Our customers do not just demand excellence in operational performance, technical skills and project management. They also want to be sure that their partners and suppliers meet or surpass their own high standards of responsible conduct. We set ourselves demanding targets in these areas and welcome the opportunity to differentiate ourselves in terms of safety, environmental management and wider social responsibility.

The Group has widely-communicated values and principles and sets all of its businesses and employees clear and explicit ethical and behavioural standards which all are expected to maintain.

As its principal social responsibility, the management of employee and public safety stands at the top of the Group’s priority list. Over recent years, despite significant increases in employee and sub-contract numbers, the Group has been successful in successively reducing its accident frequency rates. Its systems and processes are augmented by close attention to designing hazards out of the workplace and to the development of continuous improvement in behavioural safety.

We have been measuring and managing our key environmental impacts in the areas of resource usage, energy and global warming, waste and recycling and water consumption for four years. During that time, we have significantly reduced our relative contribution to global warming, increased the proportion of our expenditure on timber that derives from sustainable sources and almost doubled our score in the annual Business in The Community environment index.

Our social performance has also been enhanced through a series of initiatives designed to add value to our long-term major project presences, including measures aimed at improved physical amenity around our projects, greater social cohesion in the communities which they serve and improvements in the quality of life and opportunities available for disadvantaged individuals.