Stakeholders and materiality

Customers

We strive to be a genuinely customer-centric business, building our customers high-quality homes and providing the best service.

We engage directly with customers at our developments and monitor their views through focus groups, independent industry surveys and post-occupancy research. Read more in our Sustainability Report 2018.

Communities

We engage with local communities at every site, from planning and throughout construction, including through meetings, exhibitions, workshops, newsletters, information boards, social media and our website. Engagement helps us create developments that reflect local needs.

We have a consistent and thorough community engagement process, with a framework in place that provides clear procedures for all of our regional business units. Please see our Sustainability Report 2018 for further detail.

Employees

We are proud of our people and their commitment to the business. We strive to employ the best talent and invest in their development. We aim to be the employer of choice in our industry and offer attractive remuneration and focus on employee engagement that helps us recruit and retain skilled employees.

We keep UK employees informed about Company news and developments via our employee magazine, regular email newsletters, e-mails and our Company intranet. We undertake regular employee surveys. Please see our Sustainability Report 2017 for further detail.

Suppliers and partners

Our suppliers play a major role in our business and we collaborate with them on many aspects of sustainability. We choose suppliers carefully, aiming to select partners who share our values and to work with them to achieve our goals.

We have quarterly meetings with all national suppliers in the UK and provide training and support for subcontractors in areas such as health, safety and environment. We work in partnership with suppliers and sub-contractors on improving health and safety, product development and more.

We have quarterly meetings with all national suppliers in the UK and provide training and support for subcontractors in areas such as health, safety and environment. We work in partnership with suppliers and sub-contractors on improving health and safety, product development and more. We are also working with suppliers as part of our Project 2020 initiative. Please our Sustainability Report 2017 for further detail.

Investors

We regularly engage with our shareholders and provide them with timely communications around environmental, social and governance issues, be that through our reporting, participation in industry benchmarks or investor meetings.

We maintain an extremely thorough investor relations programme. Please see our Annual Report and Accounts 2017 for further detail.

Local government

We engage with local government across the UK as part of the planning process for our developments. We place significant importance in engaging with local government as it helps us reflect local priorities in our plans.

Wherever possible, we engage with planners through pre-application discussions. Please see our Sustainability Report 2017 for more information.

Central Government

We work with central government on issues connected to the UK housing and business agenda. And we use our industry expertise to give central government our views on proposed legislation and policy changes.

We also engage with government agencies such as the Environment Agency and the Highways Agency. Please see our Sustainability Report 2017 for further information.

Housing associations

We provide affordable (social) housing on a significant proportion of our developments. We work closely with independent housing organisations that are Registered Providers to ensure that affordable housing is integrated effectively into our developments.

We work closely with independent housing organisations that are Registered Providers to ensure that affordable housing is integrated effectively into our developments. Please see our Sustainability Report 2017 for further detail.

Trade associations and industry bodies

Members of our senior management team represent the Company on a wide range of industry and other committees and steering groups. Our Chief Executive Pete Redfern is on the Board of the HBF (Home Builders Federation) and we work closely with them and a range of other organisations.

Our Chief Executive Pete Redfern is on the Board of the HBF (Home Builders Federation) and we work closely with them and a range of other organisations. Please see our Sustainability Report 2017 for more information.

Experts and NGOs

We partner with NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and expert organisations in areas such as urban design, ecology and innovation to help us create sustainable communities across the UK.

We engage with organisations such as the Wildlife Trust at a corporate level and also on specific developments, and we work closely with and support a national network of homelessness charities. In addition, we sponsor Buckinghamshire University Technical College.

Please see our Sustainability Report 2017 for more information.