UK-listed house builders have significantly improved their social and environmental performance over the past year.
The second annual assessment of the 12 UK house builders in the FTSE
All Share index shows they all ‘substantially’ upped their performance,
scoring 68 out of 100 on average compared with 47 in 2004. The
companies, which built 41 per cent of all UK homes completed in 2004,
were assessed on 18 criteria relating to health and safety, affordable
housing, use of local labour, stakeholder engagement, sustainable
design and other issues.
Rachel Crossley, investor responsibility director at Insight
Investment, which carried out the study with WWF, said she was
‘extremely encouraged’ by the findings. She claimed they were partly
the result of two years of ‘ongoing dialogue’ between Insight, WWF and
the companies.
However, she added that companies had also responded to increasing
pressure from the UK government and clients, and had begun to see the
business benefits that follow better social and environmental
performance, such as gaining planning permission more easily and
winning more contracts with clients or partners that demand high
sustainability standards.
Three companies, Berkeley Group, Crest Nicholson and George Wimpey,
emerged as clear leaders, scoring more than 80. WWF and Insight say
these companies have now integrated sustainability into their
strategies and ‘have set clear objectives and measurable targets for
the business as a whole’.
The study found that house builders overall are now ‘markedly better’
at managing health and safety, but they could provide homebuyers with
much more information on sustainable lifestyles. ‘The majority of
developers are missing a valuable opportunity by not providing
customers with information on environmental characteristics of their
homes,’ it says.
Like the previous survey, the study found companies often did
themselves a disservice when reporting on their sustainability
performance by omitting to mention good practice.
WWF warned that, despite the progress, house builders have no room for
complacency, and it favours tougher regulations to require them to
produce more sustainable homes.
British
Land, which has a £12.5billion ($23bn) property portfolio, has produced
a 76-page sustainability brief for its new development projects. The
brief, for its design and construction teams, contains dozens of action
points on areas such as biodiversity, choice of materials and how to
take account of interested parties’ views. It says, among other things,
that teams should consider sourcing suppliers and materials locally.
