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Impact Editor Gavin Pearson meets with Balfour Beatty’s group head of sustainability to talk about community engagement and sustainability.
Balfour Beatty have undertaken a number of significant acquisitions in recent years, each adding to their ability to provide a one stop shop design, build and maintenance service. But as their scale and global reach grow, do they risk losing sight of the communities they operate in?
“The whole localism agenda is very important” explains Jonathan Garrett. “Sustainability is about saving money and the environment. But it is also about community value. For example, a simple idea like taking used timber pallets and turning them into planting boxes in local schools is a simple idea that benefits children and builds support for development.
“Community engagement can just be a matter of thoughtfulness. If we are engaging in railway works there is a lot of night work involved. So information and interaction is important for local residents.
“It can’t just be about leaflet drops. In some cases community feedback while tendering can help win us work. During tendering to replace the bridge at Burns Close in North Tyneside, it became clear there were concerns the demolition phase would split the community at either end of the bridge. So we included a temporary bridge as part of the plans and were awarded the contract partly for doing so.”
Industry engagement
Balfour Beatty’s desire to engage with communities is matched by a desire to engage with the wider industry. To this aim the company has recently launched a new online campaign and discussion forum.
“We want to engage people in debate, run polls, operate campaigns and build this over several years” explained Mr Garrett. “Our first focus is on water, which is apt given the recent announcement that East Anglia is in drought.
“The aim is to look at water use across the construction process. This is not an area that has been given great attention before, with a great deal more focus on the eventual water use of the completed property.”
The UK Contractors Group has been looking at water as one of its sub-groups for some time. Jonathan Garrett leads that group, which has now merged with the Strategic Forum for Construction. “We launched the construction sector water action plan this summer” he explained. “This starts to raise awareness for the need to conserve water during the construction process. The water sub-group is also starting to develop a good practice guide to help companies get started on reducing their water use. This is important as clients start to take a greater interest in water use”.
Sustainability and costs
Not that Balfour Beatty sees sustainability in isolation. They are clear it has to meet the changing needs of clients.
“We are hearing that it is all about cost now, so we have to revise our sustainability messages. These have to be cost-driven with sustainability benefits. For example, we used alternative materials including 400,000 used car tyres in our A421 scheme at Bedford.
This has sustainability benefits, but along with other more sustainable materials choices, reduced the cost by around £4 million.
“Our industry can push sustainability as much as we like, but we need pull from clients and right now they are heavily focused on cost. That isn’t just in the UK either. And while the client wants a low cap ex, the end user wants a low op ex, which is another factor to balance.”
This does not mean that Jonathan Garrett is pessimistic about sustainability as a driving force. He looks at the Olympic Park for an example of how things have moved on.
“The UK made a big deal about sustainability for the 2012 Olympic Games. Following that, Brazil is looking at London for inspiration and plans to do the same. So it is now becoming impossible for big sporting events not to have a sustainability focus.”
Parsons Brinckerhoff
Among Balfour Beatty’s acquisitions in recent years was that of Parsons Brinckerhoff, an ACE member consultancy active around the world.
“This was the missing bit of the jigsaw for us” says Jonathan Garrett. “PB helps to make us a one stop shop with a global presence. From a sustainability point of view new benefits are coming through, not least in their work on climate change adaptation.
“It is hard to find really good examples out there of adaptation, but PB helped to develop the Highways Agency adaptation strategy and that experience should considerably help us push adaptation through projects.
“Similarly, our work on water foot-printing is being developed as a tool through Parsons Brinckerhoff and is now being trialled.”
New technology
So which technological developments does Jonathan Garrett think will be crucial for the industry in the coming years?
“Building Information Modelling. This has the potential to help avoid clashes in development, and to reduce waste during a project. That is a big factor for the industry right now and it was a big part of the Innovation and Growth Team’s report.
“There is also the on-going development of wind farm technology. The London Array, for example, is a gigantic project and we have two of the transmission rights for that project. So we should see that market grow significantly.
“And there are interesting developments with Carbon Capture and Storage. Pilot schemes are looking at this area now and it represents a big opportunity if the technology can be commercialised.”
Bridging the gap
The project started as the demolition of an existing bridge between two North Tyneside communities, and the design and construction of a new bridge in its place.
While the original tender suggested that a redirected footpath could replace the crossing during construction, residents were concerned that a significant detour would split the community.
The Balfour Beatty Atkins tender team proposed the alternative solution of a temporary bailey bridge alongside the existing structure.
This was a key aspect of the high marks received for the bid, thus demonstrating the value of engaging with local people early.
Working with the Woodland Trust
Jonathan Garrett is pleased to highlight the role of the Woodland Trust in his company’s work.
“All types of organisation can engage with the Woodland Trust, no matter what their budget or size. They have a range of tree planting kits that link in with the national curriculum and that come as large or small packages, which makes them suitable for a lot of projects.”
For more information on the Woodland Trust visit
www.woodlandtrust.org.uk
Collective responsibility
Balfour Beatty’s collective responsibility website has started to draw comment and debate since its launch.
Present discussions include what can be learned about water use from other sectors, and what does best practice look like for water management.
To join the debate visit collectiveresponsibility.net/discussions/
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