Sustainability at Anker 

Our main goal – Anker takes social responsibility

The foundation’s main purpose is to offer students good and affordable student housing during their education. The profits from our commercial business areas, accommodation operations and commercial rentals, go back to the company’s main purpose.

The tenants of student housing have limited financial resources. By offering tenants better terms than they would have achieved in the purely commercial rental market, the Anker Foundation helps to reduce the financial burden on our tenants throughout their education.

In today’s market, students often struggle to find housing. To help ease the pressure, we have an ambition to double our student housing portfolio by 2030.

In addition to working on fulfilling the foundation’s main purpose, we have also set an ambitious long-term goal in the following important areas:

• Create good living environments and contribute to a positive urban and area development
• Reduce the negative environmental effects of our operations
• Contribute to a serious working life based on the Norwegian working life model for multipartite cooperation
• Provide safe workplaces in an equal and non-discriminatory environment. Give our employees the opportunity for development and involvement.

Climate and environment

The main objective of the Anker Foundation is to reduce the energy supply (energy use) and CO2 footprint both in ongoing management and in projects.

Ongoing measures to achieve these goals include:

• Preparation of energy efficiency reports for our properties with proposed measures for energy conservation. Concrete measures that have been implemented are investments in a new EOS (Electronic Monitoring System) at «Ankerkvartalet». The system will provide the opportunity to control heating and ventilation in a more efficient and environmentally friendly way.
• The company has an ongoing maintenance program for the Group’s portfolio where the ambition is that 5-10% of the company’s building portfolio annually will be renewed. In connection with this program, more environmentally friendly solutions are installed.
• At our property in Københavngata 10, which has an accommodation concept, student housing and commercial property, investments are made in geo-wells to produce energy for heating the property. This is estimated to be completed by the third quarter of 2023.
• At the «Ankerkvartalet» (including student housing, Anker Hotel and Hostel, as well as commercial property), electric heating of hot water has been replaced with district heating, while the hot water distribution system is upgraded to reduce energy loss.

Our goal is to operate in a way that contributes to the recycling of waste and materials both in ongoing management and in projects. We have specific goals for waste sorting, both in ongoing management and for projects.

Environment and certification

The Anker Foundation aims to certify buildings and businesses based on recognized environmental standards. This means, among other things, that Anker Hotel will be Eco-Lighthouse certified during the first half of 2023. We are working in parallel to «Bream in use» certifying our property in Københavngata 10. Our goal is to have the building fully certified by the end of the first half of 2023.

Diversity, inclusion, and serious employment

The Anker Foundation shall be a safe workplace and give employees the opportunity for development and involvement. We work continuously with this work through recruitment, involvement, and cooperation with external partners. The work is based on the Norwegian working life model for multipartite cooperation and good cooperation between employees, employee representatives and management.

When implementing projects, requirements are set for suppliers based on the Oslo model. This is in line with our environmental strategy to contribute to serious employment and the least possible negative environmental impact of our activities.

Anker is committed to inclusion and recruitment to our industries. At the beginning of 2023, the Anker Foundation has two apprentices in the hotel and property management professions. Among other things, the Anker Foundation cooperates with “Kirkens Bymisjon” and their low-threshold job offer «I jobb”

City- and area development

The Anker Foundation is committed to creating a positive living environment and contributing to positive city- and area developments where we have properties.

On our largest property at Ankerkvartalet, a major project is underway to revitalize life at street level and in backyards. The goal is to contribute to better well-being and facilitate more activity in our area. One of the most important activities we are working on is upgrading Ankertorget along Torggata. Ankertorget has a history as a central square in Oslo, but the square has for many years been used for parking spaces. Our goal is to make Ankertorget a car-free activity square that is adapted for recreation, commercial activities and meeting places for residents and visitors. It is estimated that this project will be completed during 2023.