The Crown Estate Book of the brand · The Crown Estate brand will work best when it’s clearly understood and consistently communicated, which is what this guide is here to help

The Crown EstateBook of the brand

Version 1.1 – March 2015 Corporate identity technical brand document

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandContents

2 Logo1 Introduction

3 Colour4 Typography5 Imagery6 Tone of voice7 Application8 Accessibility9 Contact details

1.1

A word of explanation and welcome

Our brand is much more than a logo. It stands for who we are, what we believe in, what we do and aspire to, and how we do business.

It also reflects the strategic objectives and business behaviours that will help us achieve our aims.

Like all good brands, ours has been designed to express a distinctive and memorable personality that people can build a relationship with.

It’s based on the reality of our business, our values, and the views of our people and among those we work with.

The Crown Estate brand will work best when it’s clearly understood and consistently communicated, which is what this guide is here to help us do. Welcome to the Book of the Brand.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction

1.3 Values1.2 Brand importance

1.4 Sustainability

1.6 Purpose1.5 Customer focussed

1.7 Our vision1.8 Conscious commercialism1.9 Strategic objectives1.10 Behaviours1.11 How it comes together

1.2

Why our brand is important

The Crown Estate is an independent commercial business, created by Act of Parliament and we invest in and actively manage many diverse assets.

These include Regent Street and much of St. James’s, as well as retail and leisure parks throughout the country. We are one of the UK’s biggest rural landowners, with agricultural land, parkland and forestry, and our active management also extends to coastal land and the seabed.

Our brand has been developed to embrace our diverse business, our culture, attitudes and behaviours, what we look and sound like, how we work with colleagues, partners, customers, suppliers and the wider world.

It’s a unifying force that helps us communicate that for all our diversity, we are one business, one team, with a common sense of purpose. Visually and verbally, our brand is about how we bring our story to life.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – brand importance

For a more detailed view of our business, see 6.6 ‘Tone of Voice – talking about our business’ and search for ‘The Big Picture’ on the intranet.

One business,one team,one commonsense of purpose

1.3

Our values are our foundation

The Crown Estate has strong values. We mean them, we are proud of them and we are respected for them by the people we work with and in the wider community.

‘Commercialism, Integrity and Stewardship’ are not there to balance each other out, but because we believe that we are stronger and work better when all three are working together.

These values are the foundation of our brand and we should try to be true to them and express them in all our dealings and communications on behalf of The Crown Estate.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – values

Com

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1.4

Sustainability is central to our brand

We believe that a successful business and a sustainable business are one and the same.

We take the long view and address the economic, environmental and social impact of doing business.

This helps us make sure that we make a positive impact, and is central to our business, our brand and our culture.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – sustainability

1.5

We are customer focussed

The Crown Estate is a customer focussed business and we want everyone who works with our customers, in-house or externally, to be inspired and driven by the same ideal: that customer focus is essential for our business and that this means putting outstanding service delivery at its core.

Our customers are those who pay us rent or for whom we provide a service, so colleagues across the business are customers, just as much as tenants.

To help us deliver high standards of service, we recognise the importance of listening to and understanding our customers and their needs. We monitor and measure customer satisfaction, and regularly examine the way we work from the customer’s point of view. In other words, we treat customers as we’d like to be treated ourselves.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – customer focussed

1.6

Sharing a common sense of purpose

Our purpose is one of the key building blocks of our brand. The history of The Crown Estate can be traced back to William the Conqueror and the Domesday Book, and more recently, to 1760, when King George III surrendered all his hereditary revenues to Parliament in return for an income for life.

The Crown Estate Act of 1961 replaced all previous Acts relating to our role, and calls upon us to maintain and enhance the value and return obtained from The Crown Estate, ‘but with due regard to the requirements of good management’.

Our purpose defines what we believe to be ‘good management’. These words have been chosen carefully. So please read them, think about what they mean and try to use them or express the spirit of them whenever you’re talking or writing about our business.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – purpose

The Crown Estate is an independent commercial business, created by Act of Parliament.

Our role is to make sure that the land and property we invest in and manage are sustainably worked, developed and enjoyed to deliver the best value over the long term.

1.7

The value we deliver is more than financial

100% of our revenue profit is paid to the UK Treasury, but our role, expertise, and the quality, scale, impact and importance of the assets we actively manage mean that The Crown Estate delivers value that goes beyond financial return.

Our aim is to help make things work better and this aim headlines our 10-year vision which drives and informs our brand.

By realising it, The Crown Estate will be part of a wider movement of businesses that are challenging conventional thinking about how business should be done and what good business means.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – Our vision

Our vision Our vision is to be a progressive commercial business creating significant value beyond our financial return. We will work with partners and stakeholders to grow our business, outperforming the market, whilst delivering sustainable long term returns and making a positive impact through our total contribution to the UK. In everything we do, we are guided by our values – commercialism, integrity and stewardship.

1.8

A single thought at the heart of our business

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – conscious commercialism

Every strong brand has at its heart a core proposition. It’s a kind of shorthand that brings together our values, purpose and vision into a short, memorable phrase that says what we’re really about.

conscious

commercialism

At the heart of how we work is an astute, considered, collaborative approach that helps us create success for our business and those we work with. We call this:

1.8

What does conscious commercialism mean?

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – conscious commercialism

It means being actively commercial and ambitious for success. It means combining this with a thoughtful and responsible approach. Being confident, considered, empowering, energetic, honest, intelligent and progressive.

It’s about understanding how things influence one another, making decisions that have positive impacts in different ways for different people, organisations and the community, and delivering value for everyone involved.

Conscious commercialism is our challenge to ourselves and our commitment to our partners, customers and the community It reminds us that we aim to be at the forefront of modern business thinking, understanding and considering the bigger picture and the impact of what we do.

It challenges us to be enterprising, creating opportunities, and new and better ways of building success and long term value for ourselves and those we work with.

It requires us to deliver commercialism with integrity and stewardship, because these are the values that underpin our business.

It commits us to earn the support of the people we work with. Conscious Commercialism is our way of working, our way of driving sustainable growth, value and performance.

1.9

Our strategic objectives

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – strategic objectives

Conscious commercialism underlies our strategic objectives and is fundamental to how we achieve them.

Our strategic objectives are designed to guide us in setting our priorities and in assessing how we’re doing against our vision. There are six of them:

1 To actively manage assets in our core sectors to drive total return and a strong income stream to Treasury

2 To secure access to capital via third party funds under management through the selective use of strategic partnerships

3 To encourage a high performance culture and be known as a great place to work, so the best people want to join, stay and thrive

4 To ensure high levels of customer satisfaction through the value we deliver and a commitment to excellence in how we do business

5

To measure, report and improve our total contribution to ensure that we create value beyond our financial return, acting responsibly, with sustainability built into everything we do

6 To be recognised and respected for delivering conscious commercialism, and for operating as one business, one team, with a common sense of purpose

Our personal and business behaviours

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – behaviours

As part of the process of defining our strategy, approach and brand, we asked people in the business how we, as a group, believe that we should behave to help us achieve our aims and deliver all that we’re capable of.

