<b></b><p></p><p><b><b>The need to be seen to do the right thing environmentally and ethically is becoming more acute. Customers are demanding it and so are investors. Robert Jones argues that those housebuilders that take the need to be green and clean seriously will gain a competitive edge</b></b><br><b>Rejoice and be merry for the season of governance is upon us. All over the country the bright young men and women of the governance industry are designing new questionnaires to send to overworked company secretaries and finance directors. </b><br><b>Sadly, despite their brightness, many of them send housebuilders exactly the same questionnaires as they send to the manufacturers of large quantities of dangerous chemicals. Woe betide those who leave blank the boxes for their total emissions of various chemicals on the grounds that they are but humble builders. Even woe betide those who put &amp;“nil&amp;” in the box, for strictly speaking we probably all emit microscopic traces of such chemicals and &amp;“nil&amp;” must mean precisely that. </b><br><b><b>real effort required</b></b><br> We are all supposed to accept the &amp;“one size fits all&amp;” approach and that is sad for two reasons. Firstly, governance is an important and not a trivial matter, and secondly there are environmental issues, the …