ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY
‘It just makes sense’ A
nyone reading this hopefully knows by now that sustainability, in business terms, is not
just a buzzword meaning ‘energy effi ciency’, but rather covers long-term impacts on society, economic profi tability and local communities as well as the environment.
Major contractors in the rail industry have to take it seriously, especially now that the main client organisations do so.
Sam Brewitt, sustainability manager at Balfour Beatty Rail, says the rail sector is more ‘advanced’ on sustainability in the UK than most other countries – though Deutsche Bahn in Germany is better than most as a client organisation in pressing for it. But in the UK, rail is “defi nitely behind” other sectors like major construction and utilities when it comes to sustainability, though it has been catching up in the last couple of years, partly thanks to the co-ordinated and practical steps taken by Network Rail.
Brewitt praised the work of people like Gareth Llewellyn, director of safety and sustainable development at Network Rail, its head of sustainable business strategy Ian
sustainability at the corporate level, ensuring reporting is spot-on and governance is in place further down the business. Larger projects have their own environment/ sustainability managers to look after the day- to-day running, while smaller contracts will be looked after by the SHEQ person – safety, health, environment, quality – as is common throughout the rail and construction industry. Balfour Beatty also has a UK-wide sustainable supply chain policy and strategy, and is a member of the Sustainability Supply Chain School (nearly half of its 2,000 members are suppliers to some part of the group).
Groark,
and Network Rail IP’s Tertius Beneke, in co- ordinating sustainability across Network Rail and driving it through the rest of the supply chain.
But Brewitt says Balfour Beatty, including the rail business, had been acting in what’s now termed a sustainable way for years. It was in 2010 when it was all drawn together under the umbrella of an offi cial programme – partly because of interest from clients and large investors like Hermes and Schroders. “We needed to demonstrate what we were already doing, to quantify what we were achieving, and set targets for where we were going,” Brewitt said.
Brewitt’s own job is primarily ensuring 66 | rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 14
Balfour Beatty’s conception of sustainability splits it into ‘profi table markets’, ‘healthy communities’, and ‘environmental
Sustainability has been the watchword across the supply chain in recent years, not least since Network Rail made it a formal part of the tender process. Balfour Beatty Rail, though, has been ‘doing’ sustainability for far longer than most. RTM spoke to Sam Brewitt, its sustainability manager, to fi nd out more.
for sustainability not just to tell people what we’re doing across the group, but to make it easier to share best practice.”
A major focus this year, Brewitt added, is
Tanners Hill Project – Balfour Beatty Rail implemented what is believed to be UK rail industry fi rst by introducing biodiversity offsetting and achieving a net gain in biodiversity. Photo shows on- site replanting.
ensuring the right governance structures are in place across the various business units within Balfour Beatty Rail (plant, civils, enhancements etc), to ensure senior teams review progress against their own targets quarterly.
limits’.
Every operating company (of which Balfour Beatty Rail in the UK is one) has to comply with the worldwide business’s sustainability blueprint, and set its own targets against 24 measures within it.
There is a ‘vision’ for where the company needs to be by 2020, including interim targets for 2012, now passed, and end-2015.
Some sustainability targets end up being hit purely in the effort to work more effi ciently, as is being demanded by client organisations. Doing things better for less often means having less impact on the environment and communities, for example. “It just makes sense,” Brewitt said. “But it’s wise to have a dedicated programme
Picking up on best practice
Among Brewitt’s targets is one to capture best practice via 12 case studies a year, especially examples of good work that may not have earlier been recognised as sustainability in action.
Of the 40 wider sustainability targets, particular attention is paid to four – cutting scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 20% by 2015 (on a 2010 baseline; scope 1 and 2 refers to direct emissions and those from energy use); cutting emissions associated with train travel, and with plane travel (scope 3 emissions); and reducing waste generated by 10% by 2015. Brewitt says reducing waste generated is more ambitious
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