ACT WELL

We are a fair and responsible business in everything we do. Building strong relationships with our partners, customers, suppliers, communities and colleagues - developing plans so that everyone and every building has a role in delivering our vision. 

Embedding ESG 

Our sustainability framework, Build well, Live well, Act well (BWLWAW) is run business-wide, as well as at portfolio and asset level, helping us embed sustainability throughout the business.  

Ensuring every colleague takes responsibility for achieving our sustainability vision, we link a proportion of our remuneration to achieving our energy and carbon targets. Across our operational portfolio, every asset has its own BWLWAW plan that identifies the ESG themes relevant to the site, and what it will do to support achieving our corporate ESG commitments and targets.  

Doing the basics brilliantly 

Business ethics 

To achieve our purpose, we have to act ethically and with integrity, behaving in the right way and speaking up if we think others are not doing this. Our Employee Code of Conduct provides guidance on how to do the right thing and behave in the right way and highlights the key policies that all our employees must follow. It covers a number of topics about how we work together, including sustainability, financial commitments, communicating externally, health and safety, owning our behaviour and managing our data. Find out more about our corporate governance here.

 Responsible procurement  

As nearly half of our emissions emanate from our supply chain, it is crucial that we work with suppliers that share our values and help us achieve the highest standards in our supply chain, while achieving wider social, economic and environmental benefits. 

Our Supply Chain Commitment, sets out how we do business, the commitments we have set ourselves, and the minimum requirements we expect of our suppliers. Our Sustainable Procurement Guide helps provide our colleagues with the knowledge to make the right decisions when buying consumables or business services, and to spend money wisely and effectively while supporting our corporate and sustainability commitments.  

To support our supply chain in meeting our Supply Chain Commitments, we partner with the Supply Chain Sustainability School – an online platform that shares knowledge and resources to build the skills required to achieve a sustainable built environment. 

Furthermore, our Sustainable Development Toolkit provides a comprehensive guide for our development teams and external partners to ensure we design and develop our new schemes and refurbishments in line with our sustainability vision, corporate commitments and targets. It sets out a systematic approach for us to achieve sustainable development, culminating in a scheme-specific sustainability strategy and social-value strategy being developed.  

Tackling Modern slavery 

Slavery, forced labour and human trafficking has no place in a modern society, in our organisation or in our supply chain. We are committed to zero tolerance, and committed to working closely with our partners to seek and tackle Modern Slavery in our shared supply chains.  

In accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, we publish our Modern Slavery Statement annually that describes the policies, processes and actions we have undertaken to address and prevent modern slavery across our business and supply chain.   

Health and safety 

We are committed to maintaining an exceptional standard of health, safety and security in all the working environments we control. The effective management of health, safety and security is fundamental to the productivity, culture and reputation of our business. 

We continue to maintain our ISO 45001 certification and BS 9997 fire-safety management-system certification, both subject to independent auditing. Our focus remains on safety improvements on areas where we can have the biggest impact, including reducing the risk of significant occupational-safety hazards, such as working at height, rooftop access management, asbestos management and  workplace transport hazard management.  

We also run a comprehensive mandatory programme of health and safety training for all our employees and contingent workers. 

Find out more about our approach to using resources efficiently in our Annual Report or see performance against our Act well targets here