This page provides detail of our performance within the first two-year phase of Vision2020 (covering the period May 2010 - April 2012).
We partially or fully achieved 96% of our two-year commitments. While we did not achieve 4% of our commitments, a number of these were carried forward to ensure that they are delivered in the coming years. Amongst our key successes, we were delighted to have achieved our highest ever customer recommendation level (96.6%), our lowest ever RIDDOR Accident Incident Rate (2.69) and to have been awarded the title of 'Britain's Most Admired Company'.
Between 2010 and 2012 we made strong progress within each of our four Vision2020 action areas. Detail on our performance in each of these areas is available here.
Commitment | 2010 - 2012 Assessment | Commentary |
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Survey every customer to measure satisfaction and continue to target that over 90% would recommend us to a friend | In 2010/11, 96.2% of our customers would recommend us to a friend. | |
Carry out post-occupancy monitoring of electricity, water and gas/heat consumption on at least four completed developments in order to measure the success of our designs and to influence the design of future schemes | Post occupancy monitoring did not take place. We are carrying this forward as part of our 2012-14 commitments. | |
Highlight the sustainability benefits of our developments in sales and marketing materials and home manuals | Over the last two years, a selection of sustainability materials for both sales and marketing and home manuals have been developed. Most home manuals and site marketing materials now contain this information. | |
Train all sales and marketing staff in sustainability so that they are able to sell the benefits to customers | While considerable effort has been made to train sales and marketing staff in sustainability, not all staff were trained between 2010 and 2012. We have committed to train sales as part of our 2012-14 commitments. | |
Communicate Vision2020 to all customers | Vision2020 is communicated to our customers through wall displays and brochures in our sales and marketing suites, a dedicated section on The Berkeley Group website and logos on hoarding and marketing materials. | |
Ensure that all commercial space and student accommodation achieves BREEAM Very Good or is capable of achieving BREEAM Very Good if the fit-out is to be undertaken by the tenant | 100% of our developments containing commercial space that were submitted for planning between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012 will achieve BREEAM Very Good. | |
Undertake market research on at least 25% of purchasers to understand how sustainability influences their home buying preferences | Market research was performed in both 2010/11 and 2011/12 to understand how sustainability influences home buying preferences. In 2010/11, 221 survey responses were received, also representing 26% of purchasers. In 2011/12, 290 survey responses were received, also representing 26% of purchasers. |
Commitment | 2010-2012 Assessment | Commentary |
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Design all new homes to achieve at least Level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes | Planning applications were submitted for 14,632 homes between May 2010 and April 2012. Three schemes did not commit to Code Level 3:
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Design all new homes to achieve at least a 25% improvement in energy performance compared to 2006 Building Regulations | All projects which commit to Code Level 3 will achieve this commitment. In addition, a number of projects are being designed to comply with Building Regulations Part L 2010 and will therefore meet this commitment. However, there are two exceptions to this, totaling 378 homes. | |
Consider future climate change risks as part of development design and construction | All Berkeley Group sites consider future climate change risks as part of development design and construction. Measures include full flood risk assessments undertaken during the planning process and assessment of overheating risk as part of Building Regulations Part L 2010 compliance. | |
Design all new homes to achieve water use of 105 l/p/d (a 30% reduction compared to average home water use) | This commitment is achieved through gaining Code Level 3 certification. The projects which have not achieved Code Level 3 have also not achieved this commitment. This equates to 382 homes. | |
Locate all developments within 1km of a public transport node | 100% of sites submitted for planning between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012 are within 1km of a public transport node. | |
Provide Cycling storage on all developments | 100% of our developments submitted for planning between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012 will provide cycle storage facilities for residents. | |
Provide home office working facilities in all homes | 100% of homes submitted for planning between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012 will provide home office working facilities. | |
Provide recycling facilities for every home | 100% of homes submitted for planning between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012 will provide recycling facilities. | |
Complete over 95% of development on brownfield land | In 2010/11, 92% of our completed homes were on brownfield land, in 2011/12 this dropped to 89%. This rate has fallen due to the completion of 621 homes on greenfield land. | |
