Willmott Dixon Construction is the major contracting arm of the Willmott Dixon Group, one of Britain's largest privately owned construction, housing, property support and investment companies.

Based in Letchworth Garden City, Herts, Willmott Dixon Construction operates across England and Wales, building schools and academies, leisure facilities, offices, healthcare centres and retail developments.

The company says that "our commercial success depends on us getting the sustainable development agenda right. All of our people have a part to play in bringing sustainability to everything we do. Taking a leadership role in the built environment will help us stand out from the crowd."

George Martin is the company's Head of Sustainable Development. He has more than 30 years' experience in earth sciences. George is an Associate Director of the UK's leading sustainable development charity, Forum for the Future, and a member of both the Sustainability Forum and the Sustainable Procurement Task Force. Previously he was Director of Sustainability at the Building Research Establishment.

What does 'sustainability' mean to you and to the company?

"For me it's about quality of life, meeting human needs, so if everybody in the world was happy and healthy, including all the other species that share the world with us, then we have a sustainable planet.

"And for the organisation, to summarise, it's about how you develop appropriate growth that fits within environmental limits."

Tell us about your firm's 'carbon journey'

"One major component of the carbon journey started with undertaking a carbon footprint (published in the company's Sustainable Review Report - see: www.willmottdixon.co.uk/)

"We divided our footprint into direct and indirect emissions. Direct emissions including those that the company, arguably, is in direct control of - for example CO2 from our offices, business travel and also the energy we consume on site as we actually construct the buildings.

"Our indirect emissions are clearly those from our staff, in terms of commuting back and forth from work, and issues relating to how our staff, as individuals, run their own lives.

"The buildings we construct or refurbish will have a life span - normally at least 60 years - and these will have a carbon output. There will also be - and we've published this - too many areas we've yet to get to grips with: one is the embodied carbon of the materials that we construct these buildings with and the other is the carbon associated with our supply chain as they go about their businesses. An argument is, of course, that this is not ours to calculate but nonetheless we have an influence, even if we don't control them.

"We started our footprint study in 2007 (in association with Carbon Sense), completed in March 2008 and reported on it in September that year and we will be reporting on progress this year and in subsequent years."

Which parts of the business account for the largest emissions?

"In terms of direct emissions, we divided into this into three major components: the largest part arises from work on the sites. Then there's the travel of the staff and also that from our offices.

"The sites run up 3,000 tonnes of CO2 a year; travel comes in at less than 2,000 tonnes per year and the offices are relatively insignificant, though not unimportant. That's because although in carbon terms, the output from our offices is relatively low, in terms of 'practice what you preach' it is vital.

"Practice what you preach is vital as if I were a client and asking Willmott Dixon to build me a new set of offices, and I went to a Willmott Dixon office and thought 'the carbon reduction doesn't hit me here', then why would I ask you to build me something you don't do yourselves?"

How have you tried to tackle this?

"What we've been doing is a carbon audit on each of our offices which is one of the targets we set ourselves last September. Some of the offices are easier than others. At ssomeme, we don't pay the energy costs directly, which is quite common in the office sector. Unfortunately - and it's one of the big barriers - we pay by service charge, so we might be in an office with a number of other companies, perhaps ten, or even 30 in one case, and we pay a flat-rate service charge for our utilities.

"So it is very difficult. Some landlords are interested in getting to grips with this, and some show absolutely no interest whatsoever. Nonetheless, we are putting a process in place.

"In terms of travel we have developed, just at the end of last year, a group led by CEO Rick Willmott, which looked at overall group transport policy and as part of that we looked at how we're going to 'green the fleet'.

"We had assistance from the Energy Saving Trust (EST). We started to introduce some 'quick wins'. All the company cars come from a specific provider and we had that company in to do the stat revision, but already one of the things we've introduced is a £500 green bonus involving anybody who was entitled to a car producing more than 160grm per km Co2 who picked a car less than that was entitled to the money. It was an initial move to get things going as far as our staff were concerned. But we're looking at how to make further inroads on this.

"On site, we've been metering our site offices to measure electricity, gas or oil; working with our site cabin suppliers to see how we can reduce the energy consumption. The traditional way of heating a site office is to use electricity and to warm it up as much as you can: ie so that it's roasting! And then, when you need to cool it, you open the doors and windows!

"So we've been adding heating controls and automatic door closers. And we've been working with the manufacturers of the cabins to ensure adequate insulation which they've never had before; double-glazed windows, and that sort of thing. We're introducing a whole series of measures to control energy consumption.

"That includes water: we're experimenting with waterless urinals. We worked out that we could save 12 million litres of water a year if we could introduce these at every site and office. We trialled it in one of our main offices because the guys on site always complain that it's they who get the downside of all these measures!"

How do you bring staff on board the low carbon project?

"Among the measures was the development of a 2-hour DVD - the first in a series - and we rolled this out to all 900 staff over a three-week programme so that everybody viewed this inter-active training programme and embedded in that was a carbon footprint calculator.

