Building a sustainable business means serving the needs of both the company and the planet. It’s a particularly demanding challenge for the construction industry which makes a huge physical impact on the environment. Consultants like Rider Levett Bucknall have proved it is possible to conform to current best practices, attract more clients and reduce operating and project costs.
With the exception of farmers and sailors, it is fair to say that the construction and property industry has historically had to be more aware of the environment than virtually any other business sector.
They have had, quite literally, a hands on relationship with their materials, close contact with the weather and knowledge of the consequences of their actions. Skills were learned, methods devised and more recently statutory constraints have been applied.
Modern consultants such as Rider Levett Bucknall, who can trace their roots back to the 18th century, are the beneficiaries of the generations who have gone before. They have learned from the past, embrace the present and plan for the future, achieving a place in the Top 100 Employers in both the Sunday Times and Guardian newspaper league tables.
In common with most of the best examples of environmental good practice, RLB combine doing the right thing for the planet with doing the right thing for the business. Project Manager Tim Harris is as keen on sustainability for its own sake as anyone, but he’s unapologetically commercially driven. “Our company has a strong brand image which we consider gives us an edge when it comes to winning contracts, supported by our pro-active environmental awareness,” said Tim.
The interests of business can intersect with those of sustainability when it comes to cost saving. “RLB looked at our overall operation and we discovered that travel was a major expenditure, in both economic and environmental terms. We recently installed video conferencing equipment in all our offices across the country which we calculate will save us 50,000 consultancy miles of travel over the next year. That has a huge impact on our carbon use but at the same time also makes a big saving for the business when it comes to the number of staff working hours saved.”
“We can do a lot when it comes to reducing our travel but you can’t remove it altogether. There is no getting away from the fact that you have to walk a building or a site to properly appreciate its properties and issues,” explained Tim.
Staff in RLB are conscious of environmental issues and delighted to see the top employer awards but it takes hard work, regular encouragement and some controversial decisions to keep up the momentum.
“As well as a recent company-wide competition to generate ideas, each of our offices has a green representative who helps ensure we keep to the sustainable agenda. But managerially we have also contributed at a grass roots level by removing individual waste bins and replacing them with centralised re-cycling containers. With good internal communications to ensure people see the advantages of the system we have changed the whole thought process when it comes to the question ‘Do you really need to print this?’ It means we re-cycle 50% of all our waste, routinely print double sided and re-use as much scrap paper as possible,” said Tim.
Taking action within a business to reduce carbon use is an important step but it can be de-valued without achieving proper certification which is why RLB has achieved the gold standard of the ISO 14001 accreditation, through the Constructing Excellence Fast Track 14 programme, benefiting from the expertise of their assessors BSi.
“We took the whole process very seriously and pulled out all the stops to achieve this award for environmental excellence. We are also working to become an approved organisation with the Carbon Trust. It was a natural move to sign up to the Green Capital Pledge in Bristol,” added Tim.
The company also tries to lead and support clients when it comes to energy efficient procurement, reducing construction costs and making decisions about the fabric of buildings.
“Our expertise in existing buildings, construction projects, energy use and life cycle costs means that we have been at the forefront of advising on the use of ‘Modern Methods of Construction’, water recycling, innovative energy systems and waste recycling while managing the delivery of refurbishment and fit out projects on a national basis, as well as providing consultancy services on the introduction of sustainability strategies.”
“There is always a balance to be found, especially when you are working within existing buildings, between what is possible and what is realistic, judging the economic against the environmental. We urge people to look at the big issues such as the lifetime costs of a building but also the relatively small matters such as ensuring we don’t just fill skips with office furniture and carpets,” said Tim.