These are the behaviours we are committing to. If we’re true to them, they will drive, determine and reinforce our values, purpose, vision and proposition, and our business performance.

They are what we want to be known for and should guide the way we act and relate to each other in our working lives, and inspire us to do our best for ourselves, our colleagues and our customers.

We are enterprising in how we create value, agile and considered in how we do business

We respect and are open and honest with each other and the people we work with

We do what we say and tackle our work with spirit and commitment, empowering ourselves and others

We work collaboratively with colleagues and partners, connecting people, ideas and opportunities

1.10

1.11

So how does it all fit together?

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – how it comes together

The different elements of the brand all have a role to play, but they don’t really work at their best in isolation. It’s only when you put them all together that they are able to represent the brand and our business at its most eloquent and powerful.

This diagram shows how they fit together, supporting and informing one another from top to bottom and from bottom to top.

Our values Commercialism. Integrity. Stewardship

Our vision To be a progressive commercial business creating

significant value beyond our financial return

Our purpose To make sure that the land and property we invest in and

manage are sustainably worked, developed and enjoyed to deliver the best value over the long term

Our core proposition Conscious commercialism

Strategic objectivesHow we go about achieving our long term aims

Our personal and business behaviours

We are enterprising in how we create value, agile and considered in how we do business

We respect and are open and honest with each other and the people we work with

We do what we say and tackle our work with spirit and commitment, empowering ourselves and others

We work collaboratively with colleagues and partners, connecting people, ideas and opportunities

How will we know if it’s working?

For the brand to work and help our business to continue to succeed in its aims, it has to be taken seriously and be consistently applied.

So it’s crucial that we all get behind it and support our way of doing business. This is the most important contribution that each of us can make.

We are already achieving much of what our strategic objectives call for and are delivering conscious commercialism in many areas of the business. Here’s how we’ll know when we’re delivering it even better, across the whole of the business:

• More and more partners seek us out not just because of the assets we manage, but because we are seen as being powerfully collaborative and adding value to the people and organisations we work with.

• Customers increasingly report back to us their high levels of satisfaction and recognise our commitment to excellence in how we do business.

• Businesses both in and outside of our sectors look to us for leadership, inspiration and best practice in how to do business differently and demonstrate what good business is.

• Influencers and opinion formers regularly talk about us as a progressive commercial business delivering real value to the UK economy.

• People want to work at The Crown Estate because we have a reputation for being a great place to work, where you can push your own professional development, find solutions, make things work better and make an impact.

• Those we work with in commerce and industry, in the community and in government appreciate and are impressed by the clear and positive impact we make.

1.11 The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – how it comes together

One business, one team, one common sense of purpose, unified around conscious commercialism

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandIntroduction – how it comes together1.11

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandLogo2.1

The Crown Estatelogo and its use 2.3 Position

2.2 Minimum clear area

2.4 Size2.5 Colour2.6 The must nots

2.2

Treating our logo with respect

The brand is more than a logo, but our logo is a very important symbol of our brand. Please treat it with respect and, when using it, follow these guidelines exactly.

The Crown Estate mark has been specially drawn and has two clear elements: the lettering and the crown symbol in a fixed position.

To protect and display our logo and ensure that it stands out visually, we should always leave a minimum clear area around it. This space should be equal to the cap height of the name, as shown, and should be kept free of any other type or imagery.

The minimum clear area may be increased, but should never be reduced.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandLogo – minimum clear area

2.3

The logo is designed to be positioned wherever possible ranged right. Where design appropriate, it may also be used ranged left, but should never be centred.

The images shown here depict positioning and minimum space for the logo top right, bottom right and top left on notional brochure covers. As indicated in 2.2, this space may be increased, but not reduced.

This applies in all media – in print, advertising, film and online, and for presentations, exhibition panels, signage and so on.

Positioning the logo

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandLogo – position

2.4

Sizing the logo

To achieve visual consistency across various formats, we’ve set recommended logo sizes depending on the size of page, screen or frame you’re working on. Sizing is based around international paper size standards. For any other format use the nearest A-size as a benchmark.

Recommended dimension indicates logo height.

Recommended sizes by height for:

A6 = 6mm

A5 = 8mm

A4 = 10mm

A3 = 12mm

A2 = 16mm

A1 = 22mm

There is no maximum height, but we should try and retain the proportions of these sizes when designing in larger formats.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandLogo – size

A1 = 22mm

A2 = 16mm

A3 = 12mm

A4 = 10mm

A5 = 8mm

A6 = 6mm

2.5

Our logo reflects our diversity

To reflect the diversity, flexibility and contemporary thinking of our business, The Crown Estate logo can appear in any of The Crown Estate colours (see 3.2 ‘Colour – palette’), but always be mindful of legibility when choosing which colour to use.

The logo may be reversed out in white on coloured backgrounds and also on darker areas of photographic images.

When colour printing is not an option, the logo can appear in black or be reversed out on a black or dark grey background.

The logo is always a solid colour or reversed out of a solid colour. Never use tints.

We want to encourage the use of different colours for the logo, but within reason and the bounds of good taste. So, for example, if the logo appears more than once in any given publication, film, installation or online, please keep the colour consistent.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandLogo – colour

2.6

Using the crown on its own

The image of the crown is an integral part of the logo and should never be used alone as a mark instead of the logo in any medium.

It can, however, be used in special circumstances – for example, as a signature identifier in social media and, sparingly, as a graphic icon or visual punctuation, as shown.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandLogo – the crown only

2.7

The must nots

Do not use the old blue and purple logo, never show the crown and type in different colours, and never alter the image of the crown or the typeface.

Do not modify or distort the logo in any way.

Do not re-arrange the elements of the logo.

Do not reduce the minimum clear area.

Do not enclose the logo within a shape.

Do not place the logo at an angle.

Do not add shadows or graphic elements.

Do not reproduce a colour logo on a background that clashes with it.

Do not place the logo on a patterned or textured background.

Or do anything else that comprises its clear identity.

Copies of the logo in all formats are available from the Marketing and Internal Communications Team in Corporate Affairs, and all applications of the logo must be approved by them before use.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandLogo – the must nots

2.8

Using our logo with partners’ logos

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandLogo – joint venture

Where our logo is to be used in conjunction with other logos, it must appear in the correct format and with the appropriate hierarchy. This will vary from case to case.

But whether our logo is dominant or our logo and partners’ logos have equal weight, we should never go below the recommended minimum height of 6mm and the minimum clear area should be always be maintained, as shown.

Partner Logo

Partner Logo

Partner Logo

Partner Logo

Partner Logo

Partner Logo

Partner Logo

Partner Logo

Partner Logo Partner Logo

Partner Logo Partner Logo

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandColour3.1

Colour

3.3 Colours for digital formats3.2 Palette

3.2

A palette to be expressive with

Our colour palette has been developed to represent The Crown Estate as a diverse, modern and progressive business. Our palette is vibrant and varied, with deep, bright colours.

It’s here to be used. So don’t be afraid to vary your use of colour to convey some of the range and flavour of what we do.

Try not to focus on just one colour and avoid regularly using a particular colour for a specific portfolio, activity or sector. Also, since our palette is broad enough for most applications, try to avoid using tints of our colours, other than as an aid to design and legibility in charts and tables.

