Issue 1
CSR C MPASS The CSR bulletin for Imtech Technical Services
Issue 1
Autumn 2012
Welcome to ‘CSR Compass’, Imtech Technical Services (ITS) new CSR newsletter. What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? CSR is all about keeping a balance between People, Planet and Profit. There is no ‘one solution’ for this, so the challenge is to give CSR a meaningful place that fits in with Imtech, one that responds to the expectations of stakeholders and creates value for the business.
Why is CSR important? Every organisation has its own CSR priorities, based partly on its own products and services, the places where it has its greatest impact, stakeholder expectations, its own ambitions, values and culture. The Imtech profile, for example, will look very different to that of Shell, or IKEA. The goal of CSR is to embrace responsibility for the company’s actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, customers and the wider stakeholders.
Imtech and CSR Imtech is a socially and environmentally responsible company, and we recognise that our activities have an impact on the environment, on people, the communities in which we operate, our customers and supply chain and broader society. Our CSR policy which you will find on the ITS portal picks up on all these areas and provides a framework to ensure that we are accountable.
Corporate Social Responsibility Policy Statement Imtech is a socially and environmentally responsible company. We are a major technical services company providing essential solutions for businesses and society. Our activities have an impact on the environment, on people, the communities in which we operate, our customers and supply chain and broader society. Our innovative technical solutions contribute to a sustainable society. In all aspects of our responsibilities, we work closely with our employees, clients, suppliers and subcontractors. We strive for continuous improvement and to balance short-term and long-term interests as well as integrate economic, environmental and social considerations into our strategic decision-making. This statement provides the basis for managing our corporate responsibilities through our policies, procedures and practices.
OUR POLICY IS: Corporate Governance: The starting points of Corporate Governance are good business practices (accountable, honest and transparent dealings by the management) and good supervision of this management. These are dealt with in our Business Ethics Principles document. We are accountable for ensuring we minimise our impact through responsible business practices, which go beyond our legal obligations, and by responding to the views of our stakeholders, while remaining a profitable, competitive and growing business. In this way Imtech will provide a high quality design and build business that contributes to society. Our people: We recognise the need to be able to attract, develop and retain employees with the potential, skills and experience necessary for the continued development of our business. We are committed to equality of opportunity and an inclusive working environment where all employees are treated equally with courtesy, dignity and respect and where everyone feels valued. We are committed to creating a learning culture, supporting our people in working to realise their potential and providing opportunities to ensure that our people are equipped with the skills and knowledge to maximise business effectiveness. Our Corporate Social Responsibility policy and standards are applicable to all Imtech employees. Health, safety and wellbeing: We are committed to maintaining and continuously improving standards of occupational health and safety for all our employees, subcontractors and those affected by our activities including the public. We expect the performance of our partners and suppliers to be at least comparable to ours.
The goal of CSR is to embrace responsibility for the company’s actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities and the wider stakeholders.
Brighter ideas from Imtech NV Visit
www.youtube.com/user/ImtechCorporate?feature=watch to discover more
In this edition we focus on Carbon Footprint What is Carbon Footprint? Definition: “The total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly and indirectly support human activities, usually expressed in equivalent tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).” The carbon footprint of a person, organisation or product, is related to the amount of CO2, in carbon equivalent released into the atmosphere as a consequence of everyday activities. In other words, when you drive a car, the engine burns fuel which creates a certain amount of CO2, depending on its fuel consumption and the driving distance. When you heat your house with oil, gas or coal, then you also generate CO2. Even if you heat your house with electricity, the generation of the electrical power may also have emitted a certain amount of CO2. When you buy food and goods, the production and transportation of the food and goods also emitted some quantities of CO2. Carbon equivalent takes account of all gases that have a climate change effect, including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). A carbon footprint is measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). The carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) allows the different greenhouse gases to be compared on a like-for-like basis relative to one unit of CO2. CO2e is calculated
by multiplying the emissions of each greenhouse gas by its 100 year global warming potential (GWP).aspx The main cause of global warming It took more than 20 years to broadly accept that mankind is causing global warming with the emission of greenhouse gases. The drastic increase in the emission of CO2 (carbon dioxide) within the last 30 years caused by burning fossil fuels has been identified as the major reason for the change of temperature in the atmosphere. More than 80% of the world-wide energy demand is currently supplied by the fossil fuels coal, oil or gas. It will be impossible to find alternative sources, which could replace fossil fuels in the short or medium term. The energy demand is simply too high. Another issue is the non-renewable characteristic of fossil fuels: It took nature millions of years to generate these resources, however we will have used them up within the next decades. Alone the shrinking supply will not make it possible to continue as usual for a longer time. Confused? The Carbon Trust has a free online tool, which helps people reduce their carbon emissions: http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/ cut-carbon-reduce-costs/products-services/ web-tools/empower/Pages/empower.aspx
Competition Time!