"We had struck up a deal with the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) for their carbon footprint calculator and every member of staff completed it. The results were put on a domain hosted by the WWF so that we could access it and work out what the average footprint was per Willmott Dixon employee. We're proposing to do this annually and our hope is that as we as a company progress on the journey, the carbon footprint of the company will reduce and so will that of individuals who work for us."

What targets have you set yourselves and are you on course?

"One target is to become carbon neutral by 2012. By carbon neutral what we want to do is to de-carbonise by 50 per cent, then look at responsible ways of offsetting. We are investigating various ways of offsetting including the possibility of our own green, renewable energy as has been done by the likes of Co-op Bank and M&S. We will have a route map to carbon neutral which will be published later this year once we have a handle on the effect on the initiatives already in place."

Is the monitoring and management of waste a big issue for the trade?

"Yes, enormous. The construction sector is a big contributor to landfill waste. The government has introduced a target: they want to halve the amount of waste going to landfill from our sector by 2012 which we've signed up to. That was relatively easy for us because our own target is to have zero waste to landfill by 2012. No weasel words - zero is what it is, including hazardous waste and we have the measures in place to do that.

"We have been on this case since 2005, and for 2007 we measured that 60.4 per cent of our waste had been diverted from landfill. We haven't yet completed the measurements for 2008, but our target was to get to 70 per cent and 80 percent for 2009. At our best site to date, we've seen 85 per cent of waste diverted from landfill. Now it's a question of ensuring that we do that on every site and push on to the zero target.

"There are a number of different mechanisms to achieve this. The key thing is behavioural change.

"Traditionally in the construction sector, waste has not been used as a resource. It's been seen as a menace. The idea on sites of old was to keep things tidy and if there was anything lying around and you only needed half of it, well get the rest into a skip and get it off site as quickly as possible. So, on site we now have segregated skips so that the workforce understands that you put timber in the timber skip and so on.

"But plasterboard is an interesting illustration. It's used on most projects, and you find that when you measure it, there's around 20 per cent waste. So we've entered into talks with our supply chain and we are encouraging our suppliers and manufacturers to take back the plasterboard and recycle it so that it doesn't become a waste in the first place.

"At the other end, we're working with our design supply chain to look at things like ceiling heights, etc, to see if either these heights can be matched to the length of current product, or whether product can be designed for regulation ceiling heights and so on. Introducing appropriate modern methods of construction based on factory production to eliminate waste at source is also important.

"There isn't any one easy answer to this but overall, it's about changing the behaviour of people working in construction which includes architects at one end and the bricklayer at the other."

How is the current economic climate affecting the low-carbon push?

"Energy is a bit more difficult because it's often intangible. One of the barriers there problem is that quite often that the clients procuring a building are not the same people who are destined to operate it. "In the current economic climate, everybody is looking at reducing costs so that people with capital budgets are looking to reduce the amount of capital spend and people with operational budgets are looking to reduce that. The trick is joining the two and that is not without its difficulties!

"So it is impossible to generalise on this. There are some clients that see this as a great opportunity in terms of reducing the whole life cost - ie the addition of the capital cost and the operational cost - and there are those who only want to reduce capital costs."

Of what low-carbon achievements are you particularly proud?

"I think the behavioural change aspect. The way we at Willmott Dixon run sustainability workshops on every project and that at the top of the list of all action plans is carbon reduction, focussing on how you get the biggest bang for your buck.

"You get that by focussing on the passive measures. These are unsexy: it's not all about portable tanks and wind turbines. This is about concentrating on the basics. This is about orientation of the building. It's about air-tightness. It's about insulation. About free-lighting and day-lighting. And that is how we are now approaching all of the projects, whether new build or refurbishment. That's what I'm most proud of."

What's top of your in-tray?

"Sustainable procurement policy. It's absolutely key. I've been working on this for 18 months. It's going to the March board meeting. How we and our clients procure is absolutely critical to all these outcomes, not the least of which is reducing waste and carbon."

Any advice for fellow low-carbon professionals?

"Firstly, partnering. Partnering and collaborative working is what you need in spades. That is the client, the investors, the design supply chain and the workforce supply chain have to be working in partnership. Not just in words but in deeds.

"And then the concentration has to be on the passive measures. One of my ambitions is to help introduce the passive-house way of building into the UK. I'm trying to interest the clients into procuring the first passive school. It was a system developed in Germany around 15 years ago and there are around 5000 passive houses built there. It involves extreme insulation, using natural light and ventilation and so on. It's low-carbon and could even become a source of generating energy and hooked up to the grid.

"So I suppose part of my advice must be 'follow your convictions and dreams.'"

Climate Change Law Brings New Era Of Carbon Budgets

The passing of the Climate Change Bill into law marks the beginning of a new era for tackling greenhouse gas emissions. The Act is a first in global terms as well as for the UK, setting down in statutory form national emissions targets and making government ministers answerable to Parliament for our progress towards them.

