Three years ago the group reviewed how it manages key risks and issues of sustainability. During our evaluation we found that both our management of these issues, as well as the gathering of information and subsequent reporting were somewhat disconnected from how we were managing and monitoring our strategy.

We therefore commenced a process of integrating our processes and systems to ensure a holistic approach to risk and its impact on our business.

As a management team we also debated how risks fitted into our business model and interrogated whether we truly operate in a sustainable manner. In last year’s report we represented the result of these discussions – our integrated business model. This is outlined this year on page 4. This model indicates how sustainability forms a core part of our operations. Our senior management remuneration is linked to performing against both financial and non-financial measures, further driving the centrality of sustainability. We also implemented a group scorecard measuring ratios across people, planet and performance to give an integrated view to the reader of how we perform across the board. Refer to page 44.

In a further step towards providing stakeholders with an understanding of our key risks and how we manage them, this year we increasingly aligned the content of our integrated report with the needs and interests of stakeholders and with management’s view on our key risks and material issues.

The process we followed is outlined on page 4. In summary, we:

	Asked stakeholders what key information they deemed material to the organisation
	Identified the material issues in our business through rigorous internal debate at a senior management and board level
	Included external assurance processes of a number of measures
	Included key performance measures – these have been provided for a number of years, which allows careful tracking of our progress. These are not subjective information, but ratios and percentages which are internally verified by the responsible executive team members

In terms of external assurance by the auditors who also audit our financial information, we again chose two sustainability measures most relevant to our business. The measures assured by PricewaterhouseCoopers were:

	The group’s construction secured order book
	Contract profit/loss-maker ratio

These measures were chosen as they provide a key insight into the operations of the group and its sustainability going forward. These measures are also integrally linked to the way the group manages its future income and the risk of loss-making contracts in its core business of Construction.

We are the first construction group to assure its order book.

Although the group believes that the risks outlined in our integrated report this year are the material issues facing the business and that we have assured the areas we believe are most relevant to our business, in the coming year we need to formalise our assessment processes. This involves finalising a workplan, led by internal audit and assisted by the CFO. The objective will be to:

	Confirm the completeness of our key risks identified
	Assign responsibility, both internally and externally, for the assurance of these
	Ensure all risks are adequately monitored and assured

This is currently work in progress.

In the next integrated report the group will provide stakeholders with a gap analysis and information on any further key assurances obtained.