Berkeley Group Holdings is a British property developer and housebuilder specialising in residential-led and mixed-use developments across London, Birmingham and the South of England. The company operates under brands such as Berkeley, St George, St James, St Joseph, St Edward and St William.

Reason for engagement

The construction sector is considered at high risk of modern slavery. A combination of low-wage, low-skilled jobs, endemic subcontracting and labour shortages increase the risk factors. Furthermore, many of the materials used in construction (e.g. bricks, stone, timber and glass as well as renewables) are associated with elevated supply chain risks.

What we did

For the past two years, CCLA, in partnership with the UK Cabinet Office, LGT Wealth Management and the Supply Chain Sustainability School, has been convening C-suite and senior managers from the construction sector alongside investors, civil servants, government officials and civil society to discuss the risks of modern slavery in the UK construction sector.

The most recent roundtable was held in October 2025 and featured keynote speeches from Jess Phillips, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, and Sam Ulyatt, chief executive of Crown Commercial Services. Representatives from Berkeley Group Holdings attended both roundtables.

Outcomes

Berkeley Group Holdings is one of the companies assessed and ranked annually in the CCLA Modern Slavery UK Benchmark. Having been ranked in tier 3 (‘meeting basic expectations’) in 2024, in 2025 it improved sufficiently to move up to tier 2 (‘evolving good practice’). This was a result of improved disclosures around due diligence, supply chain mapping and the company’s approach to risk management. Specifically:

  • Improved disclosures on human rights due diligence processes, including more details on how the company assesses and manages risk.
  • Reporting on the salient modern slavery risks around the recruitment of contractors and in the company’s materials supply chain.
  • Greater detail on the categorisation, mapping and disclosure of the company’s supply chain.
  • Improved disclosures on the on-site induction of workers and awareness campaigns disseminated across all Berkeley sites, in Albanian, English, Polish and Romanian.
  • Improved disclosures on the effectiveness of the company’s actions and its future plans.

Berkeley Group Holdings was pleased with the benchmark outcome, stating that it ‘recognises [its] improved approach in a number of areas’ and sharing that it is ‘working to continue the development of [its] modern slavery framework to deliver further improvement’.*

*Berkeley Group Holdings, communication to CCLA, 5 September 2025.