We are providing access to carbon education for our employees and supply chain through e-learning courses and in-person training sessions. By educating our employees we can help drive forward a carbon culture across our business, and by engaging with our suppliers, we can help them to calculate their own carbon footprint and consider steps to become more sustainable, which will help to reduce our Scope 3 emissions. We can all work towards the same goal.

We are one of few contractors certified to ISO 50001 - holding this standard for over a decade – which underscores our ongoing commitment to best energy management practices. Our approach aligns with Public Contract Procurement requirements of PPN 006 and ESOS (Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme), and our carbon emissions information is published within our annual accounts in line with SECR (Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting).

Our trials and adoption initiative is a key part of our carbon reduction strategy. Our teams are tasked with bringing forward innovations that can be trialled, and where key outcomes are met, then adopted into business operations. Where possible we are replacing traditional materials with a more sustainable alternative - lower carbon rebar, concrete and sheet piles are among the new materials we are using on projects as part of this initiative.   

We contribute to the circular economy by crushing and re-using aggregates on site if possible, and we also have an in-house recycling and processing plant located just two miles from our headquarters. This facility refines, filters and extracts construction waste into reusable aggregates for our schemes and other local contractors, which provides recycled fill and avoids journeys to quarries for imported fill. The whole facility also operates with a solar hybrid generator to provide additional carbon savings. 

We are contributing to industry-wide conversations by taking part in events such as Northumbrian Water Group’s yearly Innovation Festival and the ‘Carbon Culture Club Sprints’. We actively participate in forums such as Constructing Excellence North East’s Climate Action Group and YORhub’s Sustainability Special Interest Group, to share innovation and learn from best practice across the sector.

We are working with our housing clients to build more sustainable homes and retrofit existing homes in a bid to drive down emissions. More often we are building with timber frames, and we are installing air source heat pumps, photovoltaic panels, increased insulation and triple-glazed windows. One of our schemes will utilise mine water heat – which is one of the first projects of its kind in the UK - and on some developments we are delivering net zero homes.

We embed ecological enhancement within delivery through our approach to biodiversity, delivered through Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) compliant frameworks. The Grassholme Reservoir embankment scheme, delivered by Esh-Stantec, exemplifies NBS in practice: protecting ancient woodland, translocating trees, new planting, and redirecting a watercourse to support biodiversity and local ecosystems - all alongside infrastructural resilience. 

To help reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, we have invested in 15 electric vehicle chargers at our headquarters. This allows our colleagues to charge their vehicles, reducing their need to use fossil fuels where the electric battery can be used instead. Our visitors are also able to charge so they see the benefit of electric or hybrid travel.