Affirming Our Commitment To Our Stakeholders

On behalf of the Board, I am pleased to present CDL’s second Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report. Through this, we hope to share our CSR achievements and aspirations, and reaffirm our commitment to all shareholders, investors and stakeholders.

We believe that a successful organisation should not be founded solely on business achievements. For a more sustainable business model, we adopt ethical and responsible corporate behaviour with respect to all our stakeholders and the community at large. As a Green developer, we remain steadfast to environmental sustainability.

Our involvement in CSR started years ago, and although we have made much progress since, it is still evolving. In September 2005, we joined the United Nations Global Compact to lend our support to the CSR movement in Singapore. As a member of Singapore Compact, we have helped to advocate CSR among the business community through awareness dialogues and workshops. It is our hope that by sharing our experience, it may inspire more companies to practice CSR in their business operations.

We continue to be the only Singapore developer listed on the London FTSE4Good Social Responsibility Index since 2002, a global benchmark for socially responsible investments. Our efforts in environmental sustainability have also earned us the prestigious Singapore Green Plan 2012 Award, Green Mark Gold Awards as well as Energy Smart Label Awards for our developments.

OUR CUSTOMERS: PIONEERING INNOVATIONS FOR
GREATER VALUE

Eco-innovations

Savannah CondoPark – first Safari-themed condominium

Savannah CondoPark’s Innovative Eco-Features

• Photovoltaic panels for a solar powered clubhouse • Energy-saving light fittings and air-conditioning systems • Pneumatic waste disposal system for odourless and vector-free collection of domestic waste • Carbon monoxide sensors to activate ventilation fans in the car park • Convenient green areas to promote recycling • Recycled copper for the animal sculptures • Transplanting of matured trees • Ecological pond and lush greenery

Happy homebuyers at our project open house

Prior to the collection of keys to the new home, we organised open house previews of soon-to-be-completed developments. Last year, over 300 families were given the first-hand opportunity of touring their property, meeting their new neighbours and attending various talks on interior décor, home improvement and high-rise gardening. We also conducted orientation tours of the amenities in the neighbourhood.


A highlight of such open house events was the “Green Living Exhibition” which advocated eco-friendly habits at home. The exhibition was part of CDL’s “Let’s Live Green!” eco-outreach programme to encourage new homeowners to be environmentally-conscious. Each household was presented with an exclusive canvas shopping bag and a green-living kit which illustrated the development’s eco-friendly features, their usage and maintenance.

OUR INVESTORS: INSTILLING GREATER CONFIDENCE

We provided prompt quarterly updates on the Group’s financial performance and conducted briefing sessions for analysts and the media on our half-year and full-year results. These sessions were attended by our Executive Directors and senior management to address queries on the Group’s performance and prospects.

In recognition of our corporate transparency efforts, we were once again commended as one of Singapore’s most transparent property companies in the SIAS (Securities Investors Association Singapore) Investors’ Choice Awards 2005.

CDL has been included as a component stock in the new FTSE/ASEAN Index and the FTSE/ASEAN 40 Index. Created in partnership with FTSE Group, the indices are designed for trading and the benchmarking of financial products in the South East Asia Region. The project is the first cooperative effort between the five ASEAN exchanges, namely Bursa Malaysia, Jakarta Stock Exchange, The Philippines Stock Exchange, Singapore Exchange and The Stock Exchange of Thailand.

We were ranked Top 20 in Outstanding Overall Achievement in the Singapore International 100 Ranking 2005 in recognition of our continued efforts at international expansion.

OUR EMPLOYEES: PROMOTING AN ENGAGED WORKFORCE

Various career development and training programmes were implemented to help develop and improve our employees’ performance at work. To support an engaged workforce and encourage staff bonding across divisions, we devoted 842 training days to leadership and teambuilding courses aimed at fostering initiative, interaction and openness among our employees.

Good team spirit, at work and at play

More importantly, we believe that work-life harmony creates a quality workplace. We recognise the pressures employees face and help them balance their workload with other demands in their life. Our work-life programmes comprise flexible work options and maternity, paternity and childcare leave. In addition, we provided a childcare facility within walking distance of our headquarters. Other family-friendly policies include financial assistance schemes, sports and social activities, as well as workshops on health matters, medical check-ups and discounted membership rates to fitness centres.

StaffConnect@CDL, a committee of staff representatives across various departments and levels set up in 2004 to promote management-employee communication, continued to play a vital role in reinforcing staff bonding and teamwork. The annual Staff Day and other employee involvement activities were well attended and helped promote better cooperation and team spirit.