Shown opposite are the colour values for each of the colours as a Pantone® reference, CMYK for the 4-colour process, and RGB for digital formats, Word or PowerPoint. Always match colours to the relevant reference.

While we encourage you to be brave with the colours, please make sure that you are careful to maintain legibility and avoid using colours that clash next to each other.

Remember that our logo and typography must always appear on white or reversed out in white on coloured panels. See next page for specific digital formats.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandColour – palette

Dark bluePantone 541C 100% M 60% Y 0% K 45%

R 0 G 63 B 114#003F72

GoldPantone 130C 0% M 35%

Y 100% K 0%R 240 G 171 B 0#F0AB00

Mustard

Pantone 111

C 0%

M 11%

Y 100% K 27%

R 171 G 141 B 0

#AB8D00B

urnt orange

Pantone 180

C 0%

M

76%

Y 83%

K 11%

R 193 G

53 B 50

#C13532

Green

Pantone 377

C 43% M 0%

Y 100% K 23%

R 113 G 149 B 0

#719500

Bright

green

Pantone

368

C 65%

M 0%

Y 100%

K 0%

R 120

G 190

B 32

#78BE20

Teal

Pant

one

569

C 9

4%

M 0

%

Y 56

%

K 18

%

R 0

G 1

32 B

120

#008

478

Bright blue

Pantone 299

C 87% M 18%

Y 0% K 0%

R 0 G 160 B 223

#00A0DF

Petrol blue

Pantone 633

C 91%

M

0%

Y 15%

K 27%

R 0 G

125 B 164

#007DA4

Purple

Pantone 2592

C 60% M 100%

Y 0% K 0%

R 143 G 35 B 179

#8F23B3

Pink

Pant

one

240

C 27%

M

94%

Y 0%

K

0%

R 19

6 G

38

B 14

9

#C42

695

Sof

t red

Pan

tone

215

C 0

%

M 9

4%

Y 34

%

K 2

7%R

171

G 1

9 B

85

#AB

1355

3.3

Colours for digital formats

Please take care when using the brighter colours for text in digital formats. Don’t use Bright blue, Bright green, Gold, Mustard or Pink as body text colours as they make type difficult to read at small sizes. Also avoid using these as backgrounds for small reversed-out text.

All colours can be used as headline type.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandColour – colours for digital formats

Dark blue

R 0 G 63 B 114#003F72

Gold

R 240 G 171 B 0#F0AB00

Burnt orange

R 193 G

53 B 50

#C13532

Green

R 113 G 149 B 0

#719500

Bright

green

R 120

G 190

B 32

#78BE20

Teal

R 0

G 1

32 B

120

#008

478

Bright blueR 0 G 160 B 223

#00A0DF

Petrol blue

R 0 G

125 B 164

#007DA4

Purple

R 143 G 35 B 179

#8F23B3

Pink

R 19

6 G

38

B 14

9

#C42

695

Sof

t red

R 1

71 G

19

B 8

5#A

B13

55

Mustard

R 171 G 141 B 0

#AB8D00

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTypography4.1

Typography

4.3 Legibility boxes4.2 Typeface

4.4 Single words4.5 Graphic typography4.6 Typographic style

4.2

The brand typefaces

The typeface Helvetica Neue Roman 55is The Crown Estate font, and is alwaysused across all Word, PowerPoint, Emailand digital formats.

For design work, Helvetica Neue 45 Light and Helvetica Neue 75 Bold can also beused. Ask Information Services (IS) or theMarketing and Internal CommunicationsTeam in Corporate Affairs about acquiringthese fonts for your work.

Helvetica Neue Roman 55 has replaced Calibri as our font. This replacement should be applied wherever feasible. However, it is understood that a phasing process is required for certain publications, reports etc. and on certain platforms as the new font is being installed. Calibri is a valid font where Helvetica Neue Roman cannot be used.

Notes for designers:When reversing out, use a larger point size to distinguish headlines from body copy. Or alternatively, use Helvetica Neue 75 bold.

Headlines in legibility boxes (see 4.3) should always use Helvetica Neue 45 light. If you want to highlight copy reversed out or black on panels and charts, you can use Helvetica Neue 75 bold, but please use this sparingly.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTypography – typefaces

Helvetica Neue 45 Light

Helvetica Neue 55 RomanHelvetica Neue 75 Bold

For additional details of style relating to typography, please see section 6.1, ‘Tone of voice and writing style’, and section 8.1, ‘Accessibility’.

4.3

How to create legibility boxes

Legibility boxes are a simple stylistic device to aid legibility of headlines over imagery.

The boxes are black with 70% opacity and are never in colour.

They can flex to accommodate different line lengths and should follow these rules:

1. There should never be more than 4 lines in a legibility box, with no more than 18 or 19 characters a line.

2. On the first line, there is a gap of ½ an ‘o’ from the top of the copy to the top of the legibility box, and 1 ‘o’ from the copy to the left hand edge.

3. There is always a gap of 1 ‘o’ from the end of a copy line to the right hand edge of the legibility box.

4. On the last line, there is always a gap of ½ ‘o’ from the base of the descenders to the bottom of the legibility box.

5. Only use Helvetica Neue 45 light.

Legibility boxes are aligned to the left, but can be positioned vertically anywhere on an image, so long as the positioning doesn’t obscure too much of the image. When using the boxes on a triptych, the positioning and type size must be consistent across all three panels.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTypography – legibility boxes

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Legibility box

4.3



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Lorem ipsum on legibility box

Lorem ipsum legibility box

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Legibility box

When creating a legibility box for a two line headline the shape will vary depending on how the lines of copy break.

If the first line is longer, then the depth of the top portion of the legibility box will align with the x-height of the second line of copy.

If the first line is shorter, then the depth of the top portion of the legibility box will align with the baseline of the first line of copy.

4.3



When creating a legibility box for a three line headline the shape will vary depending on how the lines of copy break.

If the second line is shorter, then the depth of the top portion of the legibility box will align with with the x-height of the second line of copy. The height of the bottom portion aligns with the baseline of the second line and half an ‘o’ below the descender of the third line.

If the second line is longer, then the depth of the top portion of the legibility box will align with with the baseline of the first line of copy. The height of the bottom portion aligns with the x-height of the third line and half an ‘o’ below the descender..

Lorem ipsumamet at dolore legibility box


Lorem ipsumamet at dolore legibility box

Legibility box


4.3



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Legibility box

Follow these rules onwards when creating four line headings in legibility boxes.

Please note: as well as being an aid to readability, legibility boxes are designed to assist the storytelling style of The Crown Estate brand and help us put over the hallmark stories that communicate conscious commercialism in a clear and graphic manner.

For further guidance on this, see 5.2 ‘Imagery – introducing the triptych’ and 6.1 ‘Tone of voice’.

4.4

A single word

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTypography – single words

Very occasionally, you may want to create a triptych of images each supported with just a single word displayed graphically to make a point or reinforce a message. In this instance, it’s acceptable to enlarge the copy, run it horizontally or vertically and remove the legibility box, so long as the type still reads clearly.

