We are proud to report that George Wimpey is the first publicly listed housebuilder to achieve IS0 14001:2004 certification for all of its UK operations. This is a tremendous achievement and a clear demonstration that we are committed to behaving responsibly towards the environment; controlling the impact of our activities and continually improving our performance in the future.

Building sustainable communities

We have made further steps in meeting the challenges of sustainable development. During the year we introduced our Sustainability Policy, which clearly sets out our approach and intentions in meeting the key criteria in this area. We were delighted that our efforts were recognised during the year in the second Insight Investment and WWF survey of the sustainability practices of UK housebuilders. The survey report described George Wimpey as one of 'three clear leaders', placing us third overall, but first in the environment section of the survey.

We also won through to the final of the UK Government's 'Design for Manufacture' competition. Our success in this competition demonstrates our commitment to working with the Government on their priority areas of sustainability, design excellence, modern methods of construction and affordability.

KPIs

Transparent reporting and continuous monitoring and review of our CSR activities and our key performance indicators (KPIs) are vital if we are to achieve our CSR targets. As promised last year, in line with our CSR framework, we have introduced a new section on supply chain management into our report. We have continued to measure ourselves and report on the KPIs set out in our first CSR report in 2002 and once again, in all key areas, we have set ourselves clear targets for 2006.

Going forward

We remain committed to being a responsive Company and seek to engage with a wide range of stakeholders as we develop our plans for the future. As such we are keen to seek feedback on this report from all who read it, so your comments would be welcomed.

Since we embarked on the CSR path we believe we have made considerable progress, however, we still have a long way to go. At the same time we recognise that the challenges and emphases are constantly changing and developing and we must continue to be responsive and innovative in our approach to all we do. We believe that by doing so we will make George Wimpey a stronger and better Company.

John Robinson, Chairman

Peter Johnson, Group Chief Executive