How to reduce your carbon around your home Simple Things to do Today!
To enter simply:
Only heat the rooms that are occupied, using background heat elsewhere
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When the weather is cold, close the curtains at dusk Only boil enough water as is required Reduce room temperatures by as little as one degree Turn off all lights when leaving a room Use economy washes when washing machine is not full
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Use the calculator at www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx to work out your current footprint Buy a Smart meter for your home Implement five ideas to reduce carbon usage at home After three months see how you have performed Email mike.moss@imtech.co.uk by 1st January 2013 to tell us what you have done and how it has affected your footprint. Send in your receipt for the Smart meter to be entered in the prize draw.
Through the roof - install loft insulation
Through windows fit double glazing
Through walls use cavity wall insulation
Through gaps around doors fit draught excluders
Through floor fit carpet with underlay
Try cooler washes with your washing machine Turn off all appliances and chargers at the wall and do not leave anything on standby Fit low energy light bulbs
Win £250 Vouchers of your choice and become Carbon Neutral for a year
What is a Smart Meter? A Smart meter is a wireless device that enables you to monitor and calculate the cost of running your home lighting and appliances, to help you work out your energy costs, so you can reduce them, and cut your carbon footprint. The sensor fits around your import cable and the monitor gives you the electricity usage. Research shows that people can save around 15% of their bill!! You can buy them from the web for £30-50.
What is Carbon Neutral? Being carbon neutral means purchasing carbon credits, or savings. Various schemes exist such as planting trees or investing in renewable energy. Imtech use the ‘light it up’ project in South Africa. Over 40,000 families are trained in a new cooking and heating technique, which reduces coal use by 50% and indoor smoke and soot by 90%. Each household reduces 1.3 tonnes CO2eq per year while lowering the risks for long disease and medical bills. Watch the short video to see how it works:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0rDssdP-qY&feature=player_embedded
Imtech has set up a taskforce across the business with a focus on CSR, the task force contacts are:Mike Moss
Greg Clements
Dave Hill
Business Improvement Manager at ITS/Imtech Meica
Senior Design Estimator at Imtech Aqua
Facilities/Fleet Manager at Imtech G&H
mike.moss@imtechmeica.co.uk
greg.clements@imtechaqua.co.uk
dave.hill@imtechgandh.co.uk
Telephone: 01784 229900
Telephone: 01954 234661
Telephone: 0115 950 5100
CSR covers many different areas and over the coming issues we will focus on different ones. In this issue we are taking a look at the importance of carbon reduction.
Examples of how we help our customers reduce their carbon footprint Definition: Throughout the business we are working hard to not only reduce our own carbon footprint, but to also help our customers reduce theirs. Link to Imtech youtube videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPjxfComayY Imtech Smith SGUK undertake dynamic thermal simulations to better understand how developments will function, considering external elements such as wind pressures and solar effect, through to the influence of internal equipment and the behavioural characteristics of the occupants. This enables us to apply the appropriate strategy with the leanest energy consuming solution.
Imtech G&H If a customer requires refurbishment or replacement of an existing infrastructure, we offer the facility via our Environmental Management System. This provides a conditional report/ feasibility study to look at the replacement of existing equipment with new Energy Saving technology and contains recommendations on Renewable Technologies. Imtech Meica All of our design projects are modeled using IES to enable us to predict the energy consumption of different system types to get the best solution for the project. Examples include John Lewis, Oxford Street where we designed a chiller replacement scheme that reduced the energy consumption of the building, negating the need to upgrade the incoming electrical supply and reducing the maintenance costs. At the Bodleian Bookstore in Swindon we redesigned the air-conditioning system and reduced the chiller load by 40%.