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4.5

Creating impactful statements

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTypography – graphic typography

From time to time, we can create impactful statements by using boxes of colour and white out type as an image or visual.

These coloured boxes should only ever appear on a white background, never over an image.

As with the legibility boxes there are some simple rules:

1. Each box must have a gap of at least one ‘G’ from the left and right hand edges, and this gap must be consistent on all coloured boxes within a communication.

2. There must be a gap of ½ ‘G’ from the x-height and baseline of the copy, and the top and bottom of the coloured box.

3. Boxes can be stacked one on top of another, but never put two boxes of the same colour together.

4. Also avoid placing colours that clash next to each other. See 3.4 ‘Colour – clashing colours’.

5. Type is always white out.

6. Boxes can be aligned left or centred, but unless there is a very good design reason, should not be aligned right.


Graphic typography


4.5

Creating impactful statements

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTypography – graphic typography

One business,one team,

one commonsense of purpose

Graphic typography

One business,one team,

one commonsense of purpose

4.6

Creating legible, readable copy and headlines

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTypography – typographic style

General principles:- Avoid too many different styles of type.

Wherever possible, use colour and size for emphasis, rather than differences in type and weight (avoid italics for instance, and keep bolds to a minimum).

- The ‘The’ of The Crown Estate must always be written with a capital ‘T’.

- Don’t run text over a photograph or patterned background without using a legibility box (unless using a single word headlines in a triptych, as described in 4.4 ‘single words’).

- Sentence case type is the brand style and should always be used rather than capitals (except, of course, in our logo).

- Avoid underlining. Making body copy flow:- Keep paragraphs short to avoid dense

blocks of text. - Use a line space not an indent to indicate

a new paragraph.

- All text should range left with a ragged right edge. Don’t justify type unless there’s a really good reason, as this can cause odd word spacing and be harder to read.

Using subheads, quotations and ‘pull-outs’:- Make use of subheads, large summary

text, highlights, quotations and editorial ‘pull-outs’ from the copy to help make the story easy and interesting to read.

- Use bold, medium or colour (sparingly) to highlight.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery5.1

Imagery

5.3 Photographic style5.2 Introducing the triptych

5.4 Scale, scope and detail5.5 Laying out the triptych5.6 Using graphics5.7 Legibility boxes5.8 Copy and branding5.9 Checklist5.10 Commissioning photography

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – introducing the triptych5.2

Imagery, storytelling and the triptych

The 3-part visual that we call the triptych is central to the way The Crown Estate brand looks and tells its story. It aims to portray a straightforward visual and verbal narrative.

We use ‘hallmark’ stories to communicate conscious commercialism and tell them through three related images and simple language, with headline sentences broken into three parts.

This storytelling approach is about joined up thinking, thoughts, actions and their consequences. It’s about inputs, outputs and outcomes; about something we did or do, the result and the wider benefit to customers, partners and/or other stakeholders.

Our stories should always represent the way The Crown Estate does business and wherever possible, clearly illustrate conscious commercialism in practice.

Like all good storytelling, it should have a beginning, middle and an end. The imagery should try to make the point of the narrative obvious (helped by the words), prompting a sense of curiosity and ‘connectedness’.

When it can, it should also try to convey something of the spirit of our values: ‘commercialism, integrity and stewardship’. Not balancing each other out, but working better together.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – photographic style5.3

Creating the triptych in photography

As you’d expect, the photography that supports the 3-part storytelling looks to have a distinctive narrative style. To help us achieve this, it needs to do a number of things.

It should be simple, real, ‘in the moment’, spontaneous and unstaged. We should look for interesting and arresting angles and crops, and imagery that is active, energetic and engaging.

It’s important to try and convey a sense of humanity, likeability and approachability, and to this end, including people in photography is important, too. Every triptych should have at least one shot that includes a person or people. We should also pay attention to colour and try to make our imagery bright, upbeat and vibrant.

Occasionally, to create a feature or break up type, individual shots may be used instead of the triptych, but they should be used only sparingly. The triptych is our ‘signature’ visual.

For the most part, photography will come from The Crown Estate’s media library, but where suitable images are not available, or to capture a specific shot or story, photography will have to be commissioned. (See 5.10 ‘commissioning photography’).

One of the things the triptych does is to help us show the considerable scale and scope of The Crown Estate’s land holdings, property and business, but to combine this with a painstaking attention to detail that we’re well known for.

Mixing wide, medium and close up shots, different angles and crops will convey this, while at the same time, adding character, ‘texture’ and visual interest.

Contrast architectural photography, land or seascapes with overheads and low angles, close ups of people and faces, and details like those shown on this and the following pages – a feature of a street or building, a reflection in a shop window, a pile of bricks or the bark of a tree,

Think about telling the story by using wides and close-ups from a single sequence of shots or by cropping a single shot in three different ways.

Doing this well and with a little thought will instantly signal the ‘rhythm’ of storytelling and allow you to do interesting things with layout. So far as possible, always make sure that the images are obviously related to each other and tell the story clearly.

Illustrating scale, scope and detail in three shots from The Crown Estate media library

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – scale, scope and detail5.4

Building-in scale, scope and detail

5.4


The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – scale, scope and detail

Imagery should always look to the narrative, using big and small, scope and scale to help tell the story.

5.4



5.4



Overview showing variations in imagery.

Interesting use of photography is one way to set up storytelling, layout is another. Use it to create the sense of a narrative, visual ‘choreography’, drama and pace.

The triptych is more than just any three images placed next to each other.

Remember that we’re looking for ‘a beginning, a middle and an end’, ‘thought, action, consequence’, ‘input, output, outcome’, ‘idea, purpose and effect’ and so on, and take it from there. When you’re not telling a specific story, try to keep the storytelling feel in the shots you select, as in the examples that follow.

The triptych is designed to be flexible. It can be portrait or landscape. Panels can be of any height or width (though we don’t want ‘slivers’). Widths will generally be equal, but you can vary them if you want to focus on particular images or change the pace of the story.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – laying out the triptych5.5

Laying out the triptych



The panels don’t have to fill the space. They can be placed on white as shown, with or without accompanying headlines and copy.

Spacing between panels should always be equal and consistent, though the width of the white gap will vary depending on the size of the piece you’re producing.

As a guide, we’d recommend a 5mm white gap on A4 formats, and using your ‘eye’ to scale it up or down.

The triptych should never be allowed to bleed top or bottom, left or right, but always be framed in a proportionate white trim.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – laying out the triptych


Even when you’re not telling a specific story, try to keep a storytelling feel to your image sequences, as here.

5.5



Different panel widths can be used to focus on a particular image or change the pace of the visual. Photography can be mixed with graphics (see 5.6 ‘using graphics’).



Overview showing variations of layout.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – using graphics5.6

Using simple, bold graphics

The Crown Estate is a business that is rich in data, facts and information. To help us put these across, we’ve created a very simple graphic language.

This uses graphic icons or symbols, bold typographic numerals and reversed out type on strong colours which are selected from The Crown Estate colour palette.

Graphics can be used, as shown here, as part of the triptych, to add impact, interest and clarity, and provide evidence in support of the story, by backing it up with visible facts and figures. They can also be used as standalone infographics, as shown in the following.

