How being green helps you to stay out of the red

Once the realm of tree-hugging, sandal-wearing hippies in the 70s, the sustainability remit today has fallen to a group with quite a different footprint. Now bulldozing builders in their steel-toed boots have been tasked by the government to reduce carbon emissions and cool our planet. So far they've been criticised for pumping more hot air into the atmosphere - supposedly in the name of debate and discussion - than reducing carbon dioxide with green buildings. But a growing group, identified by their hybrid cars and 'innovation manager' status, are committing to the green dream.

"You aren't staying in the game if you don't get into sustainability," Galliford Try sustainability director James Owen explains. "The government's timetable for zero carbon is taxing. If you stick to the minimum effort then you aren't going to be around for long."

Galliford Try is tackling sustainability on a unique site-by-site basis. Where most companies are building the mainstays of their sustainability strategy into each development, Galliford Try is trialling different methods on different sites.

"To set a group strategy is tricky," says Owen. "To reach higher levels of the Code you have to look at project specifics."

One aspect the group has been able to agree on is the use of Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) on developments. These companies design energy provision systems into developments, install the hardware and maintain the system. Savings in costs are used to pay back the capital investment of the project.

"We are trying to develop a Galliford Try ESCO offering," Owen says. "We see it as a way to reach those higher levels of the Code. But planning for it is an enormous task because there are so many variables."

Designing-in effective energy solutions is a big part of sustainability, just ask NG Bailey. The firm is putting the finishing touches on its new Strathclyde headquarters that it hopes will be BREEAM excellent.

Temperature control

With clever design and the use of doubled glazed windows, it will not use a boiler or air conditioning. Temperature control will be achieved using a ground source heat pump. Further to that, a portion of electricity will be generated by an on-site micro hydro scheme that links to a small on-site river.

NG Bailey's sustainability director Cal Bailey says the unique features have required an investment of more time and effort than usual. "It took an extra six months to build and design. But next time we are confident we can get it down to a normal build time," he says. "There are systems in the building that are innovative and it takes time to go up that learning curve.

"But you design much more carefully and install fewer systems that are more complex."

Bailey claims the investment will be worth it in the long term, to establish the company as a specialist in the green field. "We're willing to take on the harder buildings for customers - those they want to be BREEAM excellent. We're confident we can take them on if we know how to do them for ourselves," he explains.

Berkeley Homes is another firm hoping to build a market-leading position in sustainability. The housebuilder has positioned itself on key industry taskforces, such as the UK Green Building Council's zero carbon group, in the hope of influencing the debate. "The absolute payoff means being able to sit at the table and be part of the debate," Berkeley managing director Karl Whiteman says. "At the end of the day it is about making sure the government's sustainability strategy is deliverable. We want to keep delivering homes and the market could be a catalyst for innovation."

The company has approached sustainability as a whole business commitment. Its policies specify that all homes are to be built to level three of the Code and 95% of building work will be on brownfield sites. Similarly, waste and services firm May Gurney has also taken a holistic business approach.

Every month the company assesses its carbon footprint and is working with suppliers to identify the carbon footprint of all products used.

Sustainability manager Tom Macagno says May Gurney hopes to use the commonly understood measurement as a marketing tool.

"Our goal is to present clients with options such as 'Price one gets you carbon footprint one, or price two gets you carbon footprint two'.

"It creates awareness and equates options into money saved and energy saved," he says.

It is also trialling a waste-matching strategy where products from one site that are destined for landfill are matched with another site that requires more materials. "It all comes down to thinking about sustainability as early as possible. Once decisions are made there is only so much you can do," Macagno explains.

Smart procurement and planning is also at the heart of Shepherd Construction's £38m Walsall College project. The builder is constructing a new campus as part of a massive regeneration of the area. Gail Gillatt of Shepherd says more than £1m has been spent procuring local materials. But the big sustainability work on the project has centred around social sustainability. "We have a strong community project. It is more than just construction - we are leaving something behind," she says.

Apprentices

This something includes well-trained and experienced apprentices. Shepherd has committed to providing around 12 apprenticeships, employing another 10 post-vocation students and placing work-experience students.

It has fitted an on site canteen that it hopes students from the college will run to get a taste of managing a business.

Walsall site manager Nigel Jones says the approach has engendered a sense of excitement on site. In promising evidence that executive-driven environmental strategies can filter down to workers on the ground, he says builders are environmentally aware and active onsite.

"There is a buzz in being involved," he says. "It gives the site team something different to do and they see it as a way to get away from the harder issues of construction. When it's time to do a report no-one views it favourably though," he laughs. "No-one likes paperwork, do they?"