Building sustainably
Safety and wellbeing
For housebuilders, the need to build at speed to meet rising demand, and potential shortages of skilled labour, must never compromise the safety of our workforce or sub-contractors.
We aim to achieve an injury-free environment through robust governance and procedures, with rigorous inspections, alongside education and training against a highly detailed matrix and programme for both direct and indirect employees, and regular communication to make sure best practice is followed, problems reported, and solutions found. The SHE training matrix is reviewed and updated on a regular basis and includes a set training programme for all divisional employees, Group employees, subcontractors and other site labourers and operatives. Topics include but are not limited to: SHE policies and procedures, scaffold inspection, first aid, fire safety, environmental awareness, ladder and stepladder safety, cable detection and management of confined spaces.
The highest standards of governance
A dedicated committee at the company Board level, chaired by Nigel Webb (Senior Independent Director), assists with the Board’s stewardship of our performance on safety, health and the environment (SHE). In 2025, Barratt Developments divisions were recertified against ISO14001 (Environmental) and 45001 (Health and Safety) standards. Redrow was separately certified to ISO14001. The next cycle of audits from 2026 will be extended to ensure the combined Group will be assessed against both environmental and health and safety standards. These management systems are guidelines setting out universally agreed procedures and policies that make for well-run safe and healthy work environments. A team of SHE managers make sure that these are continuing to be met on a monthly basis, making thousands of site visits a year.
All developments have a detailed safety, health and environmental plan and execution strategy which outlines the risk controls for the construction phase and the safe occupation of our new homes.
An annual programme of unannounced site visits by senior level staff adds a further check to the process, as does our well-publicised and anonymous Safecall whistleblowing service for any employee or sub-contractor with an unaddressed health and safety concern.
Two-way communication
Ultimately, the very safest working environment can only be achieved if every individual plays their part, so a two-way process of regular communication is key. As well as a robust system to make sure every employee, sub-contractor and manager has the SHE training they need, we regularly consult and feed back to staff through onsite ‘toolbox talks’, newsletters, posters, and other campaigns.
On the rare occasions where a serious incident occurs, we ensure lessons are learned and that corrective action is taken. We recognise the need to improve safety and have worked with our groundworks contractors and other homebuilders to consider and implement methods of improving plant safety on site. We continue to work with our supply chain including plant suppliers in improving the way plant is operated on our developments.
We have regular SHE reviews in each operational division to review performance and areas of improvement. The constant dialogue with employees also takes place through our annual staff survey, providing them with a chance to voice their opinion on the company’s approach to SHE.
Director site visits
Divisional Directors conduct proactive reviews of sites through our Forward Through Quality (FTQ) site tours. These reviews take place at different build stages and are led by the Managing Director of the Division and attended by relevant Divisional Directors. These reviews include looking at site housekeeping, safety health and environmental site management, waste segregation and site presentation. Managing Directors conduct unannounced site visits with their SHE managers three times per year and Regional Managing Directors visit sites twice a year with the SHE Operations Manager. This is reviewed by the SHE Operations Committee to ensure that the visits take place.
Health and wellbeing
The physical and mental health of our workforce is of utmost importance to us.
We have been signatories to the Building Mental Health Charter since 2022 and a member of the Zero Suicide Alliance since 2023 and we are active members of the Home Building Skills Partnership Mental Health Awareness Group. In FY25 we also launched a new addiction and dependency support service with Six MHA. Six MHA provides support for any addiction with colleagues able to access support by phone or email or through an app. This support is available to all colleagues across the Group.
A range of health benefits are offered through the employee benefits scheme, which includes our Employee Assistance Programme, launched in 2023. This offers our workforce access to unlimited counselling sessions and a range of health and wellbeing support services, including financial and legal support. In FY25 we expanded the programme further to provide enhanced provisions including 24/7 remote GP access, cancer assist, medical second opinions and physiotherapy.
Additionally, across Barratt Redrow, we have over 340 Mental Health First Aiders providing peer-to-peer support throughout the business. We’ve also partnered with Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity to deliver “Make it Visible” site tours, bringing wellbeing advice and support directly to our site-based teams and subcontractors.
The Group is partnered with the registered charity Mates in Mind and provide a suite of materials onsite and in the office that raises awareness and addresses the stigma of mental health issues in the UK construction industry. We provide a ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’ eLearning course for all employees.
