R1: Asset Characteristics
Assessment Instructions
Participants must report this metric at the asset level.
GRESB automatically populates this indicator in the assessment response once participants have aggregated asset-level data from the Asset Portal.
When using the Asset Spreadsheet to upload asset-level data, GRESB recommends reviewing the instructions below in conjunction with the corresponding spreadsheet tab. The Cell Code column in the Input section indicates where to report each metric in the spreadsheet.
Asset Portal Guide Click here to download a read-only version of the Asset Spreadsheet.
The entity’s standing investment portfolio during the reporting year
Do not edit.
Text
Text
Drop-down
Drop-down
Text
Text
Text
Year
%
Date - only if in the reporting year
Date - only if in the reporting year
Currency in RC1 in millions
m2 / Sq. Ft
Input: How do I complete this indicator?
Warning: Review the Reporting Scope Requirements
GRESB requires property companies and funds to report on their whole portfolio; this includes all operational real estate assets owned during the reporting year. See What are the participation requirements?for more information.
GRESB Asset ID
B4
This ID is used to identify and update the data from existing assets.
Important: Do NOT provide your own Asset ID. This field is populated by GRESB only.
To view GRESB Asset IDs for existing assets, download your data in Excel from the Asset Portal or click on the assets in the Asset Portal. Handling Asset IDs in the Asset Spreadsheet:
For new assets: To add new assets (not uploaded onto the GRESB Asset Portal in the past), leave this field blank. The GRESB Asset Portal will create a new asset and will generate a new Asset ID.
For existing assets: To update an existing asset in the GRESB Asset Portal, leave the same GRESB Asset ID as the one allocated by the Portal when exporting and re-importing your data.
To delete assets: To delete an asset (and corresponding Asset ID), go to the individual asset in the GRESB Asset Portal, click on 'Manage' and 'Delete'. Once deleted, the asset cannot be recovered.
Asset Name
Mandatory
C4
Input the name of the asset as displayed to the users with access to this portfolio in the Asset Portal.
Optional Information
D4
Enter any supplementary text for internal use. GRESB does not use or share this information.
Property Type
Mandatory
E4
Select the appropriate Property Sub-Type representing the asset. All Property Sub-Type definitions are available here.Guidance for mixed-use assets:
If an asset is composed of two or more property sub-types (e.g., office and retail), but the asset's floor area sizes, consumption data, and Gross Asset Value (GAV) can be allocated separately for each sub-type, participants can represent such an asset in separate rows (e.g., one row for office, another row for retail). This type of reporting will generate two asset IDs and will allow a more granular benchmark group classification.
If an asset is composed of two or more property sub-types for which the split of floor area sizes and consumption data is not available, participants have the following choices, depending on the asset composition:
Choice 1: 75% (or more) of the asset floor area is Office; 25% (or less) is Retail - two options exist:
Report the asset as Office (and include the entire asset’s floor area)
Report the asset as mixed-use: Office/Retail
Choice 2: 74% (or less) of the asset floor area is Office; 25% (or more) is Retail - one option exists:
Report the asset as mixed-use: Office/Retail
When reporting assets as Mixed-Use, use the specific mixed-use category that best reflects the asset composition (e.g., "Mixed Use, Office/Residential," "Mixed Use, Office/Industrial," or "Mixed Use, Other").
Guidance for unit consolidation - applicable to Residential Portfolios
Note that this guidance applies to participants in the Residential sector (particularly “Multi-Family” and “Family Homes”). Other assets or portfolios must report their asset data individually.
Reporting entities with Residential assets can consolidate multiple units into a single asset sharing similar characteristics as appropriate.
Consolidating multiple units into one asset has an impact on the following mandatory elements: Location, Construction Year, Building Certifications, Energy Ratings, Vacancy Rate, GFA and Data Availability. Refer to the corresponding sections for guidance on each aspect.
Note: If the consolidation of multiple units creates discrepancies between the period of data availability and performance data reported, units must be reported separately.
Guidance for financial assets consisting of multiple properties - applicable to Business Parks and Industrial Parks
Note that this guidance applies to participants reporting financial assets that consist of multiple properties (particularly Business Parks and Industrial Parks). Other assets or portfolios must report their asset data individually.
Reporting entities with financial assets that consist of multiple properties, for which individual property-level data cannot be obtained, can report the entire financial asset as one.
Note: If the consolidation of multiple properties creates discrepancies between the period of data availability and the performance data reported, those properties must be reported separately.
Location: Country
Mandatory
F5
The country where the asset is located, using the ISO 3166 country code.
Guidance for unit consolidation - applicable to Residential Portfolios
The unit or asset location should be provided as specifically as possible, ideally based on street address. However, since only “Country”, “State/Province” and “City” are mandatory fields, multiple units from the same Property Sub-Type. (e.g. “Residential: Multi-Family: Low-Rise Multi-Family”; “Residential: Family Homes”, etc.) sharing the same city can be grouped together.
