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Supporting the UN's Sustainable Development Goals

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations address the greatest challenges to humanity. We are supportive of all 17 goals, recognising that we have a clear and direct contribution to make to a focused group of goals. In focusing our efforts on the following five goals, with clear action plans, we know we will deliver a greater impact. 

How we’re contributing

We’re providing opportunities for people with barriers to employment, championing diversity and inclusion and implementing policies and training to maintain safe and fair labour practices.

Key facts & figures
  • Targeting 50:50 gender balance across global staff by 2033.
  • Living Wage accredited (UK).
  • We’re committed to increasing the number of women in senior project roles year-on-year.
  • Target to deliver £2bn social value and enrich the lives of 2 million people in the UK, and deliver $800m of social value in Australia by 2030 – this includes providing employment opportunities for people with barriers to employment, and youth employment, education and training.
  • We offer an industry-leading parental leave policy. 
  • We have achieved our third consecutive Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Employer of Choice for Gender Equality citation.
  • We became a Level 3 Disability Confident Employer in the UK in 2022 and are working towards achieving this standard in Australia in FY26. We’re sharing our experience with other organisations to help them make suitable adjustments too.
  • We’re committed to stamping out modern slavery in construction, through education campaigns, our stringent policy and easy access to speak out.
  • We provide modern slavery training to all supply chain partners via our partnership with the Supply Chain Sustainability School.
  • Our Code of Conduct sets out clear expectations of ethical practices for employees and supply chain partners Our Gender Equality Action Plan in Australia and our Diversity & Inclusion policy in the UK, sets out how we will achieve our market leading gender parity targets, through courageous change, honest conversations and building capability.
How we’re contributing

From hospitals to railways, we’re delivering the infrastructure needed to enrich lives and help local communities thrive – and we’re striving to do so in a socially responsible and lower-carbon way.

Key facts & figures
  • 70:60:30 Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) (70% offsite manufacturing, 60% improved productivity, 30% reduction in programme).
  • In-house and partnership R&D programmes into innovative lower carbon materials, technologies, approaches and design protocols.
  • Lower carbon concrete mandated in our UK and Australian projects.
  • We’re prioritising sectors that will deliver the infrastructure needed to connect communities and support sustainable growth, including rail, green energy, healthcare, science and research and data centres.
  • We’re innovating to find better, more sustainable ways to deliver infrastructure, including modular solutions that deliver improved wellbeing, carbon and community outcomes.
  • Founding member of ConcreteZero initiative and active member of Materials Embodied Carbon Leadership Council (MECLA), focused on generating lower carbon solutions for construction.
  • Supporting local supply chains by increasing spend with local economies, investing in skills development and spending with SMEs, VCSEs and indigenous businesses.
How we’re contributing

We work with clients to deliver buildings and infrastructure that connect communities and improve lives. By working closely with our clients, design partners and supply chain partners, we’re able to deliver projects that provide lasting impact in local communities and support prosperity and opportunity.

Key facts & figures
  • We deploy innovative building methods to enhance efficiencies and minimise local disruption across a wide range of rail and highways projects.
  • We’re proud to be playing an active role in reducing the environmental impact of cities and transport through our projects, which include rail development, water and sewerage systems, and renewable energy infrastructure, in turn delivering improved air and water quality.
  • We’re collaborating with local communities and organisations to understand cultural and natural sensitivities in the areas in which we work, seeking to make a positive difference.
  • We actively engage and collaborate with Indigenous Peoples, communities and businesses in Australia.
  • Through our Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan we have clear direction and a delivery plan for our teams, including our key deliverables, targets, initiatives and actions that integrate with the way we work.
How we’re contributing

We’re working across our business and supply chain to map the climate and nature-related impacts of our materials and operations. Together with our industry peers, we’re challenging engineering, design and manufacturing norms to reduce the overall volume of resources used.

Key facts & figures
  • We are committed to science-based target reduction targets for Scopes 1, 2 & 3 by 2030, and to be a net zero company by 2050. These targets are approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi).
  • Our sustainability-linked credit facility for the UK holds us accountable for reducing our carbon intensity year-on-year and diverting at least 99% of waste from landfill.
  • Environmental management plans for our sites include a keen focus on waste management, identifying opportunities to eliminate, share and reuse materials to reduce overall consumption.
  • Waste management and circular economy working groups are developing and embedding new strategic initiatives to reduce resource use at organisational level.
  • We have mapped the nature-related impact of our global sites, projects and depots and are working with supply chain partners to do the same.
  • We report our climate-related risks and opportunities through TCFD and CDP disclosures, and within our annual sustainability report.
  • We use 100% renewable electricity and are switching to electric plant and fleet where possible. In the UK we have dramatically reduced our use of diesel through switching to responsibly-source hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) and biodiesel and deploying fuel efficient equipment and practices. In Australia, we are conducting HVO trials, building the case to promote wider scale availability and use within that market and sharing findings with the wider industry to help build momentum.
  • Our UK procurement practices are aligned with the ISO20400 standard for sustainable procurement
How we’re contributing

We’re working to better understand our nature-related risks, impacts and opportunities, and have developed a global biodiversity strategy. We’re committed to helping halt the loss of biodiversity and take active steps to improve nature in the areas in which we work.

Key facts & figures
  • We have completed biodiversity audits and hotspot analysis for sites across our portfolio and geographical locations.
  • We aim to deliver projects that are nature-positive and are proud to have delivered biodiversity net gain on a number of sites to date.
  • We have biodiversity action plans for many of our fixed and project sites.
  • We are undertaking supply chain hotspot analysis to understand the nature-related impacts of material sourcing and consumption of key commodities.