Improving Operational Environmental Efficiency

How we are addressing this issue:

Energy

In 2010/11, our total carbon emissions were 16,262 tonnes CO2-e, of which our Scope 1 and 2 emissions were 9,964 tonnes CO2-e. This equates to 1.81 tCO2-e per operative on site, which is the normalisation metric we believe most accurately reflects our business activity and therefore our relative energy consumption.

Last year, we established a commitment to reduce our carbon emissions by 5% year-on-year. We have assessed our Scope 1 and 2 emissions to establish our progress against this target. We have chosen to exclude Scope 3 emissions in this assessment as we began robustly collecting additional Scope 3 emission data in 2010/11 and did not collect this in 2009/10. This ensures that we assess our progress on a like-for-like basis. Click for a breakdown of our emissions data.

Whilst we are pleased that we have reduced our normalised Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 3.94% compared to our performance in 2009/10, we have not met our challenging commitment for a 5% year-on-year reduction. We have identified a number of factors which will have contributed to this. In 2010/11 Berkeley increased the numbers of sites in production, the result of which is that many developments are now in the early phases of construction. These early phases are generally energy intensive but labour efficient – for example demolition works and concrete frame construction. Therefore, using the number of operatives on site to normalise our carbon emissions may not give a true reflection of our performance on site during these phases of construction. It is anticipated that during the coming years, phases of construction will become more labour intensive and therefore normalising using the number of operatives on site will give a better indication of year-on-year performance. As well as this, the UK experienced very poor weather during the winter months of 2010/11, which is likely to have had an impact on heating and lighting energy consumption across all our sites and offices.

We recognise that it is good practice to take a proactive approach to reducing energy consumption, particularly in light of our 2010/11 performance. We have therefore updated our Vision2020 commitments to include new action-based energy reduction commitments in 2011/12. You can find these in 'Our Vision2020 commitments and ambitions' section below.  

Green transport initiatives

Overall, our carbon emissions relating to car travel have reduced this year. Our Company Car Policy ensures that our company car emissions are reducing, with an average emission rate for our fleet cars of 152gCO2/km compared to 161gCO2/km in 2009/10. Although transport emissions to and from our construction sites are outside the scope of our emission commitment, we realise the importance of their impact and have put initiatives in place to reduce these, in particular through the formation of construction stage transport plans. Other initiatives include the installation of cycle racks and encouraging subcontractors to car/van share. Some of our sites also measure the emissions associated with deliveries to and from sites.

Water

During 2010/11 our total water consumption was 117,488m³, which we have normalised by the average number of operatives on site during the year, giving a result of 21.32m³ per operative, compared to 20.38m³ per operative in 2009/10. This reflects an increase of 4.4% in our water consumption against our 2009/10 baseline and means that we have not met our commitment to reduce water consumption by 5% year-on-year.

In part, this is a consequence of a number of new projects starting during the year and the type of activities taking place across the business as we begin new development phases. The demolition process, in particular, is highly water intensive, requiring water to dampen the site to limit the spread of dust to local areas. In order to reverse this trend, we will be reviewing our high water consuming projects and offices over the next year to understand how we can reduce water consumption.

All our sites and offices are striving to reduce their carbon emissions and water consumption. Some examples of this are tabled below:

Waste

Our efforts to reduce both the volume of waste we generate and the volume of waste we send to landfill are driven not only by environmental concerns, but also by the rising landfill tax which is currently set at £56 per tonne for inert waste and which will reach £80 per tonne in April 2014 (where it will stay until at least 2020).

During 2010/11 our efforts to reduce waste have moved away from purely focusing upon reducing waste sent to landfill, to reusing and recycling as much as possible within our existing waste streams. This year, we generated 788,243 tonnes of construction, excavation and demolition waste, of which we recycled or reused 82%, exceeding our commitment in this area.

We have driven these reductions through a range of measures including site waste management plans, training, better site signage and trialling new management methods such as the material logistics plans described within our section on driving sustainability through our supply chain. For example, at Queen Mary's Place, the site waste management plan resulted in the segregation of waste recycling by phases of construction. This helped us to improve rates of recycling and to really understand the variance in waste types generated by different construction techniques.

Pollution Prevention

Sustainability audits are performed at all our sites by members of our sustainability and Health & Safety teams. The audit document includes 16 sections covering a variety of themes including waste management, ecology and pollution prevention. All sites are scored and where appropriate, recommendations for improvement are made. These audits form part of our Sustainability Management System and are seen as a catalyst for continual improvement.

Our performance:

Energy

In 2010/11:

• We collected data on all our direct carbon emissions and those relating to business travel. We also began collecting data on subcontractor's fuel consumption on our sites.
• We measured our reduction in carbon emissions based on our Scope 1 and 2 emissions only and normalised our consumption by the average number of operatives on site each year. On this basis,we decreased our 2010/11 carbon emissions by 3.94% compared to 2009/10, meaning that we are behind our target to reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 5% per year.

GRI Indicator EN16

Data qualification notes can be found here.

Water

In 2010/11:

• We normalised our water consumption by the average number of operatives on site. On this basis, our water consumption increased by 4.4% in 2010/11, against our 2009/10 baseline, meaning we are behind our target to reduce annual water consumption by 5% per year.

GRI Indicator EN8

Data qualification notes can be found here.

Waste

In 2010/11:

• We re-used or recycled 82% of our construction, excavation and demolition waste.

GRI Indicator EN22

Data qualification notes can be found here.

Pollution Prevention

In 2010/11:

• Environmental audits were conducted at all sites by members of our sustainability and Health &Safety teams at least 3 times per year. This included sites where we were not the Principle Contractor.

Our Vision2020 commitments and ambitions:

As part of delivering Vision2020 we have set specific objectives to help ensure that we continue to drive environmental efficiencies.

Our commitments from May 2011:

• Reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 5% until April 2012
• Reduce annual water consumption by 5% until April 2012
• Reuse or recycle over 80% of construction, excavation and demolition waste.

Our ambitions from May 2012:

• Put in place new sector leading operational energy, water and waste reduction or stabilisation targets
• Measure carbon emissions associated with commercial transport movements to and from sites