We lead by example and set the standard for sustainable development, collaborating with partner organisations to share knowledge and tackle the issues that matter to our industry and to the communities we work in.
2022 in review
Our Now or Never strategy was named as an example of best practice in the UK Green Building Council’s new guidance: Principles for Delivering Urban Nature-based Solutions. We collaborated with the UKGBC Contractors’ Group and Supply Chain Sustainability School to support the transformation to a more sustainable built environment. Now or Never also underpinned Willmott Dixon’s successful re-bid to the Scape framework and framework responses for SCF and Procurement Hub Pagabo.
Changes at Board level have seen Chief Sustainability Officer Julia Barrett join the Board as director responsible for sustainability and non-financial compliance.
Julie Hirigoyen (below left), Chief Executive at UK Green Building Council, joined us in July as a Non-Executive Director. Also joining the Willmott Dixon Holdings Board as a Non-Executive Director is Juliette Stacey (below right), formerly Group Chief Executive at engineering company Mabey and Chief Operating Officer (UK and Europe) for Savills.
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Our people continued to influence and share best practice across the industry.
In March, Julia Barrett (below) joined the Steering Board for the City of London Skills Taskforce, which aims to tackle the shortages in green skills for the construction, retrofitting and maintenance of central London’s commercial buildings.
In October, Julia and other selected Aldersgate Group business members, met Chris Skidmore, the climate change minister as part of his review of the Government’s Net Zero Strategy and also joined the Aldersgate Group Executive Director at a meeting with the Permanent Secretaries of all HM Government Departments to highlight the opportunity of Net Zero and Levelling Up.
Julia featured in The ENDS Power List as one of the top 100 environmental professionals in the UK in 2022.
Our in-house experts spoke at a range of events and conferences, including Edie’s Sustainability Leaders event, sessions on the Real Living Wage for the Supply Chain Sustainability School, and a seminar on Net Zero Strategies for Cambridge University's Institute for Sustainability Leadership. In addition, we gave a number of talks at schools on subjects including sustainability and careers in construction.
We hosted the ‘Towns and Cities of the Future’ roundtable in Chesterfield (header above). The panel discussed the changing nature of urban regeneration and what the public are looking for in a 21st century town or city. More than 200 customers from across the business attended ‘Future Proof’ the North team’s flagship Developing Leaders conference in Manchester.
Richard Davidson, regional director, chaired a Skills Summit hosted by London & East at Harlow College attended by many local authorities.
We launched our Decarbonise Today service in November with an event at the Barbican, including a well-attended panel discussion on the ways we can best decarbonise our buildings in the UK.
COP27
Following a year of extreme weather where Pakistan’s monsoon season brought three times the normal level of rainfall and UK temperatures exceeded 40°C for the first time, the world came together in November to address the challenge of climate change. The increasing frequency of these events shows we cannot ignore the irreparable long-term impact our actions have on the planet.
Ahead of COP 27 in Egypt, we continued to lead the way through our ongoing Now or Never commitment meet to science-based targets to limit warming to below 1.5°C. We supported Aldersgate Group/UKGBC’s letter to the Prime Minister calling for the net zero transition, nature’s recovery, and climate resilience to be at the heart of the UK’s new planning system.
We hosted a series of events discussing the key themes of COP27 and our approach to the climate crisis, including the 'Simplify Sustainability' roundtable in Birmingham, which took place in November 2022. Here, a panel of built environment experts discussed sustainability, decarbonisation and cross-sector collaboration to help deliver a 33% reduction in carbon use across local transport, homes, and businesses by 2026.
Influencing policy
Our people use their skills, experience and expertise to support growth and best practice in our industry through their involvement with groups and associations that drive knowledge and understanding.
We work with the government, our industry and other collaborators on sector issues, the UK economy and the built environment. We support policy change that drives the shift to a low-carbon, resource-efficient construction sector.
In 2022, we continued to push for policy changes which support a more sustainable built environment through our membership of industry and cross-sector groups, including: The Aldersgate Group, UK Green Building Council Build UK, the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management (CIWM) Construction and Demolitions Waste Forum, CL:AIRE, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) ‘Homes for the Future’ group, IEMA, National Social Value Taskforce, Social Value UK, Stronger Together, the Supply Chain Sustainability School.
Our people sat on the Boards of the Supply Chain Sustainability School, Aldersgate Group, Constructing Excellence, Pagabo Foundation, Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending, the, CL:AIRE and the National Social Value Taskforce.
Follow this link to find out more about our representation on these groups.