Suppliers & Partners

Through our supply chain policies and strategies we drive our procurement precedence for:

• Materials with low embodied energy and environmental impact;
• Responsibly sourced materials e.g. FSC or ISO14001;
• Locally sourced, recycled and reclaimed materials.

Policy/Strategy

Suppliers and services from third parties are fundamental to the operation of our business. Our supply chain policy in the UK is to:

• Afford advantage to those materials and processes that have a lesser environmental impact when undertaking our developments;
• Review alternative materials that have a lower environmental impact when developing material specifications, including use of recycled materials;
• Give recognition to the environmental and societal policies of our suppliers;
• Have supplier environmental and societal credentials as part of the selection criteria when choosing our suppliers;
• Develop and implement supplier development programmes specifically directed to improving environmental performance;
• Provide training and raise awareness of CR issues within our own team;
• Measure, assess and improve environmental risks associated with services provided by suppliers;
• Measure and review the performance of suppliers;
• Encourage and set targets for continual improvement of supplier performance;
• Recognise excellent supplier performance in environmental and sustainability issues;
• Encourage a collaborative approach when working with suppliers.

In addition, there is an obligation on all of our contractors to ensure that their employees have a legal right to work in the UK and that their employment practices comply with appropriate legislation e.g. Equal Opportunities Act.

Key initiatives

Our procurement policies and ever-closer working relationships with our suppliers improve the transparency of our operations from a CR and commercial perspective. It is our intention to enhance our understanding of the supply chain in order to facilitate the achievement of our sustainability and social objectives.

To minimise the environmental impact from transporting materials to our sites, we have been extending the use of our logistics company WCL. Dedicated plot related deliveries reduce waste at source as well as reducing the environmental impact of site delivery vehicles. This is further enhanced by return loading of packaging and pallet waste. Further reductions in packaging and elimination of waste at source are key initiatives for 2007.

Performance
Our team members hold regular performance review meetings with our supply chain partners, they also complete periodic on-line reports assessing the performance of suppliers and subcontractors. All aspects of performance are covered, including cost, quality, service, Health and Safety and corporate social responsibility. The data from each report is then consolidated by the system for analysis and used in the development and management of each supplier and subcontractor. Individual targets are set and performance monitored against other suppliers within the same trade or geographic comparison. These reports are then used as part of the selection process for our ongoing relationships with our supply chain partners.

All of our bulk timber is procured from sustainable sources, certified by FSC or similar and our performance audited. Over 90 per cent of other timber related products are also procured in this manner.

We have worked with a number of external organisations on initiatives to improve our procurement practices during including:

• Wastefile – to further improve our segregation and recycling of construction waste;
• British Gypsum – to further improve our collection and recycling of plasterboard waste;
• Wavin – to promote the use of Water Management Solutions e.g. SUDS.

There are many environmental initiatives in hand with our supply chain partners including:

• All appliances are ‘A’ rated with the exception of washer/driers both for energy and water conservation;
• Baxi – to further develop our capability on renewable energy;
• Twyfords – to further develop the environment features of sanitaryware including water management;
• Speedy Space – to develop environmentally friendly, low carbon site offices.