Major healthcare construction companies have topped a league table of the greenest organisations in the UK.
The Environment Agency has unveiled the rankings of organisations in the latest Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) league table.
Reducing our impact on climate change by saving energy, reducing waste, and streamlining processes all make good business sense as they save money too
This is the second year figures have been published and top of the table is BAM Construction, a company that is highly active in the healthcare sector, having been behind development projects at Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and Great Ormond Street among others.
In second place is construction firm, Skanska, which has in recent years worked at Barts and the London hospitals, UCLH, and the new Coventry Hospital.
Last year 22 organisations shared first place on the table, including Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, North West London Hospitals NHS Trust, and The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Foundation Trust. This year Barnsley is in 599th place, Colchester is at 304th, North West London is at 767th, and The Queen Elizabeth is in 878th position.
The hospital trust nearest to the top of the table is NHS Blood & Transplant - in 6th place - followed by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust in 33rd place, Bradford Taching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 46th position, and the University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust in 79th place.
We believe that sustainability is important and that it is a quality our donors expect. Being a low carbon organisation is part of our commitment to meeting their expectations
A spokesman for NHS Blood & Transplant said: “We have continued to implement our Carbon Management Plan , which was designed in partnership with the Carbon Trust. The plan commits the trust to reducing its carbon emissions by 25% (from a 2009/10 baseline) in the five years to 2014/15. We are on course to meet the target, with our emissions already reduced by more than 11%.
“We believe that sustainability is important and that it is a quality our donors expect. Being a low carbon organisation is part of our commitment to meeting their expectations.”
Simon Smith, executive director for local services and sustainability lead at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, said of its success: “This achievement reflects the tremendous work that has been carried out over recent years to reduce energy use and carbon emissions across the trust. We are working hard to become a greener low carbon organisation and it is great to see our progress recognised nationally.”
Commenting on the ongoing efforts by UK construction companies to limit carbon emissions throughout the supply chain, a BAM statement says: “BAM is committed to minimising its environmental impact and to promoting good practice within the construction industry. Reducing our impact on climate change by saving energy, reducing waste, and streamlining processes all make good business sense as they save money too.
We are working hard to become a greener low carbon organisation and it is great to see our progress recognised nationally
“We monitor our impacts and can demonstrate we are improving our performance year on year. Our online environmental monitoring system BAM SMaRT, introduced at the beginning of 2010, has transformed the way we collect data from our sites, saving time in data collection, enabling us to focus on reducing our impacts.”
And Jennifer Clark, director of environment at Skanska UK, added: “We believe the business case for green remains a very strong and compelling one. That is why we are focusing on delivering green throughout our business, from retrofit, building and infrastructure schemes to residential development projects to developing green skills for our employees and to making our own office buildings more sustainable.”
Click here to see the league table in full.