THE UNITE GROUP PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2024 75 RICHARD HUNTINGFORD CHAIR Delivering these homes requires the ongoing dedication and kindness of our frontline teams working closely with our university partners. The Board monitors how we make Unite Students a Great Place to Work, ensuring investment in life-long learning, recognising and incentivising performance, all through a more diverse workforce and one that is increasingly representative and understanding of our customers. During 2024, Ilaria del Beato, our Designated Non-Executive Director for Workforce Engagement, attended meetings of our employee forum, Culture Matters, and was able to hear directly from workforce representatives. By delivering a Great Place to Live and Work, the Board believes we can deliver a Great Place to Invest providing attractive and sustainable returns for our shareholders. These returns depend on the quality, location and scale of our portfolio, with the Board overseeing the delivery of our development pipeline in the strongest university markets with an acute supply demand imbalance as well as our first university joint venture, working with Newcastle University to develop 2,000 new student beds at Castle Leazes. The Board carefully balances this new development with disposals, ensuring we improve our portfolio and alignment with the strongest universities. The Board also oversees the investment in our existing portfolio, with targeted refurbishments enhancing customer experience and our value-for- money proposition. We can only achieve our purpose, a Home for Success in communities where young people can thrive, if we are a responsible and sustainable business. Through the ongoing detailed work of the Sustainability Committee, the Board is monitoring progress in relation to our transition to a net zero carbon business by 2030 as well as reviewing our reporting and disclosure on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. With a record number of UK 18-year-olds starting at university in September 2024, the Board continues to see increasing demand for student accommodation coupled with supply constrained due to slowing and more costly PBSA development and a shrinking HMO sector. Affordability, especially with increasing cost- of-living pressures, continues to be key for students, parents and universities and the Board oversees how we deliver safe, high-quality, value-for-money homes for our customers, many of whom are living away from home for the first time. The following pages explain how our governance has supported the delivery of our strategy through 2024 and how it will continue to support our growth and sustainability in the longer term. Richard Huntingford Chair 25 February 2025 “ With a record number of UK 18-year-olds starting at university in September 2024, the Board continues to see increasing demand for student accommodation coupled with supply constrained due to slowing and more costly PBSA development and a shrinking HMO sector.”