Five Year Review

In 2001, we reported on our Environmental, Social and Ethical (ESE) performance for the first time and it is therefore timely to review the significant changes that have occurred in this area in the last five years.

At the turn of the millennium there was increasing awareness of the need for business and people to respond to the challenge of sustainability. Innovative, responsible companies such as Countryside Properties were reacting and starting to comprehensively plan the way forward.

Today, it is widely recognised that we must align the needs of business and people with the very real threat of climate change. Government has placed sustainability at the heart of its policies and is committed to a stable and sustainable economy founded on low carbon.

In the last five years, we have made significant progress in embedding social, environmental and economic sustainability into our business. We are totally committed to sustainable development and have a proven track record in delivering high quality schemes of lasting value.

Sustainability is part of our culture and our values are aligned with it. Moreover, we have positioned the Group to be able to respond to and meet changing policy, stakeholder and employee aspirations and customer preference. We are seeing the benefits of this approach.

Real progress has been made towards meeting the objectives that we set in 2001 and our achievements have received a great deal of recognition. Since 2001 we have received 160 awards, including 95 for design quality.

Management

• We have gained reputable third party certification of all our management systems throughout the Group, including Quality Management, Environmental Management and Health and Safety.
• We have continued to update and embed key corporate policies including environmental, health and safety, social and ethical, training and development and equal opportunities. 

Sustainability

• We have been committed, throughout the five year period, to designing and constructing more sustainable buildings, in accordance with BREEAM/EcoHomes. 
• Our partnership with the Essex Wildlife Trust led to the creation of an Ecological Toolkit which assesses the impact of development on natural habitat and which has helped to future proof the business.
• As a public company we led the WWF-UK and Insight Investment’s sustainability survey of listed housebuilders.
• We have received 60 awards for sustainability since 2001, including ‘Sustainable Housebuilder of the Year’ at the inaugural Building Sustainability Awards 2005.
• Every year we have increased the percentage of our residential development output on brownfield and recycled urban land from 68% in 2001 to 95% in 2006.
• We have continually improved the carbon footprint of our offices and car fleet.
• We planted 1.4m trees and shrubs during the period to enhance existing environments.

Social and Ethical

• We have been certified to the Investors in People Standard since 2000 and have invested heavily in the training and development of our people.
• We have twice been named as a Sunday Times ‘Top 100 Company to Work For'. 
• As a public company we were members of FTSE4Good and the Kempen SRI Index and we continue to align our objectives with the former.
• Our Health and Safety incident rates have remained below the national average every year apart from 2004.

Community

• Our Customer Care Charter has enabled the Group to continue to improve our standards of customer care. 
• All our sites are registered to the Considerate Constructors Scheme and our audit scores have been above industry averages.
• Our groundbreaking work with the New Economics Foundation has helped to inform and enhance our approach to sustainable communities and urban regeneration. 
• We have continued to support a wide range of charities and community events.

The Future

There will be great opportunities for businesses to play a significant part in the transition to a low carbon economy, and significant risks for those companies who fail to do so. We believe, as evidenced by the Stern Review, that there is a strong business case for investment in a more sustainable future.