Location: State/Province
Mandatory
G5
The state, province, or region where the asset is located.
Location: City
Mandatory
H5
The city, town, or village where the asset is located.
Location: Street Address
Optional
I5
The physical or postal address of the asset. While optional, GRESB encourages participants to report the specific street address for all assets. Doing so allows GRESB to geolocate assets with higher precision, improving the quality of asset-based insights we are able to provide. Such additional analysis will be limited to the accuracy of the geographical information provided by the GRESB participants.
Construction Year
Optional
J4
Report the year in which the building was completed and ready for occupancy (regardless of whether the asset has been under major renovation since then).
Guidance for unit consolidation - applicable to Residential Portfolios
To calculate the consolidated construction year of the group of units, participants can calculate the weighted average construction year using the unit's floor area as a weighting factor:
Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Construction Year
2000
2010
2020
Unit Floor Area
100m2
200m2
100m2
Total Floor Area of Asset 1
400 m2
Consolidated Construction Year =
[(Unit 1 Floor Area/Total Floor Area Asset 1) * Construction Year Unit 1] + [(Unit 2 Floor Area/Total Floor Area Asset 1) * Construction Year Unit 2] + [(Unit 3 Floor Area / Total Floor Area Asset 1) * Construction Year Unit 3] =
[(100/400)*2000] + [(200/400)*2010] + [(100/400)*2020] = 2010
Ownership
GRESB requires participants to report all assets owned by the reporting entity, including assets purchased and sold during the reporting year.
The length of the ownership period and the share of ownership are considered when aggregating portfolio level metrics: data coverage, like-for-like, etc.
% of Ownership
Mandatory
K4
Report the percentage owned by the reporting entity in the corresponding asset, expressed in percentages. For example, if the % of ownership of an asset is 10%, report "10".
The % of ownership should reflect the ownership as of the last day the asset was owned during the reporting year.
If the asset was owned throughout the entire reporting year, report the ownership percentage as of the end of the year.
If the asset was sold during the reporting year, use the ownership percentage immediately before the sale.
The % of ownership is a mandatory field and will be used to determine the weight an asset carries in the aggregation from asset-level to portfolio-level metrics. For guidance on Joint Ventures (JVs), please refer to the Scope & Structure page.
Ownership Since/Until
Only if in the asset was acquired or sold during the reporting year
L4-M4
If the entity owned the asset for the entire reporting period, leave columns L and M blank. The Asset Portal will automatically assume the asset has been owned for the entire reporting period.If the entity purchased the asset during the reporting period:
Indicate the purchase date in the "Ownership From" column.
If the entity sold the asset during the reporting period:
Indicate the date sold in the "Ownership Until" column.
It is no longer necessary to delete sold assets from the GRESB Portal.
If the entity sold the asset before the reporting period:
Indicate the date sold in the Ownership Until column. If it is before the start of the reporting period, the GRESB Portal will automatically exclude the asset from the reporting boundaries.
Gross Asset Value
Optional at the asset level; mandatory at the property sub-type | country level
N4
Report GAV values in millions, using the appropriate currency, as reported in indicator RC1. The value should always represent the total GAV of the entire standing investment asset(s) at the end of the reporting year, regardless of % of ownership. If an asset was sold during the reporting year, its GAV should represent the value on the date it was sold.
This field is voluntary at the asset level. If participants report asset-level GAV, GRESB will automatically calculate property sub-type | country GAV in the R1 table.
However, if GAV is not provided at the asset level, participants must report a single GAV or net operating income (NOI) value for each property subtype and country group to the R1 table.
Asset Size (GFA)
Mandatory
O4
Report the asset's total floor area (Gross Floor Area, GFA) regardless of % of ownership and using the same metric reported in indicator RC3. The value must be greater than zero. It is recommended to use the International Property Measurement Standard (IPMS) to determine the asset floor area. For the purposes of GRESB reporting, follow the guidelines outlined in IPMS 1.
Guidance for outdoor/exterior areas
Outdoor/exterior areas must be excluded from the total asset size.
Indoor parking must be excluded from the asset size if the participant intends to represent the parking as a separate asset and classify it as (Other: Parking (Indoors)).
Indoor parkings must be included as part of the asset size if they are metered together with the central part of the asset.
Guidance for Estimating Asset Size
If the participant only knows the Lettable Floor Area (LFA), or Tenant Spaces, they are allowed to estimate the size of their Common Areas using ratio ranges [Common Areas / asset size] pre-determined by GRESB. Ratio ranges for all property types can be found in the Asset Classification page. These ratios are calculated based on actual reported data from past reporting years.
