Last year's report confirmed the publication of the WYG Code of Conduct underpinning our corporate value of integrity. In the year under review the Company has consolidated its investment in this value through:
- the publication by WYG International of a policy on human rights which essentially subscribes to the International Labour Organisation's Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and will apply to all overseas offices of WYG International. In fact almost all the countries in which WYG International operates currently subscribe to the Declaration (with limited exceptions in some cases) and a substantial part o WYG International's business is and has been contracted with international development aid organizations such as EU Aid, the UK Department for International Development and the World Bank who require the highest standards of integrity in dealing with matters pertaining to Human Rights;
- the revision of the Company's e-policy relating to the exchange of inappropriate or offensive material in Company time, on Company systems or in the Company's workplace; and
- the establishment of an Ethics Committee comprising three Group Board Directors including the HR Director as Chair, to enforce adherence to the Company's Code of Conduct and, most particularly, the Company's e-policy referred to above.
During the year, WYG launched the WYG Sustainability Bureau providing clients with single-portal access to the full range of expertise in a wide array of disciplines - ranging from simple environmental to building physics - relating to sustainability policy and practice.
Increasingly, legislation such as the recently-effective Part L Building Regulations is seeking to drive those making key asset-creation or enhancement decisions in the direction of sustainable solutions. This will create greater demand for the type of service which the Sustainability Bureau offers. The Group operating procedure ("GOP") relating to key client satisfaction referred to in last year's report has been radically revised, renamed ("The Charter for Client Care") and extended in scope during the year. The new GOP applies to substantially all the Group's client base and addresses the full range of client care from high level corporate engagement to single-project performance reviews.
Examples of sustainability services offered by WYG to clients during the year include:
- WYG Belfast's appointment to manage and deliver the Government-funded Envirowise programme in Northern Ireland offering businesses free, independent, confidential advice and support on the minimisation of waste, the reduction of adverse environmental impacts and the consequent enhancement of profit;
- WYG Cumbria's appointment as project manager and engineering designer for the Cockermouth School Eco Centre, an exemplar of sustainable design incorporating recycled materials (including sheep's wool insulation), natural materials (including a green roof planted with Sedum) and a full array of self-generated heat and power sources (including a wind turbine, photovoltaic cells and a ground source heat pump);
- WYG's appointment, during the design phase, to assess and enhance the sustainability performance of Hull's RIBA award-winning visitor centre involving the undertaking of a full BREEAM (Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method) assessment of embodied energy, whole life costing performance and water and energy consumption of the building and the development of a sustainable waste management plan for the construction and operation of the site; and
- WYG Scotland's appointment to advise and support British Waterways Scotland in their negotiation with the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency to arrive at an agreed sustainable interpretation of the Special Waste Amendment (Scotland) Regulations 2004 for application to the analysis of dredged material in Glasgow resulting in a £20,000 increase in the client's laboratory analysis costs and a disposal cost saving of approximately £500,000.
In the area of supply chain relationships, the Group has continued to enhance its key supplier performance monitoring capability during the year and to strengthen supplier partnerships.