Local community
Site visits are encouraged
We recognise that our operations are part of the local community and we strive to be good neighbours. Many of our larger sites operate liaison committees attended by councillors, council officers and residents’ representatives. The percentage of sites with liaison activities rose and visitor numbers were also ahead of 2015, boosted by a very successful open day at our Ketton cement plant and the interest created by a rare pair of breeding bee-eaters at Low Gelt quarry in Cumbria.
Further open days are planned during 2016 and we continue to promote visits, particularly from schools and community organisations. In addition, our three cement plants all produce community newsletters to keep residents and businesses informed about their activities and provide a conduit for further information.
We help charities and voluntary groups in communities close to our sites and offices through the Hanson in the Community scheme. In 2015 we provided cash or materials to support over 110 organisations to the value of £36,000. Our employee charity matching scheme contributed over £40,000 to 61 charities during 2015. The scheme, which encourages employees to raise money for charity by matching their fund-raising up to £500, has helped raise more than £1.2 million pounds since its introduction in 1994. We also made corporate donations of £7,377 to Comic Relief and £8,000 to Children in Need
During the year we launched more community web pages for our bigger sites featuring news and information. We now have 17 sites with their own dedicated pages on our web site.
We are corporate patrons of CRASH, the construction industry charity which provides accommodation for the homeless, and we support a number of other smaller environmental and community-based organisations and charities including the Freshwater Habitats Trust and Bumblebee Conservation.
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Community relations
Community relations
2010 (baseline)
2013
2014
2015
Relevant sites
69
55
55
49
Sites holding three liaison events
46 (67%)*
36 (65%)**
36 (65%)
34 (69%)
Visitor numbers
8,843
26,224
25,752
29,856
* Two events in 2010 and 2013 ** Two events in 2013
Target: At least five community liaison events a year at every quarry by 2020.
Open days pull in the crowds
Open days at Ketton cement works and Chipping Sodbury quarry pulled in the crowds and gave local people an insight into what goes on at the sites. Read more
Charity heroes raise £8,000
A pledge to match every pound raised by employees resulted in a total of £8,000 being donated to the 2015 BBC Children in Need appeal. It was the first time a company-wide campaign had been staged for a single charity. Read more