Firm鈥檚 chief executive Richard Howson underlines business case for sustainability in construction

Richard Howson

Richard Howson

A major drive by Carillion to reduce its energy use has saved it 拢10m this year, the firm鈥檚 chief executive has said.

Speaking to 黑洞社区 at the launch of Carillion鈥檚 annual sustainability report at the House of Commons last night, Richard Howson revealed the figure, which he said was the result of the contractor reducing its carbon footprint by 20% year-on-year through measures such as cutting gas and electricity use in offices and adding smart technology to company cars.

He anticipated that the financial savings resulting from such endeavours would double to 拢20m next year.

鈥淲e鈥檙e working against our 20:20 sustainability vision which sets out to achieve a number of objectives progressively leading up to 2020,鈥 he said.

Howson pointed to the firm鈥檚 efforts to divert waste from landfill, with the firm鈥檚 report stating it had diverted 86% in 2012 across its operations. He said the firm was now committing itself to higher targets, with an aim of 100% of waste diverted from landfill by 2015.

鈥淭he really interesting part of that for me is in the Middle East. We have a consistent approach for our customers鈥here are no taxes which enforce recycling or re-use in the Middle East and we鈥檝e been doing this, at our own cost, for about five years.鈥

The report revealed that Carillion is behind schedule on meeting half of its 22 sustainability targets.

However, the firm exceeded a number of other targets and has set itself tougher standards for many of those it missed next year.

Speaking at the launch event, energy minister Greg Barker said Carillion was 鈥渞ising the challenge鈥 of being more energy efficient.

He added: 鈥淐arillion is also helping drive forward ground breaking projects, such as the Birmingham Energy Savers programme, raising awareness of the benefits of the Green Deal and encouraging householders to get onboard. I wish Carillion every success with their endeavours.鈥