Willmott Dixon Holdings Board
Sustainability performance is reported monthly to the main board of directors, which retains overall responsibility for sustainable development.
Julia Barrett, chief sustainability and compliance officer, serves as director responsible for sustainability and non-financial compliance.
Julie Hirigoyen, former CEO at the UK Green Building Council, has provided challenge on sustainability since July 2022. Julie replaced Sir Jonathon Porritt; the noted environmental campaigner, who was director of Friends of the Earth in the 1980s and former chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, who stepped down after 12 years.
Climate-related matters are discussed at each Board meeting, under which the Board reviews progress against its sustainability strategy, its targets and plans and its strategy for managing climate-change issues. Climate-related matters are discussed at each Board meeting, under which the Board reviews progress against its sustainability strategy, its targets and plans and its strategy for managing climate-change issues.
The Sustainability Advisory Group
The Board is supported by the Sustainability Advisory Group (SAG), which oversees performance and makes policy recommendations to the Board on climate-related issues. The SAG meets at least three times a year is chaired by the Chief Sustainability & Compliance Officer who reports to the Board on the implementation of this policy and strategy, including progress against our Now or Never targets.
These science-based targets (which are aligned with maintaining global warming to a 1.5oC scenario), as approved by the Board and subsequently approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), are reflected in the 2030 sustainability strategy Now or Never. Our decisive decade. The delivery of the ambitions and targets set out in Now or Never is being driven through the implementation of annual action plans, which are reviewed by the SAG and approved by the Board.
Willmott Dixon Sustainability Team
The Board is also supported by the Sustainability Team, which develops the climate-related policy and strategy for the business, responding to regulatory and policy frameworks and engaging with external organisations to promote alignment with, and influence, industry and government policy direction.
The Sustainability Team ensures that strategy, policy, process and delivery are consistent, and implemented in line with leading industry best practice. It reports sustainability performance, including regular updates to senior management, the Chief Sustainability & Compliance Officer and the Holdings Board.
Sustainability Team members manage a companywide KPI dashboard, which outlines progress of annual targets relating to a variety of metrics (for example, emissions, mileage, and waste), and makes recommendations for performance improvement.
Company Boards
Our Interiors business and local company boards of our Construction businesses coordinate the development and delivery of local sustainability initiatives. Local company managing directors, through their nominated sustainable development directors, are responsible for reviewing, approving and ensuring the delivery of local initiatives.
Our granular performance data enables operational teams and local boards as well as the Sustainability Team to identify problems, and target improvements. Overall performance is reviewed by the main board with regional offices that do not meet their sustainability targets expected to present their remedial improvement plans directly to the Board.