Investments and developments
Balfour Beatty Capital is a leading promoter of, and investor in, major infrastructure assets in the UK, including healthcare, education and transport. It leads the process from identifying the opportunity, through bidding up to financial close.
Balfour Beatty Capital also provides assistance in bidding for assets overseas in the US, Europe and Singapore. The company has offices throughout the UK and is committed to further increasing its investment base in Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and Private Finance Initiative (PFI) concessions, as well as other infrastructure assets.
Corporate social responsibility is core to all activities. The company recognises that in order to prosper it needs to ensure that the communities in which it works genuinely benefit over the long-term. The projects play a key role in creating and caring for communities and the people the company serves, and as such, Balfour Beatty Capital places responsible practices at the heart of all its activities.
Projects are managed in a sustainable and environmentally sensitive manner and the company aims to ensure that resources are used responsibly, recycling where possible and working with suppliers who share the same principles and are willing to pioneer environmental initiatives.
A sustainability task group exists to evaluate the possibility of incorporating renewable energy techniques into new and existing projects, and to work with partners to help meet or exceed the UK Government's targets for reducing carbon dioxide emissions.
A dedicated community engagement team works with concession companies and in partnership with the local community to promote community cohesion, support social regeneration and tackle issues such as crime, vandalism and unemployment.
The commitment to safety stretches across all areas of the Balfour Beatty Capital business. Through communication, training and monitoring the highest levels of safety are maintained at all times. Ongoing initiatives include promoting behaviourial based safety, healthy living, driver safety awareness and safety by design. In 2007 there was an AFR rate of zero in the context of 676,051 hours of work, with 2,050 hours devoted to staff safety training.
There are 17 nationalities represented within the workforce and the proportion of ethnic minorities increased from 6.25% in 2006 to 7.2% in 2007. The number of women employed within Balfour Beatty Capital in 2007 was 43%. Employee morale is reflected in an extremely low absenteeism rate of 0.9% as a monthly average. The 2006 employee survey showed that the company continues to enjoy high morale with a satisfaction level of 91% . An employee survey is conducted every year and identified areas for development and progress are openly shared throughout the organisation at management conferences, company updates and through the company newsletter.
Chairman and Chief Executive's statement
We have continued to evaluate, critically, all our governance and management systems to ensure their suitability for purpose. Policies have been renewed and, where necessary, restated. We are updating the terms of reference of the Business Practices Committee so that it can monitor, evaluate and guide our non-financial performance more effectively.
Helping to tackle global issues
We measure our major environmental impacts and have set targets for reducing our carbon footprint. We have engaged with Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace to understand their agenda as well as the Environment Agency to ensure that our work is in line with their aims and objectives.