For our consistent efforts in helping employees achieve a balanced life between work and family, CDL was awarded the Singapore Family Friendly Employer Award and The Singapore Health Award 2005 (Gold).

DEVELOPING QUALITY PROPERTIES:
FOR A SAFE AND GREEN ENVIRONMENT

We continue to uphold our “Safe and Green” philosophy by assessing the impact of our property development activities on the environment. Our EHS management programmes encompass energy and water conservation, waste management, safety practices and public health improvement and education. Since 2003, we have been consciously monitoring and improving our environmental performance through a set of key performance indicators.

Last year, CDL submitted eight projects for the inaugural Green Mark Certification
Scheme launched by Building and Construction Authority (BCA).

We are pleased to report that all eight properties received the certification, with five given a higher Gold honour. In the area of safety, we achieved the 2005 UK Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Silver Award as well as the Ministry of Manpower’s Annual Safety Performance Awards (ASPA) for five of our projects.

For leading the industry in good environmental practices and educating our consumers and partners to adopt eco-friendly habits, CDL received the Singapore Green Plan 2012 Award by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. This award recognises companies and individuals who have been environmental role models and who have contributed significantly to help Singapore move towards environmental sustainability. Moving forward, we will continue to adopt and improve our EHS programmes for a Safe and Green community, and set higher performance targets for ourselves.

Influencing Our Stakeholders

Republic Plaza wins BCA Green Mark (Gold) and Energy Smart Label

CDL facilitated peer learning amongst our suppliers and contractors to influence them to be more EHS-conscious. We hosted a dialogue session with leading safety experts from Singapore and the United Kingdom to share their insight on safety management in construction projects. We also shared with various local government agencies our best practices in making the workplace safe and green.

Since 2001, we have been conducting quarterly audits, namely the CDL 5-Star Assessment System, to assess the EHS performance of our contractors. After each audit, we held a seminar with our contractors to share and compare the results to encourage better performance for the next round of review. We have seen improvements in the overall average audit scores of our projects and our contractors have achieved significantly lower Accident Frequency Rates (AFR) compared to the Singapore industry benchmark. Our AFR was 0.4 accidents per million man hours compared to the industry benchmark of 3 accidents per million man hours.

Eco-Related Awards

• Singapore Green Plan 2012 Award – Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources • Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Silver Award • Building and Construction Authority (BCA) Awards - Green Mark Awards (Gold) • Energy Smart Labels – National Environment Agency and National University of Singapore (Energy Sustainability Unit) • Occupational Health Practices Award – Ministry of Manpower - Excellence Awards & Innovation Awards

To recognise exemplary contractors who have consistently scored high marks in the audits over a one-year period, we initiated our very first CDL EHS Excellence Award in 2005. This annual award is designed to further motivate our contractors to improve their EHS performance and to keep our work sites environmentally-friendly and accident-free.

As a landlord, we incorporate cost-effective and energy-efficient building management measures for our commercial properties, tracking their energy and water usage. Energy-saving lighting as well as infra-red motion sensors are installed in our buildings to reduce energy consumption. At Republic Plaza, we recycle water in the air-conditioning system by channeling the condensation to the cooling tower, saving 80,000 litres of water per month. For these initiatives, three of our buildings, namely Republic Plaza, Fuji Xerox Towers and City House, received Energy Smart Office labels awarded by the National Environment Agency and Energy Sustainability Unit of the National University of Singapore.


Eco-outreach Community Programmes – Project Eco-office

Singapore Green Plan 2012 Award

As part of our ongoing Project Eco-Office campaign with the Singapore Environment Council, we organised a seminar titled “A Great Idea Is A Green Idea” to promote a green work environment. Project Eco-Office was also augmented to include a self-auditing system that helps companies assess the level of conservation measures in the office and help workers focus on aspects of their daily work practices that have an impact on the environment. CDL was among the first four organisations in Singapore to embark on this audit and secured the Green Office Certification for 2005-2007.

To encourage tenants of our commercial buildings to be more eco-conscious, we facilitate a complimentary and permanent recycling scheme at 16 of our properties. Tenants are provided with recycling boxes to collect waste papers within their offices. We work with SembEnviro Tay Paper to provide free door-to-door collection service for larger amounts of recyclable waste. This recycling programme commenced in 2003 in 11 buildings and as of December 2005, we collected a total of 681,920 kg of recyclable waste from 16 buildings; the average tenants’ participation rate was approximately 68%.

