The environment, its protection and sustainability is now near the top of the Government and Industry agenda in the UK. There is increasing recognition amongst all industrial sectors that good environmental management is an important component of a successful business strategy. There is encouraging evidence that the major players and, indeed Government, are setting the standards and demonstrating the benefits of environmental management to community and industry. The paper describes the development and practice of an Environmental Management System in the major construction and services group, Carillion..
Carillion was created in 1999 following the demerger of the Tarmac Group into two business sections. The Building Products and Materials Division of the Group became the new Tarmac. The Construction Services Division, with a turnover of £1.9 billion, a staff of 15,000 and working in thirty countries on 600 sites or offices, became Carillion. Carillion operates in all sectors of the civil and building construction market and is involved in many ground and geotechnical-related activities, ranging from tunnelling and deep station excavations on the Jubilee Line in London to a 26 m high embankment on the Manchester Runway 2 Project. These projects, and many others like them, have a high level of environmental sensitivity and therefore posed particular challenges with respect to environmental engineering and environmental project management. In 1994 the Company recognised the social and business benefits of effective environmental management and established an independent Environmental Panel to help advise, direct and audit environmental performance in the light of best practice, current trends and construction-sector issues. The Panel reviewed performance against targets on an annual basis and this performance, together with information on all aspects of the company's environmental programme has been published annually since 1995 in a series of bespoke environment reports.