Consult an ecologist on all developments to provide advice and guidance on protecting ecology | Between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012, three developments have not consulted an ecologist. |
Commitment | 2010 - 2012 Assessment | Commentary |
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Reduce operational carbon dioxide emissions by 5% annually until April 2012 | We collect data on all our direct carbon emissions and those relating to business travel. In 2010 we also began collecting data on subcontractors' fuel consumption on our sites. We have measured our reduction in carbon emissions based on our Scope 1 and 2 emissions only and have normalised our consumption by the average number of operatives on our construction sites each year. In 2010/11 we made a 3.9% reduction compared to 2009/10, so did not achieve our target. therefore exceeding our 5% reduction target. | |
Reduce operational water consumption by 5% annually until April 2012 | We have normalised our water consumption by the average number of operatives on our construction sites each year. On this basis we achieved a 4.4% reduction in 2010/11 compared to 2009/10, so did not achieve our target. compared to 2010/11 and therefore exceeded our 5% reduction target. | |
Reuse or recycle over 80% of construction, demolition and excavation waste | We reused or recycled 82% of our construction, excavation and demolition waste during 2010/11 and increased this rate to. | |
Conduct a sustainability review at all permanent offices and provide recommendations for improvement, specifically including recommendations for reducing energy and water use | Sustainability reviews were performed at all St James, Berkeley Homes and the Berkeley Group Head Office in 2010-11 and at St George offices in 2011-12. | |
Measure carbon emissions associated with commercial transport movements to and from sites | Data relating to commercial transport movements was assessed for Kidbrooke Phase 1 during 2011-12. A full database of transport journeys was developed and mapped, showing journey origins across the UK. Emissions were then calculated using this database. On completion of this exercise we chose not to perform this assessment at any other site. | |
Undertake energy and water use reduction programme at three construction sites and share lessons learnt around the business | An energy and water use reduction programme was undertaken at one site during 2011/12. The results indicated that the site was implementing a variety of energy and water efficiency initiatives. These initiatives are communicated group wide. | |
Set up a material exchange programme to facilitate the sharing of excess materials between construction sites and reduce the volume of waste sent to landfill | A material exchange programme was set up on the Berkeley intranet in 2011/12. This consists of a web-based notice board on which sites may post surplus materials that they have available which may be re-used on other sites. | |
Undertake environmental audits on all construction sites | Environmental audits are conducted at all sites by members of our sustainability and health & safety teams at least three times per year. This includes sites where we are not the Principal Contractor | |
Provide sustainability training to all employees | Systems and processes are in place to ensure that all our staff have access to sustainability training. The training courses range from short briefings about Vision2020 for Directors to one-day courses on environmental management for construction staff. | |
Measure staff retention rates and benchmark performance | Retention rates are measured on a quarterly basis and have been benchmarked against published data from housebuilder/developer peers where they make this publicly available. | |
Capture and quantify our work with charities and local communities and benchmark performance | We collect information on both our financial and in-kind charitable and community donations throughout the year. | |
Match employees' donations and fundraising for The Berkeley Foundation | During 2011/12 Berkeley began matching employees' donations and fundraising for The Berkeley Foundation.The Berkeley Group matches any donation made by a member of staff through our Give As You Earn scheme, with 50% of the matched funding going to a charity chosen by the employee and 50% to the Foundation to distribute. | |
Implement a Give as You Earn Scheme | At the start of 2011/12 Berkeley put in place a Give as You Earn Scheme. After 12 months, 14% of all employees had signed up to Give As You Earn, helping Berkeley achieve the Gold Payroll Giving Quality Mark Award. | |
Raise £300,000 for The Berkeley Foundation through employee fundraising and donations | Following its launch in 2010, £1.9 million has been raised and donated by The Berkeley Foundation. | |
Communicate our sustainability aspirations and requirements to suppliers through our sustainable procurement policy | Our Sustainable Procurement Policy is distributed to our suppliers with tender documents and contracts. We acknowledge that this process is not consistently applied across all projects and will be working to improve this over the next two years. | |
Integrate sustainability requirements into supplier contracts and management rules | During 2011/12 we launched a new Sustainability Code of Practice for Contractors, which now forms part of our Management Rules. | |
