Embassy REIT and ANZ Partner to Build a Second Government School, Benefitting over 1,200 Students

Embassy REIT, India’s first listed REIT and the largest office REIT in Asia by area together with ANZ Banking Group, one of the world’s largest multi-national banks and an occupier at Embassy Manyata Business Park, have strengthened their collaboration with the construction of a second school building, in Hegde Nagar, Bengaluru. The handover of the primary school building for Government Urdu Model Primary School will benefit over 600+ pupils.

The new building, delivered under Embassy REIT’s Corporate Connect Program, was inaugurated today in the presence of  V Anbukumar, Commissioner for Public Instruction,  Krishna Byre Gowda, MLA – Byatarayanapura, Jitu Virwani, Chairman & Managing Director – Embassy Group and SV Venkatraman, Managing Director – ANZ Bengaluru Service Centre.

The new school building spread over 15,000 sq. ft., was constructed with an investment of INR 4.50 crores. It houses 19 classrooms, a staff room, a library-cum-computer lab, a multipurpose hall, toilet blocks, a handwash, clean drinking water, rainwater harvesting, solar power and a fully equipped playground. The construction of the school began in October 2019 and continued through the pandemic over the course of 16 months.

This is the second school building by Embassy REIT and ANZ under the Embassy REIT Corporate Connect Programme; the adjoining Government Kannada Higher Primary School was completed in June 2019 with an investment of INR 2.86 crores and benefits 650+ students. This partnership has seen a combined contribution of INR. 7 crores.  Both the school builds were project managed by Embassy REIT. In addition to the financial contributions, Embassy REIT will continue to provide daily school maintenance, full-time security, holistic health and educational interventions throughout the academic year to both schools.

Speaking at the inauguration, the Mr. V Anbukumar, I.A.S., Commissioner for Public Instruction, said, “It is extremely heartening to see corporates such as Embassy and ANZ Banking Group providing a model for partnering with the Government in providing equitable education to our government school children. These new facilities and infrastructure will allow our students to reach their true potential by providing them with environments conducive to learning. We were incredibly pleased to renew this meaningful partnership to strengthen our existing education system, and hope such initiatives encourage other corporates to join us.”

S V Venkataraman, Managing Director – ANZ Bengaluru Service Centre, added, “We are delighted to see that, in partnership with Embassy REIT, we have brought to life the necessary school infrastructure and learning environment that the students and community really required. Education serves several purposes in our students’ lives and shapes not just their future, but the collective future of our nation. We, at ANZ, are happy to be a part of this noble initiative through which students at both the schools will continue to benefit from educational and health programs along with ongoing maintenance of the property by Embassy REIT. I am looking forward to seeing the smiles on the children’s faces when they make use of the new and improved facilities. At ANZ, we connect with and invest significantly in the communities in which we operate to shape a world where people and communities thrive.”

Mike Holland, CEO of Embassy REIT, said “We are happy to extend our ESG partnership with ANZ, an organisation whose social responsibility is very much aligned with our own in enhancing the educational system for the under-served communities around our business parks. The success of our first collaborative project in 2019 allowed us to positively impact the lives of over 600 students and boost school enrolments and attendance by over 30%; we expect the completion of this new school building to extend those benefits further. Creating a safe and inviting learning atmosphere plays a key role in ensuring the future success of the children. We are thankful to corporate partners such as ANZ who continue to be supportive of our initiatives in addressing socio-economic gaps in the communities around our business parks.”

Embassy’s flagship Corporate Connect Program brings together business park occupiers with aligned Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mandates and experienced non-profits to together address diverse challenges faced in the education sector, more particularly in Government Schools in the same neighbourhood community. Having partnered with 23 corporates for 50 projects since the inception of their ‘Corporate Connect Program’, Embassy aims to close the gaps for Bangalore’s underprivileged children by harnessing the support of its business parks’ corporate tenants and their employees.