International infrastructure group Balfour Beatty revealed today that it is turning to the next generation to help transform its performance in areas such as recycling, carbon emissions and diversity into sector leading.
In a ground-breaking new approach, the group has appointed a ‘Next Generation Stakeholder Panel’ of eight under 25 year olds including representatives from the Prince’s Trust, National Apprenticeships Service, the University of Edinburgh and the UK Youth Council, to independently scrutinise and steer its activities on sustainability.
The news comes as Balfour Beatty publishes its Annual Sustainability Report detailing its performance on resource efficiency, community engagement and governance. The report shows that approaches such as colour coding waste, computer tracking and state of the art 3-D computer modelling has helped reduce the amount of construction waste they send to landfill in the UK by almost 80% in four years.
Chris Whitehead, Group Head of Sustainability at Balfour Beatty said: “Companies like ours that design, build and manage major infrastructure projects such as roads, railways and power stations can have a big impact on the environment and the communities we work in around the world. Not least because of the amount of resources we use and the number of people we employ. As a result, small changes to the way we do things can make a real difference. And some of the positive changes we have made over the past year are not so small.”
“Although today’s report shows that we are making real progress and delivering some great results, such as building the Olympics Aquatics Centre with more than half of the materials coming from recycled sources, we need to stay focussed on sustainability in order to remain competitive. The Next Generation Stakeholder Panel, which we believe is the first of its kind anywhere, will help us do that. They have been candid in their observations so far on our performance and have brought fresh thinking to bear on our business.”
Highlights of Balfour Beatty’s Sustainability 2012 Report include:
- Achieving a 50% reduction in waste to landfill since 2010
- Reducing UK CO2* emissions between 2010 and 2012 by 33%
- Reducing direct UK water consumption by 22%
- Constructing the world’s largest solar powered community of nearly 4,500 military homes at Fort Bliss in the US
- In the US, rolling out a smart grid programme to 20,000 family members in 5,000 military homes to help them make better decisions about energy consumption
- Helping London 2012 to be the greenest Games yet, with more than half of the materials used to build the aquatics centre coming from recycled sources. This saved the project more than £1 million
- Building Hong Kong’s first Zero Carbon Building
- The value of green buildings and renewable energy projects completed increased 27% to £3.3 billion between 2011 and 2012
- Installing new LED lighting in 170 Marks & Spencer stores will help them reduce their non-merchandise lighting bills by 60%
- Raising more than £3 million for charity in the UK over past three years
Analyst/investor enquiries:
Basak Kotler
Balfour Beatty plc
Tel. +44 (0)20 7216 6924
basak.kotler@balfourbeatty.com
Media enquiries:
Danny Wilkinson
Balfour Beatty plc
Tel. +44 (0)20 7963 4235
danny.wilkinson@balfourbeatty.com
Notes to editors:
1. * metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalence from Scope 1 (All direct GHG emissions) and Scope 2 (Indirect GHG emissions from consumption of purchased electricity, heat or steam emissions).
2. Balfour Beatty (www.balfourbeatty.com) is an international infrastructure group that delivers world class services essential to the development, creation and care of infrastructure assets; from finance and development, through design and project management to construction and maintenance.
Our businesses draw on more than 100 years of experience to deliver the highest levels of quality, safety and technical expertise to our clients principally in the UK, the US, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. We continue to develop our business in key growth markets in South Africa, Australia, Canada, Brazil and India.
With proven expertise in delivering infrastructure critical to support communities and society today and in the future, our key market sectors include transportation (roads, rail and aviation), power and energy, mining, water and social infrastructure such as hospitals and schools.
Balfour Beatty employs 50,000 people around the world.
