Environment & climate change
We recognise that we have a key part to play through minimizing the environmental impact and carbon footprint of our operations to ensure the long-term sustainability of the buildings, infrastructure and services we provide.
Policies and management
Our Environmental Policy sets out our commitment to integrating the assessment, management and control of environmental issues into the management of our business. This is complemented by our Energy Policy, which recognizes the impact of energy use on climate change and commits us to effectively and efficiently managing our energy use. Our Biodiversity Policy obligates us to protect and, where appropriate enhance biodiversity during our construction activities. Our Responsible Sourcing Policy requires us to consider our preferred suppliers’ environmental impacts, among other issues.
We identify, manage and mitigate our environmental impacts from project to business level through our ISO 14001 certified management system, supported by a network of Health, Safety and Sustainability (HS&S) advisors.
Our policies and processes are contained within our BMS (Business Management System), a mandatory platform, which defines our approach to all key operations and sets out the standards we must adhere to. Use of the BMS ensures consistency, governance and control and effective risk management by mitigating issues at source.
We make our people aware of our environmental standards and policies that are integrated into our BMS through extensive training, our intranet and by promoting our Code of Conduct, ‘Doing the right thing’, to all our employees.
Ensuring compliance
Compliance with our environmental policies is assessed through HS&S advisors who are aligned to each business unit to provide support and advice. They visit sites regularly to ensure compliance with policies and procedures and produce a Safety, Security and Environmental Report, which is communicated to appropriate levels in the business through a database. Any non-compliance identified requires a corrective action plan, including the date by which it will be completed.
We also monitor performance using key performance indicators (for example covering waste and timber), which are regularly reviewed and variations investigated. Any incidents or visits (for example by the Environment Agency) are logged in databases and reported to divisional Boards each month.