CEO and Chairman Statement
We have a strong commitment to implement the principles of Sustainable Development into the core of our business. This commitment is a key driver in the achievement of our corporate business objectives and the implementation of “Sustainable Solutions for the Way We Live”, our sustainability policy statement.
During 2002 our performance in all three areas of sustainability improved.
- Our financial performance improved. In 2002 our turnover was £1,974.4 million up 4% on 2001, our profit before tax was £50.2 million, up 11% on 2001 and we have a forward order book and framework contracts of £5 billion.
- Our environmental performance improved – we fully achieved 57% of our corporate sustainability targets with an average score of 93% and did not receive any environmental prosecutions.
- Our social performance improved – we won 6 ROSPA awards, including a President’s Award, we provided 2,327 training days to staff at our dedicated learning centre Learning Works and we donated over 1% of our profits, in cash or in-kind, to community or environmental initiatives.
During 2002 we realised that we have progressed in the development of our management tools and the understanding of our sustainability impacts (both positive and negative) and have continued to strive towards becoming a sustainable organisation. Details of our performance can be found within this report.
2002 was a year where we concentrated on identifying ways of more fully understanding the impacts that our activities have on our people and the local communities in which we operate. For some time we have, on large and long term projects, been actively engaged with local communities. However, these actions, although extremely valuable, have not been undertaken in a coordinated manner, rather they have been dependant on the dedicated individuals we have engaged on projects and the strength of the voice from the local community. During 2002 we recognised that we must consolidate these efforts and therefore, we developed a Stakeholder Map. Our stakeholder map identifies the stakeholders that we should be engaging with both as a plc and on individual projects. This will help to ensure that we focus our community involvement to maximise the positive impact that we can have.
In looking back over our significant achievements since 1994, we have recognised that now is an appropriate time to stop and take stock of the advances we have made. By taking the time to stop and review our actions over the past 8 years we will ensure that we fully embed the lessons we have learnt and the innovative solutions we have developed into the very core of our businesses.
Embedding sustainability further into the core of our businesses requires the achievement of many actions. One of which is to demonstrate to our staff, clients and suppliers that there is a real business benefit from delivering a sustainable project. To enable us to present the business benefit in real terms we have further developed our sustainable business strategy model presented in our 2001 Sustainability Report. In doing this we have linked our core business objectives with our key sustainability objectives This process has allowed us to map and quantify the business benefit of implementing our sustainability strategy. This demonstrates that the delivery of a sustainable project results in an organisation that is more profitable and successful.
In taking stock of our current sustainability performance and in seeking to further our achievements we are seeking input from our stakeholders and we would invite you to contact us if you have any comments or questions about the focus or implementation of our sustainability strategy. Please either write or contact us via our feedback form.
Sir Neville Simms (Chairman) and John McDonough (Chief Executive) |
