Management of our Environmental Activities
Carillion has had an environment programme since 1994 and over that period has developed an organisational structure that supports and develops our sustainability policies, procedures, objectives, targets and indicators. The management strategies of our sustainable development programme are reported on in the following section, whilst the results of our activities are reported in the Performance section.
Environmental management is part of good business management and especially so for Carillion, since our construction related activities have direct environmental impacts and our facilities management activities are able to influence operational environmental impacts.
Our scope of environmental management
Carillion is able to manage the direct environmental impacts of its activities, however it is harder to influence the environmental performance of infrastructure resulting from construction or all aspects of a site’s environmental performance where it manages the facilities. Carillion Services’ facilities management operations vary in their nature and scope and present us with differing opportunities to control environmental or sustainability impacts of a site. In most construction projects the design is handed over to the contractor and there has traditionally been little scope to influence the design. Private Finance Initiative (PFI) projects and major Design and Build projects offer Carillion’s business groups the greatest opportunity to influence the sustainability of the resulting infrastructure. PFI projects typically involve the design, construction and then management of new public facilities for 25-30 years. It is on these and Design and Build projects where Carillion has maximum opportunity to influence the design of a project to ensure sustainability considerations are taken into account. It is important to influence design since most of the long term sustainability decisions of project are made before the construction phase. It is in this context that Carillion has developed an environmental, now sustainability, programme to improve the impact of our activities.
The groups of people involved in managing the environmental impacts of Carillion's activities are best described by our Management Of Our Sustainability Activities Diagram . Our intention to move towards undertaking sustainability activities is highlighted in our updated Environment Policy (adopted in March 2000). Our Environment Policy is supported by:
Infrastructure Management, Capital Projects, Schal and Carillion Building have incorporated sustainability into their business group policies.
In 2000 we continued to fulfil our public commitment to have all of our operations covered by an externally certifiable Environmental Management System (EMS). An EMS now covers all but 2 business groups and Head Office with 75% of our 2000 turnover certified to the international ISO14001 standard. The individual business groups use their environmental management systems to monitor and improve the environmental impacts of their operations through the setting of objectives and targets. The individual business groups’ targets are set concurrently with the corporate targets to fulfil longer term objectives. Carillion’s current two year objectives were set in 2000 to improve Carillion’s understanding of its sustainability impacts and the inter-relationship of those different impacts, as shown in Carillion’s Progress to Sustainability Island diagram.
Carillion has initiated Environmental Accounting to fulfil Carillion’s objective of understanding the interrelationship between economic and environmental performance.
Our policy, objectives and targets are supported by procedures, and one such example is our procedure for risk assessment.
Our environmental performance is documented separately and includes sections on energy, resources and waste, nuisance, transport, water and pollution, biodiversity and the built environment. To assess our ability to manage environment and safety risks, we took part in the Safety and Environment Risk Management (SERM) programme and were rated at AA+.
Government drivers for enhanced environmental performance from constructionConstruction creates the quality of our built environment and provides infrastructure for travel, work, leisure, and retail activities. In the process the:
The other areas coming under increasing government scrutiny are supply chain management, waste and contaminated land. The environmental impacts of construction are closely linked to construction suppliers, who form part of the construction industry. The construction industry in its entirety forms a major part of the UK’s economy, responsible for 10% of the UK’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is recognised that much of this spend flows though subcontractors and suppliers.
In response to energy concerns, the government is proposing to change the Energy Efficiency Provisions of the Building Regulations and is adding a Climate Change Levy to electricity bills for all non-domestic customers. The government introduced the Landfill Tax to reduce waste generated, and the forthcoming introduction of the Aggregates Tax is concentrating minds on how to use resources more efficiently. After the publication of the Urban Taskforce Report the government has tasked Local Authorities to identify locations and the scale of contaminated land so that opportunities for revitalising inner cities and brown field sites can be seized.
These activities directly impact on Carillion’s construction activities and due to this internal expertise Carillion Services, the facilities management business, is well positioned to manage environmental impacts of the small volume of temporary works undertaken on its projects. Carillion Services which works both with the public and private sector also has client drivers to address its environmental activities, such as ‘Best Value’ and the National Health Service’s ‘Controls Assurance’.
Supply Chain ManagementWe recognise that a major part of our environmental impact is a reflection of our supply chain’s environmental impact. Carillion’s Environmental Supply Chain Taskforce developed the Environmental Supply Chain Position Statement and was set up in 1999. In 2000 the taskforce has worked with Carillion’s purchasing committee to include environmental criteria in the recently developed Supply Chain Strategy and developed Timber and PVC Purchasing Guidelines. We recognise that suppliers need to understand their environmental impacts before they are able to reduce any negative impacts and so we support Project Acorn, as a Mentor company to train our suppliers. Please click here to see our supply chain performance.
Most of the construction waste from Carillion’s sites is controlled waste and its disposal is regulated. Carillion business groups that are the main contractor are designated as ‘producers’ of waste and have to exercise ‘duty of care’ to store waste transfer notes and establish the credentials of the waste carriers and the disposal facilities being used. As the Landfill Tax increases the waste disposal costs there is an increasing temptation for ‘waste carriers’ not to use appropriately designated landfill sites. To ensure that material is not inappropriately disposed of Carillion procedures require that periodic checks are made to ensure that waste materials removed from our sites are taken to the agreed licensed disposal facility. Managing Contaminated LandIn response to the Government Carillion have produced their contaminated land policy and are in the process of putting together a contaminated land database.
