From dialogues to fields of activity Our sustainability strategy is based on a multi-stage materiality analysis. It focuses on the question as to which areas of activity have a high significance for sustainable, responsible business from the viewpoint of the company and of the stakeholders.

Gira surveys As the first step in creating our materiality analysis, we took potentially relevant topics from established standards, namely the fourth edition of the sustainability reporting guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative [G4], the international standard for sustainable company management [ISO 26000] and the German Sustainability Code. On this basis, in a second step the company interviewed 22 Gira managers on current and future challenges in the sustainability context. At the same time the Gira employees were asked to complete a quantitative questionnaire, and 238 people participated.

Survey of external stakeholders After this our external stakeholder groups were surveyed, as the expectations of customers, suppliers and other relevant stakeholders are of great importance for the strategic and content-related orientation of our sustainability management. We try to stay in constant touch with them in various ways. For the current materiality analysis we selected six external groups of stakeholders [architects, end customers, specialised trades, wholesalers, partner companies and planners]. They were also systematically asked to complete a survey based on insights gained from the qualitative and quantitative employee surveys. 76 participants took part. All results of the surveys were summarised in 2014 and subjected to final assessment by the Sustainability Committee and Executive Management to evaluate the relevance of individual topics for the long-term economic success of Gira.

Summary of the materiality matrix The combination of internal and external relevance assessments produces in the Gira materiality matrix (see above). All of the above aspects are summarised in our materiality matrix in relevant fields of action. The higher the position of a field of action, the greater its significance from the viewpoint of our stakeholders. The further right the position of a field of action, the more relevant this topic is for the corporate success of Gira. Our top sustainability topics that are highly relevant from both internal and external viewpoints are therefore shown in the top right hand area of the matrix.