Assessment

Willmott Dixon Construction

Sustainable Development Review

Lecturer: Name: ID: Department: Year of Study: Word Count:

1.0 Introduction
Construction industry has been the important contribution for the economic prosperity in most countries. Construction firms have been relying on performance of the

infrastructure to remain competitive in the industry and the clients will consider the contractors past deliverance of the quality of end products to determine the success of the contractors procurement. The productivity of the end products depends on the performance efficiency of the built environment projects life cycle. The design, construction, and operation of the built environment have important economic effects such as the rate of use of resources throughout its life cycle. For example, high quantity of the material is used for construction project in the economy from the preliminary stage to the end of the service lives. In response to that, built environment has a major role to promote sustainable growth and development.

2.0 Aim and Objectives

The Government of the United Kingdom (UK) has been a pioneer in developing sustainable development strategies such as Strategy for Sustainable Construction (Strategy) published in June 2008 which is the main reference utilised by contractors in the UK construction industry. Willmott Dixon Construction (WDC) is a leading contractor employing sustainable approach to carry out business related works in the UK, with adaptation to the overarching targets outlined in the Strategy. To better understand the adaption of the sustainable development in construction project, this report aimed to assess the WDC Sustainable Development Review 2010 (Review) with reference to the Strategy. This assessment also sought to identify the application of the strategies on the project procurement, people engagement, sustainable usage of natural resources and biodiversity protection.

3.0 Assessment on Willmott Dixon Construction Sustainable Development Review 2010

3.1 Project Procurement
WDC had established a good track record of sustainable business with the clients, meeting rigorous sustainability criteria and creating sustainable built environment to the clients as well as helping them to achieve corporate social responsibilities. In an effort to continuous improvement and commitment, WDC emphasised on achieving the best whole life value for clients by creating built environment which help to reduce operating and life cycle costs as well as to achieve minimal impact on the environment. According to the Review, the adoption of PassivHaus highly energy-efficient standard indicated WDC had a long term commitment in sustainable construction design. In conjunction with that, the company developed 10-Point Sustainability Project Criteria (10-Point SPC), which was used to monitor and benchmark the level of guidance that will be provided to the clients. It was to ensure continual improvement in the schemes against a wide spectrum of environmental and social sustainability measurements such as that listed in Table 3.1. It could be assumed that the schemes developed by WDC had met sustainable operations on the Government estate as targeted by the Sustainable Development Commission which requires examining progress with completing BREEAM assessment for new builds. As reported in the Review, Bournville Primary School, of North Somerset County Council, was one of WDCs projects that had achieved the 10-point SPC and full compliance with the targets set in 2006 to achieve BREEAM excellent for new builds procured by Central Government. In an aim to deliver a sustainable end product, client was required to rate a projects performance on a range of areas and WDC would benchmark it against other construction companies through Construction Excellences Key Performance Indicator; which was on par with the measurement set out by the Strategic Forum for Construction to monitor the industrys progress towards more integrated working and increasing client leadership (Anonymous, 2010).

Table 3.1. 10-Point SPC Schemes 1. Client commitment in sustainable project 2. Rating from BREEAM Assessment 3. Sustainability workshop 4. Certification of Energy Performance 5. Value of recycled content 6. Percentage of waste averted from landfill 7. Evaluation of sustainability healthcheck and post occupancy 8. Analysis of whole life costs and life cycle 9. Construction scheme scoring 10. Direct association with community project

Source: Willmott Dixon Construction: Sustainable Development Review 2010.

3.2 People Engagement

WDC recognised the important factor of Putting People First and valued the clients, staff, suppliers, and communities; however, this report only focused on the firms engagement on the staff. It provided the staff opportunity to achieve career potential and provided them knowledge to help the firm deliver sustainable development aims and awareness of sustainability that the staff will communicate to their families and friends. In July 2008, the Group training facility in Basingstoke was established to provide construction skill related training courses. Subsequently in 2009, Willmott Dixon Group had invested approximately 1.3 million on training across the Group, maintaining an average of 3.6 training days per employee. The firm had a well-developed staff appraisal process that identified individual development requirements and was used for succession planning. In a commitment to work with development supply side to promote and instil a culture of training and continuous professional development among the employee, some of the senior leaders had to attend the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership to improve on the environmental and social responsibilities they had. From these, it could be justified that Willmott Dixon Construction emphasised on developing the staff and recognised them as the most important asset in the firm. To further strengthen this view, it was acknowledged that the firm also reviewed the staff individual development and training requirements annually through personal

development plans to enable the gain of necessary skills and encouragement to achieve

relevant professional qualifications. In 2009, 252 employees had attained accreditation by professional bodies such as Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