To create your own graphic symbols in the brand style, use only simple icons – strong, minimal shapes and not overly illustrative - in bold colours and colour combinations or white out, and sparingly, where necessary, using tints of colours from our colour palette.

Always – particularly when there’s a need to create more complex charts and tables or present lots of data – pay careful attention to clarity, simplicity, spacing, colour and typography, following these guidelines.

Volu

me

of V

ehic

les

Quarters (2011-13)

- Class B Vehicles

- Class C Vehicles

- HGV Vehicles

58%fewer C02 emissions sincewinter 2009.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – using graphics5.6

Using simple, bold graphics

Some examples of infographics, charts and tables.

8 Sharing lessons learned and good practice in offshore transmission

FIGURE 1: Typical issues identified as adversely impacting offshore transmission projects

FIGURE 2: Life cycle stages consideredBetween December 2013 and February 2014, DNV GL interviewed a broad range of industry stakeholders in order to understand what issues they had encountered on offshore transmission projects to date, and the impacts of these.

These interviews revealed that offshore transmission projects have suffered from, and been adversely impacted by, a range of challenges and issues across project life cycles – from consenting and early stage design through to FEED, installation and operations & maintenance. Figure 1 illustrates typical issues which interviewees raised.

Lessons learned in offshore transmission

0

10

20

30

40

50

Prop

ortio

n of

resp

onde

nts

(%)

Uncertain regulatory framework Lack of competition in supply chain HVDC lead times Installation and burial of cable Interface management Suboptimal design Reactive power Cost of remedial work offshore sub Consenting delays

Source: the full report

Whilst not all projects have experienced the same issues, the evidence DNV GL gathered does suggest that most projects have been impacted in some way, typically manifesting in either unexpected cost escalation or needing to undertake extra risk mitigation actions, or both.

The full report details lessons learned across the full life cycle of offshore transmission projects, which for the purpose of this analysis is as set out in Figure 2.

Consent

Design

Procure

Manufacture

Install

O&M

Asset transfer

12 Offshore wind operational report 2014

EmploymentThe number of people employed by the UK’s offshore wind industry is steadily rising, as the pipeline of projects under construction and in operation increases.

Roles include highly skilled engineering positions, manufacturing roles, consultancy, lawyers, surveyors and many more.

According to RenewableUK, the number of people employed directly in full-time jobs in the offshore wind sector more than doubled from 3,151 in 2010 to 6,830 in 2013.

More than one third of those 6,830 jobs are engaged in construction and installation, while more than 1,000 jobs are involved in operations and maintenance.

Ahead of the construction of Round 3 windfarms, the number of people working in planning and development almost tripled from about 450 in 2010 to 1,276 in 2013.

We expect to see continued growth of the sector over the coming years. For example, Siemens’ new offshore wind turbine and blade manufacturing facility in Hull is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs directly, with additional employment during construction and indirectly through the supply chain over the longer term.

SOURCE: RENEWABLEUK

■ Site planning or development 19%

■ Manufacture or manufacturing design 10%

■ Construction and installation 36%

■ Operation and maintenance 18%

■ Support services and other activities 14%

■ Decommissioning 1%

■ Specialised transport 2%

Total employment

6,830FTE

CO

URT

ESY

OF

REN

EWAB

LE U

K

www.thecrownestate.co.uk 15

FIGURE 9: Reported outages affecting Walney 1 April 2012 – 31 March 2013 Outage date and time Reason Days, hours MWh29 May 2012, 09:54Planned outage to fix a snagging issue and fit surge arrestors to offshore transformers. Snagging issues pertain to problems known prior to transfer from the developer to the OFTO

OFTO 2 days 14 hours 2,546

1 June 2012, 12:00Planned outage to fix a snagging issue and fit surge arrestors to offshore transformers. Snagging issues pertain to problems known prior to transfer from the developer to the OFTO

OFTO 11 days 9 hours

11,184

17 June 2012, 12:40Planned outage to fix a snagging issue and fit surge arrestors to offshore transformers. Snagging issues pertain to problems known prior to transfer from the developer to the OFTO

OFTO 13 days 11 hours

13,256

1 July 2012, 12:00Planned outage to fix a snagging issue and fit surge arrestors to offshore transformers. Snagging issue pertain to problems known prior to transfer from the developer to the OFTO

OFTO 2 days 9 hours

2,339

1 August 2012, 08:13Planned outage to fix a snagging issue on an onshore circuit breaker OFTO 9 hours 1,449

2 November 2012, 08:06Unplanned outage due to a lightning strike on a connected electrical system that tripped protection equipment

OFTO 1 day 6 hours

5,009

TOTAL 35783 MWh

FIGURE 8: OFTO system availability percentage 1 April 2012 – 31 March 2013

Project Name Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb MarTC Robin Rigg 100 100 100 94.48 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100TC Gunfleet Sands 100 100 100 98.55 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100TC Barrow 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100TC Ormonde N/A N/A N/A 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100BT Walney 1 100 97.79 78.10 97.97 98.74 100 100 95.86 100 100 100 100BT Walney 2 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 100 100 100 100 100 100

A discovery is made on board.

A discovery is made on land or in the inter-tidal zone.

An anomaly is observed on the sea bed.

Project Staff inform Site Champion

To Nominated Contact

An anomaly is discovered subsequent to site work.

103

229

431

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – legibility boxes5.7

Placing headlines and legibility boxes

As you will have seen in the typography section of the brand book, 3-part triptych headlines are carried reversed out in semi-translucent ‘legibility boxes’.

These can be placed vertically anywhere (within reason) in each of the panels and should be positioned so as not to interfere with the key elements of the imagery.

Each box in any given triptych should be in the same position, hanging from the top. Each box should range left and be aligned with the edge of the panel.

They should never butt-up to the top or the bottom of the panels – always leave space – and there should, wherever possible, also be space between the legibility box and the right hand edge of each panel.

Where individual shots are used as a feature, legibility boxes may be used in place of conventional headline type, when the placing of the headline should be as above. Remember that when using 3-part legibility boxes, we are trying to tell a story. So headlines should provide a 3-stage narrative, and copy and branding should be placed as follows.

Helping secure the future of offshore

by demonstrating the benefits

of putting the wind to work

*An exception is made for i-site, where to accommodate deadlines and fast-changing news stories, the triptych may be created using type in a coloured panel with only two images. This should not be repeated elsewhere.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – copy and branding5.8

Placing copy and branding

When the triptych is used for specific storytelling, headlines should always be in three parts and in legibility boxes. Concluding headlines and/or body copy should be reversed out of a colour to the right only, in what is effectively a fourth panel.

Where The Crown Estate branding needs to accompany the copy, as opposite, please follow the guidelines provided in the logo section of the brand book.

The triptych can also be used as a ‘signature’ or lead visual without legibility boxes, when headlines and copy can run vertically left or right in a single column, or horizontally beneath the triptych, in one, two or three columns. Headlines and copy should never run above the triptych.

Imagery should always appear as a triptych*, although, as we’ve mentioned, individual shots may be used occasionally as a feature or to break up type. If you want to run type over an individual image, please enclose it in a legibility box, as shown in the examples which follow.

