Sustainability

Sustainability: What Matters Most?

Many employees have taken part in a survey to help determine the social, economic and employee issues of most importance to the business. Thank you to all those who contributed. The responses will be combined with those from a range of stakeholders including investors, government, NGOs, charities, suppliers and sub-contractors to find out what matters most. The survey coincided with our 60th anniversary and will help the Board to focus on the right future priorities. We also interviewed a selection of key stakeholders to gain an in depth understanding of their views. The survey and questionnaire have been used to assess the importance of issues such as water use, waste, energy, modern slavery, gender pay gap and wellbeing and to gauge understanding of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. We will share the results in the spring.

The materiality consultation is checking in with our stakeholders to see if the issues chosen in 2016 still matter most. These were:

Keeping people safe Operating efficiency Attracting, inspiring and retaining talent Sustainable places to live Sustainable and responsible sourcing Investing in innovation and development

Reducing office waste: do you have the bottle?

In 2018, a number of divisions decided to switch from plastic milk bottles to glass following increased global awareness around single-use plastics.

As a result, these divisions will save an estimated 17,200 plastic bottles worth of waste per year.

Well done!

Aiming high

The Board have committed to more ambitious sustainability targets, preparing our business for future challenges and opportunities in response to the issues that matter most to our stakeholders. These can be found in our Sustainability Framework, released in November, which commits us to reducing our construction waste relative to build area by 20% by 2025 from 2015 levels. We will also seek to create a net gain for biodiversity across new developments from 2020. The full framework can be read on the PLC website.

In other news… We are still the leading national sustainable housebuilder

We have been awarded a Gold rating by NextGeneration, which makes us the top housebuilder in this sustainability benchmark, which rates the top 25 housebuilders. We achieved top scores in the categories for Design and Placemaking, Minimum Sustainability Standards and Environmental Site Management. We are also delighted to be finalists in the Edie Sustainability Leaders Awards for our work on reducing construction waste. Results are announced at a ceremony in London on 6 February.