For Legal & General
Construction Wellbeing Programme.
Construction has the highest suicide rate of any UK industry, 3.7 times the national average. Legal & General is the first major investor to address it as a stewardship obligation across its supply chain.
The brief
A stewardship problem, not a charity case.
Two construction workers take their own lives every working day in the UK. The rate is 3.7 times the national average. Most large investors treat this as a contractor problem, an HR problem, or a charity to fund. Legal & General treats it as a stewardship obligation: the people building the assets they invest in are part of the asset's lifecycle, and their wellbeing is L&G's to influence.
The brief was to design a programme that worked across L&G's live construction supply chain, met the CCLA Q26 mental health benchmark, and aligned with WHO and ISO 45003 guidance on psychosocial risk at work. It needed to be evidence-based, cheap enough to scale across every project regardless of size, and operable by site managers, not clinicians.
Most consultancies do not take on programmes at this layer. This sits between the investor's ESG framework, the contractor's site operations and the worker's pocket. That alignment is what was missing.
Our approach
Built on Ownminder. Authored with Cognacity. Tracked at every site.
The programme runs on the Ownminder Mind Fitness platform: a QR-accessible toolkit that delivers wellbeing content to workers without forcing app installs, sign-ups or personal data collection. Every site gets a poster. Every worker gets the toolbox in their pocket.
The clinical content was authored in partnership with Cognacity and Dr Phil Hopley, the consultant psychiatrist who has led mental health programmes for Olympic athletes, military returners and the City. Thirteen evidence-based Toolbox Talks now sit at the core of the programme, each tied to a specific psychosocial risk on the ISO 45003 register and aligned with WHO guidance and the CCLA Q26 benchmark.
On top of the universal worker toolkit sits a layer of bespoke line-manager training, delivered to site supervisors at every project that joins. Managers learn to spot the signs, hold the conversation, and route the worker to the right support. The approach is operational: it does not wait for a worker to ask for help.
The whole programme is governed centrally by Storey on L&G's behalf, with quarterly reporting back to L&G Investment Management's stewardship team. Costs are transparent and shared across the supply chain rather than absorbed by any single contractor.
Outcomes
Live across L&G's investable construction estate.
Snapshot of the programme as currently rolled out. Coverage extends as new projects join the L&G investment pipeline.
9 / 10
pilot projects live
Active deployments across the L&G investment construction pipeline. [STAT NEEDED: confirm exact ratio with L&G stewardship team].
Marginal cost
relative to total project value
Cheap enough to mandate on every project, regardless of contractor size or contract type.
13
Toolbox Talks authored
Co-developed with Cognacity. Each aligned to ISO 45003, WHO guidance and the CCLA Q26 benchmark.
3.7×
UK construction suicide rate
Versus the national average. The problem the programme exists to address.
QR
access on every site
No app installs, no sign-ups, no data collection from workers. Posters on the gate, content in the pocket.
Bespoke
line-manager training
Delivered to site supervisors at every project. Operational, not clinical: spot, talk, route.
Voices
Why the investor cares.
"At Legal & General, we manage over £1.2 trillion in assets, but our most valuable asset will always be our people."
"At Legal & General, we believe corporate and social responsibility needs to be integrated into our relationships with our supply chain, government and wider society. Working with Storey Consulting, we have been able to embed best practice around employment and skills, well-being and digital skills into our projects."
"[ASSUMED quote from Dr Phil Hopley, Cognacity, on the clinical rationale for tying Toolbox Talks to ISO 45003. Awaiting attribution.]"
Delivered with
What's next
From pilot to standard.
The next phase moves the programme from pilot to a standing requirement across L&G's UK construction supply chain. New Toolbox Talks are in development, the line-manager training is being formalised into an accreditation pathway, and the underlying Ownminder telemetry is being extended so site engagement can be reported alongside the standard ESG disclosures.
The longer ambition is investor mutualisation: a programme that any major UK property investor can adopt at the same low per-project cost, governed centrally, evidenced consistently. The first investor-led response to the construction mental health crisis becomes the standard.
See the Ownminder platform→