Imtech Inviron At the Canada Water Library in London Business Centre, we maintain the mechanical and electrical services, which include a comprehensive energy metering system to manage the buildings’ long term energy profile. By undertaking an annual energy review, we proactively promote savings and highlight trends and issues to the client. The Bodleian Book Storage Facility
Imtech Process We are leaders in renewable energy generation through Advanced Digestion of sewage sludge. Through AD we are helping the UK Water companies achieve their Carbon Reduction Commitment through significant improvements in renewable power generation. We have already developed and delivered five of the most efficient plants built, with another four plants under construction. The AD plant we built for Dwr Cymru Welsh Water in Cardiff serves over one million people and actually has a carbon benefit equivalent to a forest of five million trees.
Know Sustainability KSI... Carbon savings at Cardiff and Afan is equivalent to the benefit of a forest of 5 million trees
Cardiff AD Plant
Martin Daniels
Lucy Barber
Tom Prendergast
Adam Gilbertson
Senior Quality & Environmental
Sustainability Advisor at Imtech Process
Environmental Health & Safety Manager
Design Manager at
Coordinator at Inviron
lucy.barber@imtech.co.uk
at Imtech Suir
Smith Group UK
martin.daniels@inviron.co.uk
Telephone: 01543 496600
tprendergast@suireng.ie
adam.gilbertson@smith-group.com
Telephone: +353 (0) 51 359 500
Telephone: 01772 471 111
Telephone: 0121 779 7005
Working in the Community Working in the community Imtech encourages charity and community work and we are delighted to see some of the excellent initiatives our teams get involved in. Here are a few examples. Smiths Group has two main charities which it supports, Cancer Research UK and Brian House, a local children’s hospice. It is also engaged with Blackpool & Fylde College and its apprenticeship schemes.
Process supports WaterAid and many different local charities. One of which is the Newlife Foundation (see article below).
The life giving properties of Chocolate Its official, chocolate can help support life! Process has been raising money for the Newlife Foundation and has donated £1000 through the proceeds from the Charity Chocolate box. Did you know...
G&H also support several charities, including some of our customers’ charities and local Nottingham junior football teams. The team has also raised funds for Cerebral Palsy for many years, and there is also a Rowing Memorial fund for a deceased employee.
Meica regularly fundraises for CRASH – the construction and property industry’s charity for homeless people also support Breast Cancer Care. We raised £11,722 in 2011/12
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£100 can provide sensory equipment for a child with Autism or Visual Impairment £250 can fund a specialist car seat for a seriously disabled child to keep them safe £500 can fund a specialist buggy for a child with Cerebral Palsy unable to walk due to muscle problems £1,000 can fund a folding wheelchair and portable ramps for a child with limb abnormalities.
Inviron is fund raising for The East Anglian Air Ambulance, with Colin Clements, Building Systems – Ipswich, taking part in a cycling event from Crystal Palace to the Eiffel Tower (approximately 300 miles in four days in June). This event has been organised by the Forum For The Built Environment Challenge Team. David Taylor, Contract Manager LBC is also taking part in the London Marathon raising money on behalf of Virgin Money Giving.
Project Sustainability Action Plans (PSAP’s) With sustainability so high on many clients’ agendas, the business is starting to develop Sustainability Action Plans. Imtech Process aims to have Project Sustainability Action Plans for all new projects in 2012. The first PSAP is being trialled at the Howdon AD site for Northumbrian Water. The process of developing the Howdon AD PSAP included identifying and understanding the client’s sustainability strategy. Northumbrian Water’s strategy is based on five key areas: Customer, communities, people, environment and competitiveness and from these key strands there are associated objectives. The aim of the PSAP is to identify where we can assist on a project specific level to help the client meet its sustainability objectives. The PSAP identifies and clearly defines measurable targets, which are set down in a document and agreed by the site team. The PSAP is an evolving document and is fed back to the client at regular intervals. Example: Environment Northumbrian Water Ltd objectives being addressed by the project 1. Increased use of energy from renewable sources > 70 MWh/d of renewable power generation. 2. Beneficial use of surplus hot water from CHP for office heating.
SSDC project 2012 Imtech is combining the natural power of the sun with its technological knowledge to help the Arequipa region of Peru as this year’s SSDC project. The team, lead by Imtech Spain will be providing solar technology for home heating and hot water supply systems. The team is working closely with local sun energy companies, which will help ensure that in the future the local people will have all the required expertise in-house to continue the project themselves. The 2013 project will be headed up by Imtech UK and further details of what it will be and how to get involved will follow.
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