Apart from a fourth panel to accommodate copy (see above), additional panels should never be used.

Because we can see the big picture and take a long term view, we are able to work with our investment partners to develop bigger and better shops and offices and improve public spaces. This is transforming an iconic location and creating a sustainable, world class retail and business environment, that in turn is attracting more major brands and leading companies, more employees and visitors than ever before.

Seeing the big picture helps create

and more attractive places for people to enjoy

West End

bigger shopsand offices



Copy to the left of the triptych, across a double page spread.



Copy in a fourth panel to the right of the triptych, across a double page spread.



Copy beneath the triptych on a single page.



We aim to help make things work better

Headline over an individual featured shot in a legibility box.

A headline and legibility box can be used over a single, impactful image. The legibility box must align to the left-hand-edge of the image, but can be positioned anywhere vertically as long as it doesn’t interfere with or distract from the image.

When using a single image observe the same rules regarding a frame as you would with a triptych. Never use full-bleed imagery.

Also, remember that we are trying to tell a story. For example the headline and the image shown here are actively demonstrating things working better.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – checklist5.9

Checklist

• Use the triptych to tell hallmark stories visually and verbally.

• Use or create real, ‘in the moment’ photography, with interesting angles and crops. (Don’t be afraid to be a bit quirky).

• Always feature people whenever you can and try to express the feeling of our land and property being ‘worked, developed and enjoyed’ as per our purpose statement.

• Mix scale and detail to give ‘texture’ and ‘rhythm’ to your visuals.

• Lay out the triptych to make the most of the shots and the story and express a clear narrative.

• Use graphics where appropriate to add impact and show evidence.

• Place storytelling 3-part headlines in legibility boxes, hanging equidistantly from the top and ranging left.

• Storytelling copy and branding where necessary may be placed in a fourth panel.

• For logo placement, follow the logo guidelines.

• Remember that the triptych is more than just any three images put together.

5.10

Commissioning photography, film and videoWhen commissioning photography, film or video, please follow the spirit of these guidelines, particularly 5.3 and 5.4, and brief photographers, directors, writers and producers to think about clear, compelling or engaging storytelling.

Because contrasting scale and detail, interesting angles and crops are so much part of our photographic and filmic style, ask them to shoot ‘around’ the subject – using wides and close ups to capture both the key features of the story, and incidental observations.

In film, video and digital media, remember to try and capture the ‘in the moment’, unstaged feel of our photographic style; make it look real and not contrived, corporate or over-produced. The spirit of this applies equally to writing, voice-over and choice of music, as well as imagery.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandImagery – commissioning photography

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTone of voice6.1

Tone of voice and writing style 6.3 Writing headlines

6.2 Our tone of voice

6.4 Writing body copy6.5 Checklist6.6 Talking about our business

6.2

Our tone of voice

We all express ourselves in part through our own tone of voice and we want our brand to do that, too. We are a commercial organisation and aspire to communicate our activity in an engaging manner.

Like the imagery we use, our tone of voice is about storytelling and communicating our business message to the appropriate audience. It’s about finding the right words to communicate the facts that will put across to people, clearly and simply, who we are and how we do business.

Our tone of voice should also be a direct expression of our values: ‘commercialism, integrity and stewardship’ and of our core proposition: ‘conscious commercialism’ (see section 1.7 conscious commericalism).

Think about our values and the way we describe ‘conscious commercialism’, and then think about how these things could feed in to your conversation or presentation.

Our tone of voice is:

Simple and straightforward

Clear and confident

Quietly authoritative

Approachable

Our tone of voice isn’t:

Corporate or complicated

Stuffy or overly formal

Overworked or arrogant

Bossy or self-important

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTone of voice – the way we speak to people

6.3

Writing headlines

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTone of voice – writing headlines

Headlines are simple and clear each telling a complete and self-contained story. Each expressing the story of The Crown Estate’s ‘conscious commercialism’.

Our headline style should follow these principles in order to help the brand speak with a consistent, distinctive and recognisable voice.

Headlines should aim to tell our hallmark stories in simple, conversational, everyday language, and make them positive, engaging and accessible.

With headlines using the triptych (and so far as possible with headlines in general), we should try to think, again, of thought, action, cause, effect, and of consequential impacts; of inputs, outputs and outcomes.

Because of our unique role, expertise and experience, we are able to do things and make decisions that have positive outcomes for our business, our partners, customers, other stakeholders and the wider community, and we should be keen to express this.

The Crown Estate way of speaking in headlines is explored a little more in the examples that follow, which set up hallmark stories from across the business.

We should try to make our headlines tell the whole of the story and be complete in themselves.

At the same time, they should retain enough interest, intrigue or engagement to make people want to read on when there’s body copy to follow.

This is not about clever copywriting, but about keeping it simple, clear and complete, and keeping it short.

Headlines in general should be as short as you can get them and still get the message across. With headlines in the triptych, we have a little more room to manoeuvre, but should still be brief.

As a guide, use no more than a maximum of seven or eight words per legibility box, with no more than 18 or 19 characters a line. Overall, try to use no more than a maximum of 20 words across the three legibility boxes.

We do not use full points at the end of headlines or use any punctuation at the end of copy in individual legibility boxes. Otherwise, punctuate as normal.

6.3

The whole story in as few words as possible

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTone of voice – writing headlines

6.4

Writing body copy

Whenever we’re writing copy for print or web, for film scripts, speeches and presentations, or speaking on behalf of The Crown Estate,the same principles apply.

Start a conversation, use everyday language, keep it simple, informative and engaging. Remember thought, action, cause and effect, and consequential impacts.

In the examples that follow, copy accompanies the headlines you’ve just seen, adding detail to the story. In each case, the copy follows a very basic storytelling structure, which goes something like this.

Provide a context. Explain the issue or the situation. Address The Crown Estate’s role, what action we’ve taken, what value we are able to add. Point out the benefits for our business, partners and customers, and/or the positive effects for the wider community.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTone of voice – writing body copy

West End

Seeing the big picture helps create bigger shops and offices and more attractive places for people to enjoy

Because we can see the big picture and take a long term view, we are able to work with our investment partners to develop bigger and better shops and offices and improve public spaces. This is transforming an iconic location and creating a sustainable, world class retail and business environment, that in turn is attracting more major brands and leading companies, more employees and visitors than ever before.

Offshore energy

Helping secure the future of offshore by demonstrating the benefits of putting the wind to work

Offshore energy is an exciting new industry that’s already making a major contribution to the UK’s energy infrastructure. As managers of the UK seabed, we’re applying our experience, knowledge and expertise to help de-risk and develop the industry, encouraging investment, and creating opportunities for our partners, our business and the country as a whole.

Marine Data Exchange

We built the Marine Data Exchange to store a pool of valuable knowledge that we can protect and share

We understand that offshore energy companies have to invest in essential research to get projects off the ground. Our internal systems team created the Marine Data Exchange to store this research, reducing risk for us and those we work with by preserving any data that is collected. We’re also enabling this data to be shared, so we can spread knowledge and help the industry reduce expenditure, time and duplication of effort.

