The Balfour Beatty Group is committed to
focusing on environmental issues because it
makes sound business sense and adds value.
Balfour Beatty regards its environmental policy
far more ambitiously than simply being dedicated
to avoiding pollution. It sets the agenda towards
searching for green, sustainable solutions
to projects.
Be it developing new technologies to harness
power from natural resources or designing energy
efficient buildings, the environmental agenda
has gained a new prominence. At all levels staff
are being encouraged to “think green” devising
environmentally-friendly solutions. For the first
time in one division of an operational company,
staff are paid up to 80p a day to use public transport
instead of driving to work.
Chief Executive Ian Tyler issued a new Environmental
Policy stating that every manager and employee
must not only comply with environmental
regulations but should also “look out for environmental
improvement opportunities”. “Success
for us now has new meaning” said Martin Gettings,
Sustainability Manager for Balfour Beatty
Construction. The new policy has encouraged us
to refresh our environmental agenda and enabled
a step change in our approach. We seek solutions
that benefit people and the planet but which also
make sound business sense.
“The previous policy ensured we adequately protected
the environment. The new policy enables
value to be added.” Every operating company
has to issue a formal environmental policy covering
areas such as sustainability, waste reduction,
and in-house efficiency but usually they go far
beyond what is expected of them, devising ingenious
solutions to old problems.
At the new acute hospital in Birmingham,
Balfour Beatty Construction and Haden
Young (another Balfour Beatty company)
recycled crushed demolition materials and plasterboard,
significantly reducing waste. Building
the modular components in a purpose built centre
off site reduced the volume of traffic, waste and
upheaval.
According to John Dunne, Group SHE Manager,
“This was not a strategy driven down from the
Group, rather the case of the Group developing
a strategy which was meaningful and could be
delivered.”
“Whereas we cannot impose green solutions on
our clients – we can provide an environmentally
friendly option and encourage them to consider
its value.”
Green Energy
Developing new technologies to harness renewable
energy is a particularly exciting challenge
for Balfour Beatty as the British government
strives to generate 20 per cent of the country's
energy from renewable energy sources by 2020.
Balfour Kilpatrick has an extensive track record
in the wind energy sector and is currently constructing
Europe's largest onshore wind farm,
south of Glasgow, in a joint venture with Morrison
Construction Services.
When it is finished, it is estimated that the 140
turbines of the 80km Whitelee Wind Farm will
produce more than 2% of Scotland's energy
needs. Balfour Kilpatrick's involvement in this
sector will exceed 500MW of commissioned renewable
energy.
Severn Barrage
The construction of a multi-billion pound tidal
barrage across the Severn estuary moved a step
closer following the government's announcement
of a two year feasibility study into the project
which could meet 5-6 percent of the UK's
electricity needs.
Balfour Beatty is part of the Severn Tidal Power
Group set up 20 years ago to develop a barrage
across the estuary. With a tidal range of 14 metres,
the second highest in the world, it would
produce tidal power equivalent to three nuclear
power stations, cutting the UK's carbon emissions
by 16 million tones a year. As an additional
benefit, it would provide flood protection for the
vulnerable Severn estuary.
The project would be the most ambitious of its
kind in the world, with enormous locks allowing
shipping to pass through, while the construction
of a road and even a railway would create another
Severn crossing.
Reducing Waste and Pollution
Two years ago, supervisor Don Massey from
Balfour Beatty Rail Track Systems, was looking
at environmentally-friendly alternatives to disposing
of the 2,250 tons of used sand and slag
waste from the Midlands foundry, which makes
castings for the railways. Don and his team found
the sand could be used in the construction of
concrete blocks, while the slag waste could be
ground up for use in the manufacture of highfriction
road surfaces. This has saved the equivalent
of 13 double-decker buses full of sand and
slag being transported and dumped in landfill.
“The products we make for the railways are almost
100 per cent recyclable. The old rails and
castings can be melted and recycled as can the
steelwork connecting the rods, while the concrete
sleepers can be crushed”.
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