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1 How is housebuilder sustainability assessed?

There are few independent measures and housebuilders’ corporate responsibility or sustainability reports vary in content and quality, making them difficult to compare. To fill this gap, WWF and Insight Investment, the asset management arm of HBOS, have produced two reports on the sustainability performance of the large publicly listed housebuilders over the past three years. The reports have been used by investment managers and brokers, government departments and bodies such as English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation. Now the team behind the reports – WWF, Insight and consultant Upstream, which carries out the analyses – plans to broaden the initiative.

2 How will they do that?

They want to increase the number of housebuilders analysed to cover about 70% of UK home construction, so more effective market comparisons can be made. They also want to expand the benchmarking exercise by producing supplementary reports that assess housebuilders’ efforts in specific areas such as climate change. WWF, Insight and Upstream hope this will embed a monitoring mechanism for performance on sustainability more firmly in the industry.

3 What will the benchmarks be and how will they work?

There are expected to be three forms of benchmarking:

• Benchmarking corporate reporting This will look at firms’ reporting on sustainability issues, with findings based on published material such as annual reports. It will be carried out every two years for the top 20 developers. The initiative is, however, open to developers outside the top 20. The benchmarking criteria will be revised according to industry feedback, benchmarking experience and the regulatory and market environment.
• Benchmarking corporate practice A sustainable homes benchmarking club is being created that will be open to all UK developers. Developers will receive a range of services, including a benchmark of management practice on sustainability.
• Benchmarking performance on specific projects or issues In the years when benchmarks of corporate reporting and practice are not published, club members will be able to have evaluations of performance in specific areas, such as climate change or water, or on specific projects.

4 How will this be funded?

WWF and Insight will continue to fund this work, along with the Housing Corporation. Upstream will manage the club and deliver the benchmarks. The partners have asked other government and public agencies to back the initiative. This will cover the cost of benchmarking corporate reporting for the top 20 developers. Developers joining the club will pay an annual fee of £5000 to cover the cost of delivering the additional benchmarks.

5 What is the timescale?

Benchmarking criteria should be agreed by the end of October. Analysis of the top 20 companies will take place from November to next March. The report should be published late next year.