Example: Office building A has a LFA of 8,000 m2. The size of the Common Areas is unknown.
To calculate the total asset size, the participant estimates the size of the common areas to be approximately 27% of the total asset size.
Given that this ratio falls within the reasonable range of previous reported data to GRESB for Office buildings (ranging from 20% to 30%), this value is accepted by the GRESB Portal.
Finally, given that [Tenant Space] = [1 - 27%]*[asset size], the total asset size can be estimated as [asset size] = [(Tenant Space) / (1- 27%)] = [8,000 / (1 - 27%)] = 10,959 m2.
Note that if the participant knows the consumption split between Tenant Spaces and Common Areas for the asset and wishes to report them separately, the size of the Common Areas to be used for reporting may be calculated as [Common Areas] = [asset size] - [Tenant Spaces] = 10,959 - 8,000 = 2,959 m2.
Guidance for unit consolidation - applicable to Residential Portfolios
If the size of the asset is unknown, it can be estimated by multiplying the average size of the unit by the number of units in the building (this is often the case for multifamily assets).
Validation: What evidence is required?
Evidence
Document upload is mandatory for this indicator. The evidence must sufficiently support each of the values except “% GAV” reported in R1, namely:
Property Types represented in the portfolio;
Countries per Property Type;
Number of assets per Property Type
Floor Area per Property Type*
Participants are required to upload supporting evidence to explicitly corroborate their portfolio composition. The uploaded document should explicitly reconcile with the aggregated table in R1. Participants can use the open text box to explain the document's purpose and provide relevant details to understand the reconciliation.
The supporting evidence must be a document that was not prepared solely for reporting to GRESB (except the signed statement - see below). Evidence examples can include, but are not limited to:
10K filings;
Complete audited financial statements with reference to balance sheet and relevant notes, breaking down the entity’s portfolio characteristics;
Section in the entity reporting to investors. Extracts that do not demonstrate the overall size of the portfolio will not be accepted.
Audit statements confirming the composition of the portfolio during the reporting year, including acquisitions and dispositions;
Signed statement from CEO or Senior Management confirming that the portfolio composition reported above is truthful, accurate, and complete, and it represents the entire portfolio during the reporting year. To ensure proper separation of duties between the employee involved in the GRESB reporting and the signatory, any senior role directly involved in the GRESB reporting process does not qualify. Statements signed by Assistant Fund Managers or Deputy Fund Managers are not sufficient. The statement should specifically list all property types, the total number of assets, and the floor area size by property type.
GRESB's Reporting Scope Evidence Template (download below): GRESB provides a template statement that can be completed and uploaded to support R1. Completed evidence templates should match the aggregated table in R1 (which will appear after submitting the asset-level data).
Multiple documents can be uploaded. For each evidence uploaded, make sure to clearly indicate where (page number, paragraph) the relevant information can be found.
Situations where the supporting evidence could be inconsistent with the aggregation table include, but are not limited to:
*Different floor area:
Metrics: The supporting evidence provides the portfolio size in a different metric than GFA (gross floor area). For example, asset A's reported floor area (GFA) in GRESB is 10,000 m2, but the supporting evidence only displays its LFA of 8,000 m2. Justify the difference between the floor area sizes in the open text box.
Ownership Weighting: If using the Reporting Scope Evidence Template, participants must normalize the floor area by % of ownership in the evidence sheet. If participants submit other evidence to R1, GRESB does not require the floor area to be weighted by ownership.
Mixed-use assets: A single mixed-use property in the evidence is reported as separate property types in R1 (e.g., retail and office). Justify differences in asset count and property types in the open text box.
Classification variations: The entity uses a property type classification different from GRESB. The GRESB property type structure follows a three-level hierarchy (see the Entity Classification page). For example, an entity owning 5 Industrial | Distribution Warehouses and 8 Industrial | Manufacturing assets has all 13 assets classified as Industrial in the evidence. Justify the difference in the number of assets and property types in the open text box.
GRESB reserves the right to use alternative sources of information to corroborate the portfolio's composition for a subset of participants, such as publicly available reports and uploaded documentation in other sections of the GRESB Assessment. Non-compliance with the GRESB reporting requirements may lead to a formal request from GRESB to adjust the entity’s portfolio boundaries or reject the Performance Component submission if necessary.
Data
This indicator is subject to automatic validation. Refer to the page below for guidance on resolving automatic validation errors and warnings.
Scoring
This indicator is not scored.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to own the assets I report to GRESB?
Yes, you should only report assets you have financial ownership of.
I'm a property manager. Can I report assets I manage but don't own in the Performance Component?
Yes. However, this requires explicit authorization from the fund manager who owns the assets to report on their behalf. You would then report the assets as the fund manager would, using their ownership percentage, GAV, etc.