The scope and impact of the new legislation is potentially very large, and while further guidance and secondary legislation will reveal the finer details of how it will be implemented, it is safe to say that it brings major changes to the business landscape.

“There are some things that will affect companies directly,” says William Wilson, a former government lawyer and now a barrister at Burges Salmon, a law firm that gave evidence to Parliamentary Committees during the draft stage of the Bill. “Reporting is the most obvious thing. The Act requires the Secretary of State to publish guidelines for companies on reporting, and to review progress against targets,” he says. “From April 2012 large and medium-sized companies will be required by amendments to company law to report their emissions.”

Bumpy ride through Parliament

The passage of the Bill through Parliament was marked by a great deal of scrutiny and intense lobbying, and towards the end of its journey a flurry of debates and amendments changed its final form.

The Act commits the UK to reduce emissions of all greenhouse gases by at least 26% by 2020, and by at least 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. The latter target is a revision of an earlier commitment to a 60% reduction for CO2 only, and was agreed following an intervention by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) in October 2008.

The CCC itself was formally granted its powers with the passing of the Act, and will be a key agency in deciding the practical aspects of how recommendations in the Act are implemented. “It’s a very strong advisory body, comparable in some ways to the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England,” William Wilson says.

The Act stipulates that emissions from aviation and shipping must be included in overall progress reports to Parliament. This followed the threat of a backbench rebellion by more than 50 Labour MPs in October 2008. In practice the CCC will advise the Government on how projected emissions from aviation and shipping must be taken into account in setting interim targets and assessing progress towards the 2020 and 2050 deadlines.

The original draft was also controversial in leaving open the possibility that purchase of unlimited carbon credits could count towards our emissions reductions, enabling UK targets to be met through reductions achieved overseas rather than at home. Although the Government still has the final say on the mix of domestic and overseas reductions – and allows purchased EU allowances to count towards targets – the Act has been amended to give the CCC an advisory role on appropriate limits for each budgetary period.

Carbon budgets are set to be a major factor in turning aspirations into practical outcomes. “Something that everyone has to get used to is the five-year carbon budget, because these are budgets for the whole of the UK” says Wilson. The budgets will set a cap on emissions over five-year periods, and three budgets will be set at a time, marking our route to 2050 in 15-year stages. The first three carbon budgets will run from 2008 to 2012, 2013 to 2017 and 2018 to 2022, and must be agreed by 1 June 2009. The Government must report to Parliament its policies and proposals to meet the budgets as soon as is practical after that date.

The CCC will monitor and report back to Parliament annually on progress made by Government in meeting its carbon budgets, publishing its first progress report in September 2009.

Inside the Committee on Climate Change

Clues as to how the CCC will go about its work are contained in its first report, published in December 2008. This sets out the broad reasons for aiming at an 80% reduction by 2050, how this can be achieved, and makes recommendations for the first three budgets to 2022. The CCC, which is chaired by former CBI Director General Adair Turner, makes a number of recommendations likely to impact on UK industry.

Unsurprisingly, the report devotes a large amount of space to energy generation and distribution. Renewable energy, particularly from wind technologies, is cited as a key factor in weaning the UK off fossil fuels, as is nuclear power. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is identified as “an essential technology” for reducing emissions, but development needs to progress more rapidly, says the report.

Cleaner grid electricity coupled with development of electric vehicles could reduce emissions from road transport, particularly from cars and light vans, says the report. The likely impact of biofuels depends on a number of factors, including the feasibility of next generation feedstocks and production methods, and so fossil fuels will inevitably continue to be the dominant transport fuel, although the carbon efficiency of vehicles could be increased by 30 to 40%.

CCC identifies “significant scope” for cutting emissions in buildings. Over the period of the first three budgets, there is technical potential for savings of 7 MtCO2 at zero or negative cost, of which 4 to 6 MtCO2 should be realistically achievable, it says. CCC notes that more than 50% of emissions from commercial buildings and 95% of emissions from industry are now covered by “strong binding policy levers” which will support delivery of reductions, but recommends that “new policies should be considered to unlock emissions reductions in those firms currently not covered by these binding levers.”

Prepare for mandatory caps and more reporting

What are these levers likely to be? First, there will be growing pressure on companies to report their emissions as a matter of course. “[The Act] is part of a long-term trend towards prescribing, making reporting emissions a mandatory requirement for companies, rather than a reflection of the company’s values, or those of its directors,” says William Wilson.

Second, cap-and-trade schemes are already familiar to the heavy emitters operating under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, and increasingly to large organisations getting to grips with the Carbon Reduction Commitment, but their reach is likely to be extended. In essence, the Act paves the way for government to implement more mandatory trading schemes – possibly at regional or local levels – as it sees fit.

Key questions:

· What action are we taking on reporting our emissions?

· What is our strategy for complying with cap-and-trade requirements?

· Have we looked at the feasibility of carbon budgets across our operations?