of by our landscaping crew. Wan Bridge communities also offer bountiful outdoor green spaces for residents and local wildlife to enjoy.
However, Earth Day is about taking a step back to view the larger picture and better understand how each individual person can come together with their family, local community, national community and, ultimately, global community, to make a real and meaningful difference to the planet we call home.
At Wan Bridge, it is not just about each individual resident or the home they live in, it is about how those residents come together as a community. That starts with the efforts of our in-house property management team, TBD Management, who are onsite at each of our communities between Houston and Dallas.
More to come on that, but first, let us take a closer look at Earth Day 2021.
Earth Day 2021 – Restore Our Earth
This year’s Earth Day theme – Restore Our Earth – “focuses on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems.”
In this way, the theme rejects the notion that mitigation or adaptation are the only ways to address climate change, according to the organization’s website. It is up to each and every one of us to Restore Our Earth not just because we care about the natural world, but because we live on it. We all need a healthy Earth to support our jobs, livelihoods, health and survival, and happiness. A healthy planet is not an option — it is a necessity.
Today, more than one billion people in 192 countries will participate in Earth Day, making it the largest civic observance in the world.
To get involved or learn more about Earth Day 2021 events, live streams and initiatives, visit earthday.org.
TBD Management – Committed to Sustainability
Wan Bridge’s in-house property management team, TBD Management, oversees our new and existing developments onsite around Houston and Dallas. The team values time as a luxury, and residents will find more with hassle-free living solutions and quality, tailored service. However, another priority is holding our communities to high standards of environmental sustainability.
TBD’s overall strategy is to provide the means for accurately tracking and reporting specific sustainability practices at each community and corporate office. This program also provides guidelines for choosing the right blend of practices based on the uniqueness of the community, as well as through resident feedback. Below are three areas of focus for the team:
- Community Assessments – An analysis of current energy/water consumption, which would be performed by an external resource, provides recommendations and baseline data that the property manager may use for making operational changes and capital improvements that promote sustainability.
- Sustainability Policies – These policies are intended to promote consistency in our green practices and initiatives across the company and reinforce our philosophy around sustainability.
- Communication & Education – Critical to the success and endurance of the sustainability strategy is a solid plan for the continued roll-out and implementation of the strategy and programs, as well as an ongoing plan of communication, education, and promotion. With multiple audiences, such as Wan Bridge/TBD team members and residents, this component includes a variety of vehicles and message points.
The Key: Customer Communication
Any group of individuals that wants to act as a whole – whether that is a community, organization or business – needs to have a common understanding of what their actions should be and how those actions will result in the desired outcome. That is, a shared belief in a greater cause. Maintaining strong communication lines with our residents has been, and will continue to be, a key to Wan Bridge’s success in the area of environmental sustainability.
The TBD Management team frequently communicates with customers and residents about the importance of sustainability practices and the affect each individual can make in their community. Beyond that, to support onsite initiatives around sustainability, our team provides regular communication with residents about ways to conserve energy and water and reduce waste, and how they can be part of community-wide sustainability initiatives affecting their expenses and the environment.
Resident engagement goes hand in hand with communication. Some of our team’s focuses include:
- Providing training for residents regarding ways to conserve energy, water, and reduce waste;
- Hosting events focused on increasing sustainability awareness;
- Providing residents with feedback on energy and water consumption and waste/recycling efforts; and
- Engaging residents by promoting sustainability awareness through the community’s website, resident portal, or resident surveys, encouraging ongoing resident feedback and suggestions concerning resident satisfaction with the community, the resident’s home, and property management, as well as any suggestions residents may have concerning sustainability, community networking, and events.
A Green Future
Living at a Wan Bridge build-to-rent community is an identity for many residents, and that sense of community emanates from within. Our team strives to have sustainability as one of the key aspects to that identity, reducing our environmental impact as much as possible each and every day.
Between our energy-efficient home designs, open outdoor green spaces, and a commitment to engaging and communicating environmentally friendly practices to residents, Wan Bridge hopes to be part of the solution to restoring our planet this Earth Day, as well as every other day of the year.
Wan Bridge, TBD Management and our residents will do our part – one individual, one house, one community at a time.
Contact Wan Bridge today to learn more about joining one of our build-to-rent communities.
