Now or Never…

Sitting in the top 20 of the UK’s largest Construction companies, Willmott Dixon operate in decidedly crowded marketplace, and one which is certainly under the spotlight for its approach to delivering its part of the transition to net-zero by 2050. However, many in the industry know that whilst 2050 is the target date for achieving this in the UK, the next 10 years are crucial in setting us on the right path and taking action before it is too late.

Willmott Dixon are most certainly aware of this which explains why their strategy is more ambitious, building on their assertion of being a net-zero organisation for the past 8 years. Indeed, this is a strategy that will see them, over the course of the next 10 years, become a zero-carbon organisation. They plan to achieve this without the need for offsetting; by operating construction sites without the need for fossil fuels, only operating electric vehicles, generating zero avoidable waste, drastically reducing their water usage and delivering environmental net gain on all their projects.

This all set against three core themes of Brilliant Buildings, Building Lives and Better Planet.

I’ll let you review the full details here – Now or Never – primarily as I am not an environment or sustainability expert, and therefore not really qualified to assess this strategy with a critical eye.

What I can do however is applaud them for their ambition and vision. IEMA are certainly proud to have organisations like Willmott Dixon as a corporate partner and we look forward to supporting their environment and sustainability professionals in delivering these ambitious targets – whether that’s through investing in the skills and knowledge required to support these changes, or by facilitating vital cross-sector networking that allows everyone to collaborate share experience for the good of all.

It’s great that this also comes ahead of UK Construction Week (5^th-9^th October) where there are 5 days of inspiring seminars and talks about changing the landscape of the built environment sector in the UK. This includes a session on Wednesday 7^th October featuring IEMA’s CEO, Sarah, Mukherjee, who will be in a panel of experts talking about Sustainable Housing in a post-COVID world.

I’ll close with a remark made by Roger Forsdyke (MD of their London and SE division) when asked about the challenges and barriers to delivering this strategy – his response was quite simply, Why wouldn’t you? When facing the stark realities of the climate and environment emergency why wouldn’t you want to do the right thing?

Alan Darby

Senior Corporate Partnerships Manager, IEMA

Alan leads on IEMA's relationships with our range of organisational partnerships – from micro SME’s and environmental consults to national and international enterprise partners. Alan has a background in marketing and communications and combined with extensive experience of managing effective partnerships is focussed on supporting IEMA’s growing number of corporate partners.