“Those organisation that can demonstrate clearly their contribution to and membership of broader society will prosper in the future”. Mr David Cowans (the Chief Executive of the Places for People Group).

The community aspect of sustainability is one which we are beginning to understand better and in order to provide a focus and drive to our approach to community issues we have enlisted the support of Mr. David Cowans as an advisor to our Sustainability Committee.

Addressing community and social issues is a key focus area of our sustainability strategy. We believe that by minimising our impact on local environments and maximising the opportunity to support community initiatives, we can positively contribute towards the quality of life of the communities in which we work.

The nature and transient location of our activities provide us with the opportunity to impact on many different community groups. In order to more effectively communicate with these groups and to help ensure that we meet there needs we have developed a stakeholder map. This map has assisted us in identifying the community groups that we shall seek to liaise with to help ensure that where appropriate our activities have positive impacts. In addition, the map shall provide a more focused approach to our positive community actions. This approach and the links created will also help our people increase their understanding of community issues and, we hope will encourage communities to voice their expectations and needs.

We were ranked in the top quintile of the 122 companies surveyed by Business in the Community in its first Corporate Social Responsibility Index. This puts Carillion amongst those companies leading the way on socially responsible behaviour.

The following are examples of our engagement with communities;

Coppice Close Community Centre, Ashmoor Park Wolverhampton

Carillion Building undertook demolition and resurfacing works to restore a dilapidated car park at the Coppice Close Community Centre in Wolverhampton. Carillion Building Project Manager Lee Greatrex stated “taking into account building materials, labour and professional input the works would otherwise have cost the centre £20,000”. A significant contribution.

Ambition Construction

Carillion Construction Training is delivering Ambition Construction to the long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged groups in London. Trainees can begin to learn a trade and gain project experience, whilst earning a wage through a two-week period of trade tasters, health and safety, first aid and other training. This is followed by an intensive training period of up to six months at the newly acquired Stadium Training Centre, Wembley.

In addition to construction training, trainees can improve their Life Skills including literacy, numeracy, ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) and disciplines to improve reliability, time-keeping, tolerance and working as a team member.

Trainees are then assisted into work but continue to train for a further six months or until they achieve an NVQ Level II and become CSCS accredited.

On-going support, training and guidance are available for up to 18months per trainee to maximise skill acquisition for sustainable employment and wider community benefit.

During 2002 Carillion Caribbean continued to support the community in which we work. Contributions were made to a range of community activities with approximately $40,000 in cash and $40,000 of in-kind contributions. Examples of the activities are:

The following case records provide further examples of our work with communities;