The philosophies were developed and are owned by a team of senior managers and encapsulate our approach to mitigating the key social, environmental and economic risks at every stage of the business cycle from the acquisition of land, through planning, design and construction to sales and after-sales customer service.

The philosophies have been embedded throughout the business and all parts of the business have action plans to drive performance, in line with the philosophies, forward. In our most recent employee engagement survey, 87% of those employees responding to the survey confirmed that they understood and connected with the philosophies.

Where appropriate, we develop policies and procedures to support our philosophies and assist our employees’ understanding of the behaviours required of them. These are contained in our policies and procedures manual which is made available throughout the business on an intranet platform. Our key policies are available on our website at www.barrattdevelopments.co.uk.

We have also developed key performance indicators (‘KPIs’) to inform ourselves on how we are progressing against each of our sustainability targets and have in place robust data collection processes to gather the information needed to calculate these KPIs. We are the only leading housebuilder to have the data externally audited.

An integral part of our sustainability strategy is the communication of what we do and engagement with our stakeholders. We communicate our sustainability strategy and performance in a number of ways, both externally and internally, using annual reports; capability presentations and formal tenders for land; our website and intranet; and employee updates. We see communication as the first stage of engagement. This year, for example, we have engaged in depth with our suppliers, through a supplier forum, and with local government, through an independent consultation exercise. Engaging with our stakeholders informs us about how sustainability issues are evolving. We also regularly assess the feedback and use it to enhance our sustainability policy.

The Board of Barratt Developments PLC (the ‘Board’) has set out its commitment to the principles of sustainability in a sustainability policy.

The key philosophies: People; Customers; Partners; and Planet, together with our Health and Safety performance, are sponsored by an individual member of the Executive Committee. They are responsible for developing and implementing sustainability objectives and targets in each area to assist us to achieve the overall sustainability strategy set by the Board. This ensures that sustainability issues are embedded in the ordinary course of business and decisions affecting sustainability can be implemented swiftly at an operational level.

An Executive Safety, Health and Environment Committee provides specific focus on the overall improvement of health and safety performance. This Committee reports directly to the Board and is attended by, amongst others, the Executive Directors for North and South, the Safety, Health and Environment (‘SHE’) Director and the Group General Counsel and Company Secretary.  The governance structure is shown below.

The Risk Committee is responsible for overseeing the implementation and operation of the risk management process and ensures that adequate information in relation to environmental, social and governance matters is available to the Board. Significant sustainability risks that could impact on the future of the business are reviewed and form part of the principal risks and uncertainties disclosed in our Annual Report and Accounts.

The annual bonus for members of the Executive Committee and other members of senior management is dependent upon the achievement of demanding financial objectives and key strategic measures for the business, set annually by the Board. These objectives include sustainability objectives related to Health and Safety, customer service and employee engagement.

One of the main ways we implement governance over sustainability issues is through our management systems.  Additionally, all divisions within the Group continue to operate an environmental management system certified to ISO 14001 and a health and safety management system certified to OHSAS 18001.

• 11,171* (2010: 11,377) legal completions and 143 new sites opened during the year.
• 2,634 (2010: 1,870) social housing completions for our housing association and local authority partners.
• 1,823 (2010: 1,325) purchasers supported by Barratt funded shared equity products and 609 (2010: 1,735) purchasers supported by the Government’s HomeBuy Direct shared equity scheme.
• 67% (2010: 70%) of our homes built on brownfield land.
• Injury Incidence Rate reduced to 539 per 100,000 (2010: 582)persons employed.
• Maximum Five Star rating for customer satisfaction awarded by Home Builders Federation (‘HBF’) for the second year running.
• 98% of customers would recommend Barratt to a friend.
• Industry leading 80 (2010: 82) National House Building Council (‘NHBC’) ‘Pride in the Job’ quality awards.
• 87% of employees responding to our engagement survey confirmed that they understood and connected with the sustainability inspired Barratt Vision and Philosophies.
• The nationally recognised Barratt Academy continues providing structured training for apprentices, site managers and technical/commercial roles.
• Our Q17 internal design assessments raising the design quality of every planning application.
• New sustainability policy and strategy approved by the Board, re-confirming the Group’s commitments.

* Total completions of 11,171 (2010: 11,377) comprise private completions of 8,444 (2010: 9,455), social housing completions of 2,634 (2010: 1,870) and joint venture completions of 93 (2010: 52 ).