Lakehouse Communication on progress 2010

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1 Lakehouse Chief Executive Statement I would like to reinforce our commitment and support of the UN Global Compact. Over the past two years, Lakehouse has grown rapidly despite tough market conditions. Throughout this time, we have worked hard to embed the UN Global Compact principles in all our business activities and scope of influence. I am delighted that Lakehouse has been recognised as a leading example of a socially and environmentally responsible business by our industry counterparts and stakeholders. Internally, we have delivered presentations on the Compact and CSR to all our employees and key supply chain partners. We have included the Compact within our company induction process and have embedded the principles within our quality management system. The company now has an active CSR steering group, which moulds our strategy and provides support to the board. We have also promoted the Compact to other stakeholders through our membership of Constructing Excellence and through presentations to clients. This document will be available on our website and communicated to our staff. Steve Rawlings, Chief Executive, 2010

2 Principle 1: Business should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights, and Principle 2: Business should ensure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses. Lakehouse has a vision to be a unique and outstanding employer and to create sustainable communities. Over the past two years, we have reviewed our policies to ensure they support and respect the protection of human rights. We have invested in resources to ensure these policies are followed including the development of a supply chain monitoring system to uphold and monitor supplier performance. We now have a Sustainable Procurement Policy and all suppliers must fulfil certain criteria to work with us. Our staff representative group has worked with the senior management team to ensure human rights are upheld, and awareness of issues and rights are communicated throughout our head office and site operations. Last year we introduced enhanced CRB checks for all staff and supply chain partners to ensure we protect the vulnerable communities we work with. Lakehouse has promoted human rights in the communities we work. As a business, we work with some of the most vulnerable communities in the UK. Key achievements include: Development of an apprenticeship and training scheme for long term unemployed Strategic alliances with Thames Reach, St Mungo s and Chapter One, to overcome homelessness and promote the rights of this excluded group Sponsorship of Discover s 500 Families scheme, supporting deprived families in the East End of London, with sponsored visits to a cultural centre An employee volunteering programme which has visited 40 schools to raise awareness of environmental and health and safety issues Provision of training to support our staff with understanding vulnerable residents in order to make referrals when appropriate Development of an NVQ, with work experience for long term unemployed with one of our clients Launch of our own social enterprise and training centre at Arlington House (pictured above) Targets for Provide training for staff and supply chain partners on human rights

3 Audit supply chain partners in order to verify compliance with human rights Develop our training school to provide training to 100 vulnerable people each year Principle 3: Freedom of association and collective bargaining We respect people s rights to have employee representation, including their right to join unions and we do not tolerate harassment. This policy also applies to our supply chain partners. The company has a staff representative group which is involved in strategic decision making and communications. We also consult staff via an annual staff survey and biannual team talks. Our employees are encouraged to seek professional membership of a relevant body. Lakehouse supports this process by paying for fees, and supporting training. Last year, we were delighted to achieve Sunday Times Top 100 status and an industry award for contractor of the year. Over the course of the next year, we plan to change the format of the staff representative group to ensure it addresses some of the issues raised in the staff survey and to change some of our working conditions, including the introduction of flexible working. Principle 4: Business should support the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour The construction industry has a poor reputation for the rights of individuals due to the high proportion of people engaged on a self-employed basis. Our HR policy is that all individuals must be employed on a fair wage. Our sustainable procurement policy and supply chain policy clearly state that all suppliers must eliminate all forms of force and compulsory labour. We monitor this through our pre-qualification system and supply chain management software. Over the last year, we have promoted the London Living Wage to all our supply chain partners. Our goal next year is to audit sites to ensure supply chain partners are complying with our policy and introduce more social enterprise business into our supply chain. Principle 5: Business should support the effective abolition of child labour

