Managing the Future
For all development companies there is a wide range of environmental, social and economic risks and opportunities. We have identified these impacts in the ESE objectives that we set in 2001. We continue to refine them to enable us to manage the impacts, appreciate stakeholder expectations and help sustain our differential within the industry.
Our ESE objectives apply to all aspects of our business and all our people are committed to sustainable development. Our Board is dedicated to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, accountability and corporate governance.
The Group maintains a risk management strategy and systems to ensure that the risks to which it is exposed are clearly understood and regularly assessed, and that adequate controls relating to operations, financial and compliance matters are in place to effectively mitigate their impact. This is overseen by the Risk Management Committee. The Audit Committee in turn further reviews the internal control testing carried out by the Risk Management Committee. It reports to the Board regularly throughout the year.
We have continued to update and embed key corporate policies into our business including:
We also have a reputation for good management practices certificated to internationally recognised standards, as well as Investors in People. Indeed, during the reporting period, we have gained reputable third party certification of all our management systems throughout the Group, including Quality Management, Environmental Management and Health and Safety.
Our management systems apply to all roles and responsibilities throughout the Group and thereby cover the full development process from site feasibility through to customer care. This ensures that sustainability issues are being systematically applied into the Group’s practices and risk management procedures, and also enables the assessment and management of the risks and the opportunities.
We are seeing the financial and operational benefits of developing our management systems. We are also continuously reviewing where added value is being delivered most effectively to help improve the efficiency of our business.
The progress to date of our quality management systems is: