Heron Bros has achieved top marks for the BITC UK Responsible Business Tracker and BITC NI CORE Responsible Business Standard.

The company is delighted to maintain Gold Status for the BITCNI CORE Responsible Business Standard, the first construction firm to be re-certified at that level.

We are also delighted to be the first Northern Ireland company to participate in the BITC UK Responsible Business Tracker 2019/20.  Our score is leading in the construction industry benchmarking group when compared with other companies that participated from across the UK.  The overall score is a composite of each of the four parts of the Responsible Business Map including Leadership at Every Level; Purposeful Leaders; Healthy Environment; and Healthy Communities.

Our Responsible Business Tracker assessor summarised that “Heron Bros places corporate responsibility at the core of its business strategy and has an ambition to share best practice with its supply chain. It also has a goal to champion responsible business with a focus on responsible procurement.”

The Responsible Business Tracker is a measurement tool available to all BITC members. It provides an assessment of performance as a responsible business by tracking progress against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).   The Tracker provides a gap analysis, benchmarking against sector peers and the overall cohort and, through a scoring mechanism, the opportunity for recognition of leading practice, improvement and innovation. Aligned to the UN’s Global Goals, the Tracker’s insights provide an overview of how responsible UK businesses are performing.

“We took steps a number of years back to invest in becoming a more responsible business.  We realised early on this was a journey and not something that could be achieved over night.  We planned for it by including corporate responsibility (CR) within our business strategy.  It became part of our Director and Senior Management strategic discussions and decision making, and it quickly became part of our day to day business.  We see the benefits it brings to our staff, supply chain, clients, their families and the communities we work in.  This in turn has had a positive impact on our whole business.  We are grateful to BITC.  Through CORE and now The Responsible Business Tracker, they provided us with a road map helping us on our journey.”  Noel Mullan, Commercial Director, Heron Bros.

Feedback from both the Responsible Business Tracker and CORE has been analysed and used to plan for the next stage of our journey.  Our partnership with BITC will once again be critical in our approach and ultimate success.

Dr Lisa McIlvenna, Deputy Managing Director at BITC NI states, “Business in the Community would like to extend its congratulations to Heron Bros on achieving ‘Core: The Standard for Responsible Business’ at Gold level, the highest possible level, for the second time. In remarking on Heron Bros’ submission, the external assessor and independent panel noted: “Responsible Business is clearly on the agenda for Heron Bros. Rather than maintaining the status quo from achieving Gold Standard two years ago, the organisation has pushed to improve itself even further. That is particularly evident in relation to its monitoring and reporting, which aligns with global standards. Heron Bros is certainly continuing to lead the way on responsible business.”

For more information on the CORE Responsible Business Standard visit https://www.bitcni.org.uk/programmes/core-the-standard-for-responsible-business/ and The Responsible Business Tracker visit https://www.bitc.org.uk/the-responsible-business-tracker/

To find out more about the Heron Bros approach to corporate responsibility please visit our website www.heronbros.com