Corporate responsibility reporting in UK construction

Abstract

An ever increasing number of British companies are realising the benefits of reporting to stakeholders on their corporate responsibility activities. With the exception of the UK Companies Act, which requires certain companies to report but does not specify anything more than this, corporate responsibility reporting is currently voluntary. The topics reported on by companies can therefore vary widely, both between and within industries. Using a comparative framework and a detailed review of 12 construction industry corporate responsibility reports, this paper identifies the most prominent topics reported upon by the industry. The framework uses the global reporting initiative's key performance indicators but also incorporates and expands upon the idea of ‘waves’ of corporate responsibility in order to provide a second level of comparison for the reports. The paper also touches upon some of the possible drivers behind the topics which organisations choose to report upon. Health and safety, environmental performance, energy and resources, carbon, supply chains, and community were identified as the most commonly occurring themes in construction industry corporate responsibility reporting.