Driving Sustainability through our Supply Chain
How we are addressing this issue:
We are continually improving the extent to which sustainability is driven through our supply chain. Given that the value of our supply chain is over £450 million, we see this as an area in which we can have considerable impacts and drive our sustainability objectives.
Reflecting this, The Berkeley Group Management Rules which all contractors that work with us must sign up to, are currently being re-written and a Code of Practice on sustainability will be included to cover our sustainability requirements.We select only those companies with the highest standards to do business with, and reserve the right to terminate any contracts with contractors found to be undermining our sustainability objectives. All sub-contractors are contractually obliged to meet basic statutory employment requirements.
During the project tender process, all suppliers and contractors are also sent copies of our sustainability policies, including our Sustainable Procurement and Timber Policies. Our Sustainable Procurement Policy commits us to selecting those suppliers, services and products with the lowest possible environmental and social impact, where practicable and within the framework of commercial value. We have identified timber as a particularly high risk material and therefore also have a separate Timber Policy. This states that we will seek reassurance from our suppliers that the forests from which they obtain timber are sustainably managed. Construction sites check timber certification as it comes onto site and keep a record of the certificates provided by our suppliers. These records are checked as part of our internal site sustainability audits.
We rely on our supply chain to help us develop to the high standards we are known for. We therefore believe in developing good long term working relationships with our contractors. These relationships allow us to explore best practice solutions to sustainability issues through working collaboratively. One example of this is an initiative to facilitate the training of our contractor's management and supervision. For more details, please see the Health & Safety section.
The Berkeley Group does not procure materials via a central function, as we believe that project specific sourcing is better able to reflect the individual design and specification of each of our unique developments. This also allows us to work with smaller, local businesses which support the local economy in the areas where we work.
"We have found that the Berkeley Group are one of the more progressive clients with whom we work in terms of it's approach to sustainability, which is integral to it's procurement process and procedures on site. Notably at Chelsea Bridge Wharf we have worked with Berkeley to establish the source and environmental credentials of the supply chain for a number of materials that we are using in our facade....This approach to sustainability has been a factor in influencing Parry Bowen to look closely at it's own procedures and we now are working on a sustainability programme to improve our performance"
Tim Bowen, Finance Director, Parry Bowen
"Your commitment to supporting your contractors is very reassuring to us and in turn has helped us to understand your position as a major developer."
MA Hickey & JG Hickey, Joint Managing Directors, Coinford
Our performance:
In 2010/11:
- We communicated our sustainability aspirations and requirements to our suppliers by distributing our Sustainable Procurement Policy with all tender documents and contracts.
- We began to review The Berkeley Group Management Rules and a Code of Practice covering sustainability was drafted. These will be launched in 2011/12 and all our suppliers who are on our central call-off database will be contracted under these Management Rules.
Our Vision2020 commitments and ambitions:
As part of delivering Vision2020 we have set specific objectives to help ensure we drive the highest standards throughout our supply chain.
Our commitments from May 2010:
- Communicate our sustainability aspirations and requirements to suppliers through our Sustainable Procurement Policy
- Integrate sustainability requirements into supplier contracts and management rules
Our ambitions from May 2012:
- Carry out audits of at least 25% of our suppliers to ensure compliance with our Sustainable Procurement Policy
- Only use certified timber and timber based products
Case study:
Material Logistics Planning at Holborough Lakes
At our scheme in Holborough, Kent, with support from WRAP we trialled the use of Material Logistics Planning to reduce construction waste. Measures that proved particularly effective were:
- Agreeing a waste forecast with plasterboard suppliers, and providing incentives if performance was better
- Ensuring that a stack of reusable pallets was on site
- Reusing brick and block waste in preparing the ground in future phases
- Controlling deliveries to reduce the amount of stock held on site
This resulted in a reduction in waste being generated compared to the Building Research Establishment's industry benchmark. You can read more about this piece of work in the case study that was produced by WRAP.
