Grow your own! Is it back?

O’Brien have recently carried out several contracts for allotments in Wolston, Cubbington and Tiddington, Stratford upon Avon. With “Earth Day” this month, it got our team thinking about sustainable living and how facilities, such as allotments allow us to consider how we impact the environment and encourage us, once again to grow our own and step away from convenience.

With many of our clients, particularly the housing industry encouraging greener living and investing in the new homes they are creating, our client Spitfire Homes is a great example of this and the space they are creating on their site in Wolston, Rugby to encourage sustainable futures.

The team were instructed by Spitfire Homes to clear the site of overgrown existing allotments and disposing of the site’s waste to allow for 79 new plots. The site required stripped and levelled topsoil with the existing topsoil screened and reused to cover the area. This avoided bringing new topsoil in and allowed us to recycle what the site had, reducing deliveries to site. Stone roads were built around the allotments to allow access and bases/slabs were laid ready for sheds and greenhouses. O’Brien supplied and erected all sheds and greenhouses and constructed perimeter fencing. The contract was successfully completed and handed back to the client for the next phase of the development.

O’Brien’s Commitment

Net Zero: With over fifty years of history delivering civil engineering and construction across all sectors of the Built Environment, O’Brien Contractors have always shown a commitment to their Corporate Social Responsibility and the Environment.  Our Net Zero Champion, Vicki, is responsible for setting net zero carbon targets and defining the businesses strategy to de-carbonise future operations.

Vicki commented: “Protecting our Environment and climate change represents some of the greatest challenges we face today in Construction. At O’Brien Contractors Limited, we understand the behavioral change needed across our Industry.”

Plant: O’Brien Contractors Limited continues to invest in the latest plant and technology to help improve operational efficiencies and reduce Green House Gas emissions. O’Brien’s continue to lead the way in Modern Methods of Construction for groundworks and civil engineering.

An example of this is our EC300E Hybrid Fuel Efficiency / Reduced CO2 Emissions. The result is up to 17% increase in fuel efficiency on standard EC330E, but also the same levels of controllability and performance as the standard EC300E. That allows the EC300E Hybrid to reduces its CO₂ emissions by up to 15%* making it a more environmentally respectful choice, especially when working in built-up areas.

What is Earth Day? Earth Day, 22nd April, is meant to demonstrate support for environmental protection through global events coordinated by the Earth Day Network. Whether it is changing your diet for a day or shrinking your carbon footprint, there are many ways to participate in Earth Day. Food for Earth Day Earth Day is less about celebratory foods and more focused on the food we eat often. You can celebrate Earth Day by being cognizant of what you are eating and how it impacts the environment.

O’Brien Contractors’ carbon footprint verified to BS EN ISO 14064-3:2006

Our standards are benchmarked against leading industry accreditations, including ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 18001 and Achilles BuildingConfidence

We have had our carbon footprint verified by TÜV UK Ltd to the ISO 14064-3:2006 standard across our operations.

Verification to ISO 14064, is one of the most effective ways to measure, quantify and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The audit showed that, when normalised against turnover (£17m in 2014 and £28m in 2015), we had significantly reduced our usage of resources year-on-year and continually exceeded target.

In order to achieve our emissions reduction goal, we developed a strategy based on:

  • Investing and upgrading and operating the most efficient plant and technology available.
  • Providing staff with training on how to improve their driving to reduce fuel consumption.
  • Investing an average of £140k per year on upgrading its fleet of vehicles to ensure that they are the most efficient and low-emission models available.
  • Offering shuttle buses to promote vehicle pooling for staff working on our construction sites.

Vicki O’Brien, O’Brien Contractors, said: “We are very much committed to minimising the impact of our activities on the environment and all stakeholders, in order to operate a business that is safe, sustainable and socially responsible. Verifying our footprint to an International standard will serve as a benchmark against to help us achieve our goal of continuously reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.”

Our commitment to environmental improvement also saw us become the first to achieve ISO 14001 certification among our core rivals in the civil engineering sector.

Our processes and procedures have also been audited and validated to ISO 9001 for quality and OHSAS 18001, CHAS, Achilles BuildingConfidence (5-star rating) and Achilles RISQS for health and safety.

Vicki added: “By raising our standards, we have been able to operate more akin with our clients, and target major projects with greater contract values, or strategic divisions, placing greater focus on delivery and quality, not just price.”