6.4

Writing body copy

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTone of voice – writing body copy

Copy structure runs: context, our role, action taken, how we add value, benefits for us, our partners, customers, and the community. All copy should aim to illustrate an aspect or example of ‘conscious commercialism’.

Regional retail parks

More welcoming environments attract more customers benefiting shoppers, retailers and us Making regional retail parks more welcoming places for shops and shoppers is not only good for retailers, but good for our business too. We draw on our expertise to get the right mix of tenants, improve the built environment and enhance the shopping experience for everyone. Ensuring that more people spend more of their time at our retail parks, more often.

The strategic development of rural land can play a key role in meeting housing demand around the UK. We take a long term approach and consult extensively with local authorities and local communities. This makes us more effective at bringing forward suitable development land for new homes to be built, contributing both to our own revenues and the UK’s housing stock.

Strategic land

Taking a long term view helps us help developers bring more homes to market

By encouraging the use of parts of the Windsor Estate for TV and film locations, we’ve generated extra income that we invest back into the ecological management of this important landscape. Through active and innovative management, we’ve built new relationships and brought in new business that benefits the wider community, as well as our three million annual visitors.

Windsor Estate

Providing movie locations funds riding trails and care for centuries old trees creating better experiences all round

These examples are written short. They are each between about 50 and 70 words long.

When writing longer copy, try following the same kind of structure, but break up the text with short, engaging subheads that drive the story on.

We shouldn’t expect our audiences to have to read very long pieces of copy.

It can help if between subheads we divide our longer writing into bite-sized chunks of three or four short paragraphs generally of no more than 120 words in total.

We should try to make all our copy as concise as possible, especially when writing for the web.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTone of voice – checklist6.5

Checklist

Try checking your writing, scripts or speaker notes against this list for both tone of voice and writing style. If you can tick the majority of the boxes, it’s probably about right.

Does your writing provide information in a confident, quietly authoritative and knowledgeable manner?

Is the language appropriate and relevant to your audience?

Is the story you’re telling addressing what your audience wants to know? Have you been single-minded and prioritised the message or messages you’re delivering?

Does your writing demonstrate customer focus and show understanding of the stakeholders it is intended for?

Have you backed up claims and assertions with facts, evidence, testimonials, examples or case histories? Have you achieved your business reason for writing it?

Will what you’ve said, presented or written promote a dialogue, start a conversation or help build a relationship?

Does it leave you with a reason for continuing the dialogue?

Is it simple and straightforward? Did you enjoy reading or listening to it?

Does it sound natural and convincing both when you read it to yourself and when you read it out loud?

Have you checked our style guide for writing conventions? You can get a copy from the Marketing and Internal Communications Team in Corporate Affairs.

6.6

Our brand story

To help us communicate our business and our brand consistently, we’ve created a very straightforward brand story.

This is a simple, joined-up narrative that aims to paint a clear picture of who we are, what we stand for, what we do and how we go about it, and we should use it as the basis for all our brand communications.

You can use it as a finished and complete piece of copy in its own right to introduce people to The Crown Estate or use it as a guide for writing your own material.

Feel free to ‘borrow’ as much or as little of the narrative as you need, but do bear in mind that the words, phrases and descriptions used have been agreed within the business. So to maintain consistency, we should try and stick to them as closely as possible.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandTone of voice – talking about our business

The Crown Estate is an independent commercial business, created by Act of Parliament.

Our diverse assets include the whole of Regent Street and much of St James’s, as well as retail and leisure parks throughout the country. We are one of the UK’s biggest rural landowners, with agricultural land, parkland and forestry, and our active asset management also extends to coastal land and the seabed.

Our purpose is to make sure that the land and property we invest in and manage are worked, developed and enjoyed sustainably, to deliver the best value over the long term. This reflects our values of commercialism, integrity and stewardship. At the heart of how we work is an astute, considered, collaborative approach that helps us create opportunities and success for our business, our partners, customers and the wider community. We call this ‘conscious commercialism’. 100% of our revenue profit is paid to the UK Treasury, but our role, expertise, and the quality, scale, impact and importance of the assets we actively manage mean that The Crown Estate delivers value that goes beyond financial return.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandApplication7.1

Application

When all of the elements of our brand and its visual and verbal identity are brought together, we can create a range of communications which are consistent, recognisable, memorable and have real standout.

This will help us showcase our business as the progressive and dynamic commercial enterprise that we know it to be.

What follows are some sample applications of communications designed and written in the brand style, in a range of different media.

7.3 Digital7.2 Print

7.4 Interiors

7.2

Spreads from ‘The Crown Estate: Our Story’

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandApplication – print

Some examples showing how imagery, copy, type and colour come together.

18

Strategic reportGovernanceFinancials

The Crown Estate Annual Report 2014


Whether it is investing in our people and their know-how to build better networks and make better deals for all parties or the efficient use of natural resources, all that we do aims to enhance our physical assets and deliver stronger financial returns.

Investment managementDuring the course of the last financial year, we have continued with our primary strategy of investment into our core sectors, where we have critical mass and a high level of expertise, as well as timely disposals of non-core assets. We also launched another strategic partnership which released capital for reinvestment, spreads our development risk, and strengthens our existing relationships.

Over the year we invested £263.6 million in acquisitions, £248.1 million in capital expenditure and made disposals realising £457.2 million.

Urban

Within the Urban portfolio our key sectors are focused on the West End of London and in prime regional retail and leisure space around the UK. Across the West End there has been continued investment from domestic and overseas capital which has driven pricing, and the sector has witnessed record breaking investment volumes during 2013/14. Outside London, our investment markets have also experienced an increase in investor appetite not just for prime investments but also in secondary markets which began to recover in many

regions during the course of the year. This has created strong competition for the most desirable stock, but our continued investment within these core areas has added value to the quality of our portfolio and will drive returns over the medium to long term.

In the West End we have been able to consolidate our position through the acquisition of adjoining interests and merging existing ones through leasehold purchases. This has increased our footprint in these areas and allowed us further control of key areas within our portfolio. This strategy has been applied in the purchases of 13 Charles II Street, 106 and 115 Jermyn Street which are in St James’s, and Goldsmith’s House within the Regent Street Partnership. This allows us to build on our know-how

Throughout this section we discuss the main activities we undertake. Whilst producing it we have been taking into consideration the resources and relationships that we are reliant upon and how they interconnect to create greater value.

What we’ve been doingReview of activities

Our development plans for St James’s continue apace, this year attracting quality fashion brands such as Barbour, Duchamp, Sunspel and Tiger of Sweden alongside desirable restaurant offerings including Villandry, Chop Shop and Cicchetti.

17The Crown Estate Annual Report 2014


Our investment strategy is influenced by our markets and underpins our approach to business.

We outline what we have been doing across our portfolios through our core activities of investment, asset, development and property management.

