Almost every job in construction today includes environmental aspect, whether that means tapping into renewable energy, protecting the environment or species that reside there, restoring a damaged environment, or enhancing the current environment. To this end we have employed the services of an external environmental consultant – Environmental Monitoring Solutions who support us in achieving and managing the impact we have on the environment through the construction processes.

“We believe that sustainability is a collective responsibility. It’s too big and too important for any one company or organisation to tackle alone. We therefore look to our supply chain partners to play their role in helping us turn our vision into reality”

In 2008 we made a commitment to attain the British Standard environmental accreditation BS8555 the standard allows a phased approach; we attained

phases 1 to 3 in July 2008, and phases 4 and 5 in the summer of 2009. This approach helped us to fully understand our aspects and impacts to the environment. We made a business decision to the follow on with the Internationally recognised environmental standard ISO14001, we achieved this in January 2010. Having attained the standard it has helped us identify areas for improvement one of those improvements being to monitor our Carbon Impact, as a result one of the measures we have committed to is WRAP’s vision of halving waste to landfill.

We regularly upload our waste figures to the portal which are shared with our clients so they have full up to date visibility of our waste achievements to date.

All of our non-hazardous waste is collected and disposed of by Fletchers Metals & Waste, based in Sheffield as they are our preferred waste carrier. We segregate glass and plasterboard at site and they segregate all remaining waste such as wood, metal, hardcore and other materials in a picking plant located at their Sheffield depot. They provide us with monthly reports detailing the tonnage of each waste stream taken to landfill or recycled.

George Hurst & Sons are aware that the environmental impact is becoming an increasingly important issue across the globe with pressure to minimise impacts coming from a number of sources both local and national governments, regulators, trade associations and customers. As a result we have embraced the need to improve both morally and legally. We regularly carry out environmental awareness training with all our workforce knowing that educating and raising awareness is key to improvement. We are also aware that improving our environmental practices will also improve our business, its sustainability and continued success through the provision of environmentally responsible services to our clients, ensuring that we are the contractor of choice.

With over 70% of our turnover spent with suppliers and subcontractors, the environmental and social impact of our supply chain therefore plays a key part in the overall sustainability of our business, the services we supply and the buildings we construct. Our supply chain policy is based on working in partnership with suppliers, engaging with them on fair terms and conditions and delivery mutual objectives. This we see raises awareness and standards across the whole of our supply chain.