4 Lakehouse We have a policy of zero tolerance to the use of child labour. We check the policies of all our suppliers and monitor compliance through site inductions and audits. Most of our supply chain partners are based in the UK, but product manufacturers are increasingly global. Lakehouse has an active work experience programme with over 20 young people every year joining the business. Some of these young people have been excluded from school and join us on an extended basis. We partner with specialist educational business organisations to ensure all rules and regulations are complied with. Lakehouse was presented with an award for its work experience programme this year (pictured). Principle 6: Business should support the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation. Our Equalities and Diversity policy and strategy are monitored by our CSR steering group to ensure the policy is embedded throughout our business. The policy is updated yearly, in partnership with stakeholders such as clients. Last year we had several achievements; Lakehouse was featured in the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission report on race in the construction industry as an example of good practice. We organised several positive action programmes including a women into construction training course, a women in construction management course and offered placements to people with disabilities. We also supported several programmes to increase the ethnic diversity of our workforce, including the Capital Xperience programme which offered young people paid internships with Lakehouse, and STEP into construction which focused on increasing the diversity of trades. We monitor the performance of our supply chain through pre-qualification questionnaires and site induction forms. We also targeted our procurement team to increase the number of BAME led business we have in our supply chain. To support this, we

5 organised or attended over 20 Meet the Buyer events last year and recruited a qualified small business advisor to help build these small businesses. To support our employees and supply chain partners we organised joint diversity training sessions, including a cultural awareness workshop. Last year, we were delighted to win an award for our diversity efforts and acquire the Investors in People reaccreditation. Our targets next year are: To achieve a kite mark to benchmark our diversity efforts To increase the diversity of our supply chain To raise awareness of diversity issues in the community Principle 7: Business should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges Since signing up to the Compact, Lakehouse has achieved ISO14001 status which has led to drastic improvements in our policies and performance. We now have an Environmental Policy, Sustainable Procurement Policy, Carbon Reduction and Waste Policy. We have also set ambitious targets to reduce waste and carbon both at head office and at site level. To do this we have recruited two new additional staff to oversee our approach to environmental management and audit our sites. Lakehouse is a signatory of WRAP s Halving Waste to Landfill and the May Day Agreement which is a pledge to reduce our carbon footprint. We have arranged training courses for residents, clients, staff and supply chain partners. Principle 8: Business should undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility and Principle 9: Encourage environmentally friendly The investment in an ISO14001 accredited environmental management system has helped the business to promote greater environmental responsibility. Lakehouse now has a team of quality managers and environmental managers who have supported awareness of environmental procedures through audits and training workshops on site. Lakehouse has engaged clients, customers and the community in promoting greater environmental responsibility. This includes developing and engaging local schools to start an eco council within the community and organising training/workshops for clients and the community.

6 Lakehouse uses the Considerate Constructors Scheme to benchmark performance. Over the past year, the environmental scores have increased as a result of these initiatives. Waste Lakehouse has been working with WRAP, a UK government agency which aims to reduce waste. Lakehouse is committed to halving waste to Landfill. As a result we have: Introduced a full recycling system within our head office and regional offices Introduced site waste management plans for all our site operations Training for all staff on reducing waste A strategic alliance with key supply chain partners to reduce waste through less packaging and plot packaging Reuse of materials and increase in recycling We have increased recycling rates within our office functions to 98% and 92% on sites. Carbon Reduction Lakehouse signed up to the UK May Day Pledge which is a commitment to reduce our carbon footprint. We are committed to reduce absolute carbon emissions by 20% by Over the past two years, we have used the Carbon Disclosure Project to communicate our performance externally. At present, we are monitoring scope 1 and scope 2 carbon emissions. Key activities to reduce our carbon footprint include: Investment in a fleet manager and new policies around travel A travel plan leading to car sharing for both offices and site operations. Bikes have been purchased for site managers. Investment in new environmentally friendly fleet, including LPG Monitoring of carbon emission on all sites Investment in retrofit technology for the refurbishment of sites Sustainable Procurement Lakehouse spends a significant amount of money on supply chain partners and materials. Following our commitment to the Compact, a Sustainable Procurement Policy was written and is now embedded within our procedures. The Mayor of London s Green Procurement Code helps us monitor our performance. We also have a policy of using local suppliers, and supporting small to medium enterprises. Over the past two years, our procurement team has worked with our supply chain to reduce carbon emission and waste. This includes helping suppliers monitor carbon and the organisation of training workshops. Targets for Improve the measuring of scope 3 emissions for carbon reduction Reduce carbon emissions

7 Encourage flexible working to reduce the need to travel A no waste campaign tied into an accredited qualification A research project with a university to improve retrofit of properties Principle 10: Business should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery. Lakehouse has a zero tolerance policy towards corruption and bribery. We have a number of policies to support this including an anti-corruption policy and ethics policy. This is communicated throughout our procedures including our induction process. Over the last year, we have been working with our staff to ensure they understand our policy in regard supply chain engagement.