However, above all, our team recognised that the MBA has a unique opportunity to demonstrate leadership to our industry, our members, and our students, in all areas of CSR. A MESSAGE FROM CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MICHAEL HOPKINS
Long-term Planning is Vital for Our Members A crucial component of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is long-term planning. Through effective planning, organisations can take purposeful actions that align with their long-term vision. Over two days in 2021 the Master Builders ACT team met to discuss how our organisation could enhance its commitment to CSR. As a starting point the team identified a number of areas where the MBA has demonstrated leadership. This included building four charity houses in conjunction with prominent local builders. These projects have raised more than $3 million for local charities and at the same time demonstrated issues in the building industry such as improving energy efficiency, incorporating accessible housing standards, and encouraging more women to work in the industry. The MBA has made a range of environmental commitments including generating 50% of our power through solar power, recycling in the office, and minimising waste from building products in our training workshop.
Through MBA Group Training, we encourage greater diversity in the building industry by attracting indigenous apprentices and dedicated programs to increase the number of women working in our industry, while also promoting safety for all apprentices. In our operations we support local businesses, partner with local sponsors, work collaboratively with the ACT Government to elicit change and support local charities through a range of initiatives. When we considered how we could enhance our commitment to CSR we looked to the ACT Government’s Social Procurement Values as a basis for identifying how we could do more in the areas of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander economic participation, diversity and inclusion, business development and innovation, environmental responsibility, fair and safe conditions for workers, and transparent and ethical engagement. Our team identified more than one hundred individual projects which we will progressively implement and continually review. Above all, our team recognised that the MBA has a unique opportunity to demonstrate leadership to our industry, our members, and our students, in all areas of CSR.
In our operations we support local businesses, partner with local sponsors, work collaboratively with the ACT Government to elicit change and support local charities through a range of initiatives.
Our commitment is to demonstrate leadership to our industry, to continually learn and improve, and to assist our members and students while modelling the benefits of being a socially responsible organisation in the building and construction industry. Lastly it’s important that we recognise the passing of John Haskins AM, MBA Life Member and former MBA ACT President. John’s work with MBA ACT and the construction industry more broadly, has been invaluable. We will have a feature on John in the next edition of Canberra Builder, but for now I would like to thank John for his lifelong commitment to our industry. Vale John Haskins.
MASTER BUILDERS ASSOCIATION NEWS EDITION 2 2022
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