Share experiences with Government and the rest of the industry through representation at steering groups and events | Over the last two years we have shared our experiences with industry through a wide variety of forums. During 2011/12 we continued to participate in and support the UKGBC Task Group on Legal Frameworks for Sustainable Community Infrastructure; the House Builders Association Code Reform Group; and have taken Chairmanship of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Property and Construction Committee. In addition we have engaged with national and local government directly on a number of issues. | |
Continue to achieve a RIDDOR reportable Accident Incident Rate (AIR) of less than 4 incidents per 1000 employees and sub-contractors | In 2010/11 we achieved an AIR of 3.63. , below the industry average and our best performance to date. | |
Continue to achieve a RIDDOR reportable Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) of less than 0.20 | In 2010/11 we achieved an AFR of 0.178. Our AFR in 2011/12 was 0.132 , below the industry average and our best performance to date. | |
Provide health & safety training to all direct employees | A full suite of health & safety training is available to all our direct employees. In 2010/11, following our annual training review, we updated our programme with the introduction of further specialist courses. We have also reviewed our training matrix, which outlines all the courses we currently run and establishes a timeline by which an employee must have attended the given course. | |
Undertake an internal review of our policy and arrangements regarding employees health and well-being with a view to establishing a programme | We have undertaken a review of our policy and arrangements regarding employees' health and wellbeing and will be launching a Health Promotion Programme during the summer of 2012. | |
Undertake work to identify an external benchmarking programme (e.g. CHASPI) to positively measure the Group's health & safety performance | While an initial exercise to externally benchmark the Group's health & safety performance using CHASPI was performed, the decision by the HSE to no longer publicly benchmark companies through this system meant that this was no longer a relevant performance indicator. An alternative method is being sought. | |
Undertake internal health & safety audits on all construction sites | In accordance with our health & safety governance arrangements, each project under construction is visited monthly by an independent assessor. | |
Further enhance the Group's 'Good Work' programme through active engagement with contractors' management and operatives | In September 2011/12 we held six Good Work Conferences with over 700 of our trade contractors' Directors and Senior Management attending. Following on from the success of these conferences, we ran a series of Good Work workshops for subcontractors' supervisors. During 2012/13 we will further enhance the Good Work programme through a number of activities, most notable being operative workshops across all projects. |
Commitment | 2010 - 2012 Assessment | Commentary |
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Achieve at least the Building for Life Silver standard on all new developments | All new developments of 15 homes or more submitted for planning between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012 have been assessed against the Building for Life criteria. 100% achieved 14 or more of the criteria (equivalent to the Silver Standard). We have chosen not to require this assessment on smaller schemes. | |
Use bespoke design on all developments to create high quality homes and places | Through our commitment to Building for Life, and inherent in the way we work, we use bespoke designs when creating and constructing all our homes and communities. | |
Consult with a Crime Prevention Design Advisor (CPDA) or Police Architectural Liaison Officer (ALO) on all developments | All developments submitted for planning between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012 have already consulted with a CPDA/ALO or will do so during detailed design. | |
Apply the Lifetime Homes principles in the design of all homes | All developments submitted for planning between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012 have applied the Lifetime Homes principles in the design of all homes. | |
Apply Berkeley's Community Engagement Strategy on all planning applications over 500 units | 100% of our schemes over 500 units which submitted planning applications between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2012 consulted with the community using our best practice guidelines or demonstrated exemplary community consultation. | |
Put in place an employment plan on all developments of 1000 units or more incorporating targets for the proportion of local labour used, plans for long-term job creation and measurement of the success of the plan implementation | The business took the choice not to deliver this commitment and instead chose to put in place a Young Person's Employment and Development Policy (linking strongly with The Berkeley Foundation). | |
Register all sites with the Considerate Constructors Scheme and achieve a minimum of 32 points in all site audits | All sites have registered with the CCS. A total of five sites did not achieve scores above 32 during the two-year period (two scored 31.5 and three scored 31). |