Environmental, Social, and Governance
We evaluate our business through the lens of ESG to ensure we are conscious of, and work towards, the needs of all stakeholders
Sustainability and ESG
ESG is a term used to outline how an organization has embedded Environmental, Societal and Governance practices into its operations, business model and Sustainability performance.
Transparency and integrity align with our values of building trust and doing the right thing wherever we can. As a B Corp certified organization, we hold ourselves to the highest standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
In line with our values, we recognize the crucial role that sustainable reporting plays in achieving our goals. That's why we incorporate globally recognised ESG criteria into our approach to ensure that we operate responsibly and sustainably and that our stakeholders can trust in our practices and reporting.
What does ESG mean to Area?
Moving towards a more equitable society is imperative to our success and happiness worldwide. As members of the design and build community, we're primed to be a force for good on this mission throughout our supply chain.
As more and more investors consider ESG in their investment decisions, non-financial metrics have increased in their significance. While interlinked with sustainability, we use an independent and internationally recognised framework to develop strategy, record progress, and meet targets.
Measuring the impact we have on society and our planet is essential if practices are to be managed and improvements are to be made. We regularly align our approach to ESG issues via a materiality assessment issued to key stakeholders to ensure that we focus our efforts on those issues that matter most.
Fourfront Group B Corp Impact Report 2023/2024
Download our Impact Report
Over the past year, our B Corp certification has become deeply ingrained in our organisational culture, providing a structured framework for communicating our ESG strategy, fostering innovation, and driving market-leading initiatives. We are delighted to share our first B Corp Impact report, detailing the actions we have taken over the past twelve months and outlining our key goals for 2024.
01.
Environmental
We are focused upon minimizing the negative and increasing the positive impacts of our business on the environment. Environmental factors are those relating to climate change, biodiversity, water use and are all things we consider to measure the environmental impact of our business.
02.
Social
Our impact upon wider society and workplace culture is a key consideration. Social factors affect all internal and external stakeholders that we interact with: landlords, staff, supply chain, customers, visitors and wider communities. We monitor and act upon human rights, labor standards in the supply chain and industry-leading health and safety to name a few.
03.
Governance
Governance relates to our processes of decision making, reporting and business administration alongside our commitment to transparency and ethical behavior. It is clearly linked to the Environmental and Social aspects of ESG in that it ensures we act with integrity when monitoring and reporting against them. We aim to strike a balance of interests between all stakeholders in order to support a long-term, sustainable business strategy.
Monitoring our Progress
In order to robustly assess, and to ensure our performance is comparable beyond our own business, we have adopted the World Economic Forum’s reporting metrics.
Our ethos and practice are built on a foundation of four pillars that go beyond simply reporting. By embedding ESG into key business strategies we ensure that critical business decisions are taken with due consideration to all aspects of ESG.
01.
People
People are our greatest asset and are the reason behind our success. From our talented workforce to the skilled thousands in our supply chain, we uphold our people with equality, honesty, and transparency and ensure we meet the requirements of a good employer. We always look after those our work touches.
02.
Planet
Managing our environmental impact on the planet is the of the highest priority. We work with and influence more than just our own offices and operations under our direct control, and have a wider positive impact on the world.
03.
Prosperity
The prosperity of society as a whole is a vital component of ESG and sustainability, especially when it comes to our future generations. We aim to create significant economic value, not just for investors, shareholders, and owners, but for wider society. We invest in people to contribute to better living standards and wealth creation at all levels.
04.
Principles
Economic, environmental, and social impacts are all equally valued. This means that no matter what actions we take, or businesses we engage with, we ensure our policies, accreditations, operations, communications, and priorities consistently align with our ethics.
We work to UN Sustainable Development Goals
We always work to the expectations of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to achieve our ESG objectives. Here are five target goals that align with our strategy.