BUILDING A BETTER PLACE FOR THE COMMUNITY

Lending A Helping Hand To The Less Fortunate
Staff volunteers embarked on various initiatives in aid of the Tsunami disaster victims. They included a company-wide donation drive that raised a total of $100,000 for the Singapore Red Cross Society. We helped to publicise the fund-raising campaign among our tenants and also offered Mercy Relief a city premise at The Corporate Office as the collection point for donors to drop off their contributions. More than 100 employees were involved in manning the collection centre, which collected over 800 boxes of supplies from CDL tenants and the general public.

The CDL Group of companies rallied together to make the large-scale fundraising
carnival in aid of Assisi Home and Hospice a huge success. Central Mall played host and was joint organiser of the 180-stall carnival, while CDL’s subsidiary, City Building Management lent invaluable logistics and cleaning support. Employees volunteered their time to man various food and games stalls. All proceeds went towards defraying the cost of in-patient home and day care for cancer patients of Assisi Home and Hospice and its Children’s Centre.

The spirit of volunteerism has always been strong in CDL. This tradition has been continually upheld by an abundance of avenues opened for employees to reach out to the less fortunate in the community. One such avenue is City Sunshine Club, a conduit for employees to participate in voluntary activities. Its programmes include distributing food and necessities to the poor, befriending
the elderly and nurturing children at risk of delinquency.

On my part, I was very honoured to have been able to respond to President S R Nathan’s call to contribute copies of my personal photo art book, Heart Voyage, to the annual President’s Challenge fundraising effort. The sale of this limited edition publication raised over $100,000 for needy beneficiaries.

Promoting the arts: The 2nd CDL Singapore Sculpture Award and Exhibition	Supporting a national cause: To Singapore with Love

Arts And Culture For A Gracious Society
CDL’s role in nation-building through the arts and culture saw the sponsorship of “A Heroic Decade”, a three-month art exhibition held at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM). This exhibition commemorated Singapore’s 40th year of independence and showcased some 70 poignant works from SAM and private collections on Singapore during the 1950s and 1960s – decades that were pivotal in transforming the social and political landscapes of then Malaya.

CDL also supported the production of To Singapore with Love, a hard-cover 264-page publication which featured the captivating images of Singapore’s people, arts and culture as well as natural heritage. 330 images were selected from 8,400 entries submitted by photo enthusiasts throughout Singapore. The book was launched by President S R Nathan, and public exhibitions of selected photographs were held at the Singapore Art Museum, the Istana and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.

The 2nd CDL Singapore Sculpture Award drew overwhelming participation from established and aspiring sculptors in Singapore. We initiated this award in 2002 with the purpose of promoting creativity and the appreciation of sculpture among
Singaporeans. Since then, we are pleased to report that there have been marked improvements in the quality of entries; many were created with wide-ranging expression, form and choice of materials. To help heighten public interest for this art form, we organised an exhibition of some 30 winning and selected entries at SAM.

For our support to the local arts community, CDL was presented with the National Arts Council’s Friend of the Arts Award for the ninth consecutive year.


Environmental Conservation
CDL sponsored “Earth from Above”, the largest open-air exhibition in Singapore by noted French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand. The public exhibition, prominently displayed along Orchard Road, featured 120 large-format photographs shot from a helicopter and revealed the extent of the Earth’s destruction by mankind.

CDL also participated in the National Environment Agency’s “Adopt-A-School Scheme” by sponsoring the installation of solar-powered underwater lights in Catholic High Primary School’s eco-garden pond. This provided an experiential learning environment for the 11- and 12-year old pupils who were able to track the amount of energy used and discover the environmental benefits and cost savings compared to conventional sources of energy. The students showcased their findings at the NEA’s two-day “November School Carnival” as part of the “Clean & Green Week”.

CDL sponsored Singapore Environment Council’s publication of Birds Seen at the Istana, a project commissioned by President S R Nathan to celebrate the presence of migratory birds that have found their home on the Istana grounds.

We continued with our decade-long tradition of producing corporate calendars with a nature theme, to remind all staff and business associates to be mindful of nature’s precious resources.

THE PATH AHEAD
We will continue our CSR journey by refining our programmes, extending our reach and developing initiatives to reinforce the importance of CSR in our business operations. We are committed to creating greater shareholder value and at the same time, remaining steadfast in playing a positive role in society and building an enduring and sustainable organisation.

back to top