3.3 Sustainable Usage of Natural Resources

Mitigating the impacts and enhancing the environment at construction sites were the highest priorities in WDC projects. The firm had signed up to the Waste and Resources Action Programmes commitment to Halving Waste to Landfill and practised waste reduction and efficient waste management on all the projects as a commitment to send zero waste to landfill by 2012. For example, Site Waste Management Plans was being implemented on all projects since July 2007 to make projection on the waste arising from construction project and identify opportunities for effective resource management with an aim to reduce, recycle, and recover waste. According to the Review, 84.3% of waste was averted from the landfill in 2009, up from 72.2% in 2008 which exceeded the Strategic Forum for Construction target of 50% reduction of waste to landfill. The reconstruction of the Quadrant Interchange for Swansea City Council by WDC had won a Waste Minimisation Award. As reported in the Review, 3500 tonnes of tarmac from the site were reprocessed and reused in situ and 66.7% of the 18000 tonnes of inert demolition and excavation material were used on site while the remains were sent for recycling. The method employed to recycle materials on-site and off-site had made an overall carbon dioxide emission from the process down from an estimated 111 tonnes to 39 tonnes. The reprocessing, recycling, and reusing had saved a total of 365 lorry haulage movements, a significant decrease of ecological footprint and minimal disruption to the general public in and around the site. This was on par with the waste hierarchy and Material Resource Efficiency as outlined in the Institute of Civil Engineers Demolition Protocol version 2008 with emphasis on reusing materials and minimising associated haulage movements to reduce carbon footprint from demolition activities.

3.4 Biodiversity Protection

Built environments had and will create a significant impact on biodiversity, mostly in respect of habitats and natural resource consumption. In order to help to minimise the negative impact, WDC took advantage of the undertaking projects to enhance the biodiversity; minimising ecological damage through protection of plants and wildlife. Project Environmental Plans is one of the Strategies employed by the firm to protect environmental biodiversity. The implementation of the Plans on all WDC projects encompassed biodiversity considerations such as identification of protected trees and wildlife on site and client or project-specific ecological management requirements. According to the Review, in an effort to promote awareness of relevant issues to all staff and operatives at site, a Biodiversity Champion would be elected and responsible to carry out site inductions, toolbox talks, notices, and monthly site meetings and site inspections on regular basis. Actions were practised throughout the development of the construction progresses with view of supporting the overarching target spelled out in the Strategy, specifically the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity within and around construction sites (Anonymous, 2008).

4.0 Conclusion
This assessment had highlighted the strategies employed by Willmott Dixon Construction to support the UK Government in term of sustainable development as outlined in the Strategy for Sustainable Construction. Besides developing and enhancing the personal productivity of the in house staff, the contractor emphasised on the importance of building long-term relationship with clients to practice sustainable procurement that put high emphasis on projects life cycle and scoring from assessment system such as BREEAM. The adaptation of ICE Demolition Protocol strategies also demonstrated that WDC played a major role in supporting the utilisation of recycled materials in the undertaken projects which had achieved considerable cost saving that not only financially beneficial to the firm itself but also to the environment in term of using less raw materials. In conclusion, the contractor appreciated the prominence need of sustainable growth and development; above all, demonstrated a determination to lead, both on the issue and in the construction industry in UK.

REFERENCES
Anonymous, 2010. Willmott Dixon Construction: Sustainable Development Review 2010. Willmott Dixon Construction Limited, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. Website:http://www.willmottdixongroup.co.uk/sustainability/sustainabledevelopment-review-2010 (Assessed date: 28/02/2012) Anonymous, 2008. ICE Demolition Protocol 2ND Edition. Institution of Civil Engineers, Westminster, London, United Kingdom. Website: http://www.ice.org.uk/Informationresources/Document-Library/Demolition-Protocol-2008 (Assessed date: 02/03/2012)

Anonymous, 2008. Strategy for Sustainable Construction. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, United Kingdom. Website:http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/bu siness-sectors/construction/sustainable-construction/strategy-for-sustainableconstruction (Assessed date: 28/02/2012)