Sustainability report 2009

Sustainability at Balfour Beatty

Balfour Beatty celebrated its centenary in 2009. While we are proud to have been in business for such a long period of time, what do we, as a company and as a leadership team, need to consider and put in place today to ensure that Balfour Beatty continues to thrive and has a sustainable, long-term future?

True corporate sustainability means being confident of survival, and success, over the long term.

To achieve this, we need to have the financial strength to withstand the market volatility that we inevitably face from time to time. In spite of economic uncertainty, I am pleased to say that our strategy is robust, and that we have continued to perform well.

Furthermore, we need the right strategy. Our goal is to be a world-leading provider of services to infrastructure owners. The acquisition of Parsons Brinckerhoff means we have now created an integrated portfolio of substantial businesses operating across the infrastructure lifecycle. Together with the diversity of our geographic and end-user markets, we have an excellent platform for future, long-term success.

As society and its expectations change, we are focused on setting the industry standard for sustainability and meeting all our responsibilities as a market-leading business. Undoubtedly, the leaders in our industry in the future will be those who put key issues such as safety, the environment and ethical behaviour at the core of their strategy.

We believe that our focus on the right types of sustainability initiatives gives us access to new markets in the low-carbon and resource-efficient economy of the future, which will drive business growth.

Our sustainability vision, and our roadmap to achieve it, commits us to achieve minimum standards on a range of issues in three areas – profitable markets, healthy communities and environmental limits – by 2020, with a checkpoint at 2012. These three areas do not compete; they represent shared outcomes that closely align with one another.

Delivering on these commitments is good business: good for our customers, good for employees; good for business partners; good for our supply chain; and good for society at large.

We have changed our sustainability reporting this year. Our report encompasses the wider sustainability agenda and is aligned to our 2020 vision and roadmap to allow clearer reporting of progress going forward.

We have come a long way in a short time and set ourselves ambitious goals which we will need to deliver. As in many other areas, if we can demonstrate that we have the right processes in place to ensure the highest standards throughout Balfour Beatty, we will have a clear, competitive advantage.

This is an exciting time for Balfour Beatty. We have great people, excellent long-term prospects and a robust business model.

We know there are significant challenges ahead. The scale and breadth of our activities gives us a real opportunity to make a strong and positive social, environmental and economic impact.

Ian Tyler
Chief Executive
May 2010

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