Management Structure
The Group Environment Committee, chaired by the Resources and International Director, remains responsible for setting the Environment Policy and strategy, and continues to report into the Group CSR Committee.
Environmental Management Systems
Legal & General was the first financial services company to obtain ISO 14001 and now operates three environmental management systems, all of which are certified to ISO 14001 standard. Certification ensures that our environmental risks are managed and our performance and legal compliance are maintained. In 2007, the following business functions were certified to ISO 14001:
- Provision of Facilities Management (all major UK occupied sites)
- Corporate Procurement
- Property Management Services (currently covering three directly managed properties)
Legal Compliance
Legal & General maintains internal processes for monitoring compliance with UK environmental law. In 2007, we were not subject to prosecution for non-compliance with environmental legislation.
Managing Waste
Legal & General commissioned the company, Green Standards, to undertake the removal and management of the redundant furniture from our old Hove and London buildings.
Almost 300 tonnes of furniture was removed, of which, 26% was redistributed to schools and charities and 74% was fully recycled.
The ‘Waste to Wonder’ process ensures that end of life assets are reused wherever possible to support charities and schools within the UK and overseas in developing countries, where there is little or no access to educational facilities. Items that cannot be reused for any reason are put through a stringent recycling process that ensures that as close to 0% as possible ends up in landfill.
Schools and charities within the UK that have benefited from the Green Standards project at Legal & General include:
- Born Free Foundation
- Swindon Advocacy Movement
- Lansdowne Hall Trust
- Pewsey Vale School
- Headway Brain Injury Association
- Wyvern College
- British Trust for Conservation Volunteers
- Shelter
- Normalea Centre Exeter
- Barking and Dagenham Diabetes Group
- Farms for City Children
- Plymouth Guild
- Grange Junior School Swindon
We are proud of how these moves have been managed and how it demonstrates our building policy commitments.
In 2007, the facilities team at City Park extended their Facilities Management ISO 14001 certificate to the newly opened second building for operating systems compliant to the environmental management standard. We have also implemented a Biodiversity Plan at the site giving us three such plans over our five head office locations.