Do I need to report an asset even if I have no operational control over?
Yes. Lack of operational control does not qualify as a valid reason for exclusion under GRESB requirements. The only acceptable exclusions are:
Assets owned for only one day (not applicable here).
Vacant land, dormant assets, cash, ground leases, or non-real estate assets (likely not applicable).
For asset over which landlords don’t have control, the corresponding performance metrics—or lack thereof—must be reported. If no operational data is available due to third-party administration, it should be disclosed accordingly in the submission. Importantly, this will not impact the Like-for-Like score, as the asset will be marked as Not Applicable and excluded from the scoring scope.
How should I report an asset that was transferred from one fund to another in the GRESB Assessment?
The portal does not support transferring an asset from one entity to another. However, you can manually reflect the transfer by following these steps:
Delete the asset from the previous entity and add it to the new entity, leaving the asset ID blank.
If you have access to the asset’s historical data from the prior year, you can include it in the current year's Asset Spreadsheet.
If the asset meets all the Like-for-Like (LFL) criteria, it may contribute to scoring.
Since the asset is not new to the merged entity, you can mark it as owned for the entire reporting period when indicating the ownership period.
Under which circumstances can I exclude an asset from the Performance Component?
Only certain assets are exempt from this requirement: assets owned for just one day during the reporting year (Fiscal year or Calendar year, as selected in indicator EC4), vacant land, dormant assets, cash, ground leases, or other non-real estate assets.
All other assets that were owned for more than one day during the reporting year must be included in the Performance Component, regardless of ownership percentage or whether they were bought or sold during the year
Where can I find my Asset IDs?
There are two ways in which participants can find the GRESB Asset ID for an asset:
In the Asset Portal, go to 'Assets' -> 'Manage' -> 'Edit' for each asset. From there, you will see the GRESB Asset ID under 'Asset Characteristics'.
Export your asset data to Excel; the IDs are in the 'asset characteristics' tab.
How do I report asset-level data for an asset I partially own?
If you own only a portion of an asset (e.g., a unit or multiple units within a building), your reporting approach depends on whether you have sub-metered data for the portion you own.
If you do not have sub-metered data for your portion of the asset:
Report the total consumption of the asset (energy, GHG emissions, water, etc.), as well as the total GAV and GFA.
Indicate your percentage ownership of the asset. GRESB will scale the total values accordingly to reflect your proportional ownership.
If you have sub-metered data for your portion of the asset:
Gross Floor Area (GFA): Report only the floor area owned by your entity, excluding any portions not owned.
Gross Asset Value (GAV): Report only the GAV of your owned portion, not the entire asset.
Vacancy Rate: Report the vacancy rate for the units you own, excluding data from units not owned.
% Ownership: Report as 100% (assuming you fully own the reported portion of the asset).
Energy, GHG emissions, water, and waste data: Report only the consumption data for your owned portion of the asset.
I have a building with both office and retail space. How should I classify it for GRESB?
When entities own mixed-use assets in their portfolio, there are several different approaches they can follow:
If participants can separate the floor area and energy consumption data for the office and retail spaces, report them as separate assets (different rows in the spreadsheet).
If participants can't separate the floor area and energy consumption data, and one type makes up 75% or more of the total floor area, participants have the option of reporting the asset as that property type or as Mixed-use.
If no single property type makes up 75% or more of the total floor area, participants must report the asset as Mixed-use.
My asset location flagged an error in the Asset Portal. How can I resolve it?
Attempt the following to resolve asset location errors:
Ensure spelling and correctness of the field(s) with errors.
Verify spelling and correctness of all other location fields, regardless of error indication.
Confirm the accuracy of the ‘Country’ field, even if no error is flagged.
If providing a street address:
Consider using the suggested location or inputting only the street number and name.
If street address is not provided, add it.
If the error persists, try the following:
For City: utilize a nearby city name.
For State/Province: use the country name.
To address a large number of location errors, participants are encouraged first to review the error descriptions in the Asset Characteristics tabs of the Asset Portal to understand the nature of the errors. Then, they may update asset locations in bulk using the asset spreadsheet import feature. If the issue persists, please contact [email protected] and include the hyperlink(s) or Asset ID(s) for our assistance.
How do I report an asset if there are no common areas and only outdoor areas are landlord-controlled?
Outdoor or exterior areas must be excluded from the total asset size. Report landlord-managed outdoor energy consumption and emissions in the designated outdoor area columns. Any remaining consumption should be considered tenant-controlled.
How do I report assets that were sold before the GRESB reporting year?
Users no longer need to delete sold assets from the Asset Portal. If the entity sold an asset before the reporting period, you should input the disposition date in the "Ownership Until" field of the Asset Portal/spreadsheet. The portal will automatically exclude this asset from the entity's reporting boundaries.
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