7.2

Other examples of the brand in print

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandApplication – print

Firstname Secondname Job Title

16 New Burlington PlaceLondon W1S 2HXTel: +44 (0)20 0000 0000Mobile: +44 (0)0000 000 000firstname.secondname@thecrownestate.co.ukwww.thecrownestate.co.uk @TheCrownEstate

Social contributions– Revitalising ¾ acre of public space and creating a new

pedestrian square for residents, office workers and visitors, with significant space given back to the public realm, thanks to an underground service centre shared by two buildings

– Enhancing the environment for pedestrians with new thoroughfares and less traffic congestion, thanks to a consolidation centre where retailers can combine deliveries and cut journeys to St James’s Market by up to 80%

– Creating a healthier environment for office workers, retail staff, shoppers and others, thanks to responsible sourcing and healthy materials policies that mean all paints are low VOC

– Volunteering projects at St Andrew’s Youth Club, Soho Primary School and Essendine Primary School, as well as work placements for students at Westminster Kingsway College

– Minimising disruption for our neighbours during development, with a high Considerate Constructors Scheme target.

– Creating new space for jobs with retailers and firms based in our buildings

– Investing in the local area through our planning agreement, funding public realm improvements, public art and more.

– Revitalising St James’s Market, which enjoys a concentration of listed buildings unparalleled in London, with new buildings sensitively incorporated alongside historic elements

– Preserving the Regent Street frontage, at the same time as creating accommodation for modern offices, shops and restaurants

– Carefully designing façades on a new building in Haymarket to echo the neighbouring historic buildings in the Haymarket Conservation Area.

Economic contributions

Environmental contributions– BREEAM Excellent sustainability ratings for all office space– 25% better energy efficiency than regulations require,

saving as much carbon as annual emissions from 2,200 homes, thanks to high performance glazing, heat recovery, an efficient lighting system, photovoltaic roof panels and a small scale combined heat and power system

– 40% better water efficiency than an average new building, with low-flow sanitary fittings, leak detection measures and greywater recycling for toilet flushing

– Building Information Modelling to deliver design efficiency and minimise waste, and best practice site waste management plan targeting 90% recycling of construction waste

– 8,000 sq ft of green roof space to enhance biodiversity, cut urban flood risks and reduce the urban heat island effect that makes London warmer.

Welcome to 1 & 2 St James’s Market1 & 2 St James’s Market is our largest ever project. Located between Regent Street and Haymarket, it will offer 210,000 sq ft of office space, 50,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant space, and a 10,000 sq ft new pedestrian square.

3/4acre of revitalisedpublic space

25% better energy efficiency than regulations require

Heritage conservation

‘ Investing in the local area.’

All information correct as at July 2014.

7.3

The Crown Estatehomepage

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandApplication – digital

The Crown Estate brand guidelines apply to all media. However, we recognise that in some digital applications, particularly on the internet and intranet, a little more flexibility in applying them may be required.

Please try to apply the guidelines as consistently as possible, using the triptych and legibility boxes as signature visuals, wherever possible and appropriate.

If you are in any doubt about what may or may not be acceptable, then please contact the Corporate Affairs, Marketing and Internal Communications Team.

7.3

i-site landing page


A level of flexibility has been built into the design of i-site, to help facilitate deadlines and a quick turnaround.

Please note that the use of the triptych with type and just two images is an exception, and is for use on i-site only.

7.4

Pages from PowerPoint presentations


This is how a divider page would look


These are PowerPoint pages showing headline and divider styles, copy and graphics. In PowerPoint, the brand style aims for brevity and simplicity.

PowerPoint templates can be downloaded via i-site or are available by contacting the Corporate Affairs, Marketing and Internal Communications Team.

7.5

Display panels in New Burlington Place

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandApplication – interiors

Featured display panels in our offices show the brand and the triptych writ large, combining headline messages from across the business with imagery and graphics.

8.1

Making our brand accessible to all

Accessibility means providing equal access to all users, regardless of physical ability, browsing platform or operating system. We want The Crown Estate to communicate with the widest possible audience every day.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, employers and service providers are obliged to make reasonable adjustments to ensure accessibility for all.

We need to do this not simply to comply with the law, but because people have a right to be able to access our messages easily. This helps promote a culture of equal opportunities and makes good business sense.

Alternative formatsWe recommend that publications intended for wider audiences should be made available on request in alternative formats such as braille, audio cassette or digital audio formats and in large (18 point) type, with details of how they can be obtained.

With film, consider using audio description and subtitle options.

Referencing facilitiesWhere relevant, communications should include information about facilities available for disabled people. For example, are there disabled parking facilities, are assistance dogs welcome, and are wheelchairs or scooters available for visitors?

Type sizeIn communications to wider audiences, our recommended minimum size for body copy is 11 point.

The RNIB ‘See it Right’ guidelines – www.rnib.org.uk – recommend a minimum x height of 2mm (x height is the height of a lowercase ‘x’), and for large print documents, a minimum of 2.8mm. For targeted audiences, smaller type sizes are acceptable. Common and design sense should be applied.

Capitals and italicsAvoid using capitals for text unless you have a very good reason and be sparing with your use of title case (capitalising each word in headings). Both can impair legibility.

Also avoid italics, which many partially-sighted people find difficult to read. For titles like ‘The Times’, use single quotation marks instead.

Line length, letter and line spacingAs a guide, aim for 8 – 13 words a line. Use short paragraphs and separate them with a line space.

Typefaces are designed with an optimum space between each character. For the sake of legibility, try to avoid condensing or extending type.

Line spacing (also called line feed or leading) should be 1.5 or 2 point sizes larger than the type size, when measured from baseline to baseline. If it’s too narrow or too wide, it will be harder to read.

Type alignmentType should range left, with a ‘ragged’ right hand margin, as this makes it easier to find the start and finish of each line, and the spaces between the words are equal.

Don’t split words with hyphens at the end of a line – it’s not necessary if you’re using left aligned type – and be sparing with your use of hyphens in general.

If you want or need to use justified type, double-check that it’s readable.

Contrast, reversing out and paper stocksAim for a visible tonal contrast between text and background, particularly when reversing type out of a colour or photograph. Check the size and weight of type to make sure it’ll be legible.

Use a matt paper, unless there’s a good reason for using gloss or semi-gloss, and avoid gloss varnishes.

Consider using off-white instead of bright white papers – they make reading easier for people with visual or reading difficulties – and think about using (sparingly) cream or other similarly light coloured papers.

Good, accessible design Generally, try to keep designs clean, simple and uncluttered with good visual navigation. This will aid accessibility and is likely, anyway, to be better design.

The Crown Estate – Book of the BrandAccessibility

www.rnib.org.uk

Our brand is vitally important to our business and it’s the responsibility of everyone who works in and with The Crown Estate to do all we can to respect and look after it.

If you are in any doubt about applying the brand or any of its elements, then please don’t hesitate to contact our brand guardians in the Marketing and Internal Communications Team in Corporate Affairs.

Please protect our brand and ask if in any doubt

Emma TwymanHead of Marketing and Internal Communications020 7851 [email protected]

Tom McGuiganMarketing and Social Media Manager 020 7851 [email protected]

www.thecrownestate.co.uk

The Crown Estate – Book of the Brand

mailto:Thomas.McGuigan%40thecrownestate.co.uk?subject=

Documents

The Crown Estate Book of the brand · The Crown Estate brand will work best when it’s clearly understood and consistently communicated, which is what this guide is here to help