Ethical Sourcing:
It’s Our Responsibility
Working Together for a Better Supply Chain
If we want to be a circular city, we need to work together. That’s why we value our close relationship with our suppliers. They help us with responsible sourcing to ensure that the materials that we use are ethically sourced and responsibly supplied. Without them, we could never achieve a circular economy.
We closely track all major material purchases, applying our responsible sourcing standards across the Group.
SOURCING
RESPONSIBLY
We aim to ensure that all major materials we procure come from verifiable, traceable sources. Our Major Materials Tracking System monitors compliance with our responsible sourcing standards. All other materials are sourced from companies using an environmental management system (EMS). In addition, we select partners, contractors and suppliers who share our values and who are willing to work in responsible and innovative ways.
EXPECTING
THE BEST
We apply rigorous standards to the suppliers and contractors we work with. We’ve developed a new strategy aligned with the ISO 20400 standard for sustainable procurement, scheduled for implementation in 2019. We are working closely with key stakeholders on site and throughout our supply chain, to understand their own policies and approaches to sustainable procurement, to ensure further alignment to the standard in 2019.
We’re shifting our focus from waste and materials to resource efficiency. This is a significant and considerable change, but essential in driving us towards a circular economy. Inevitably, the groundwork for this will take time, but will result in a major step forward.
We are committed to ensuring our timber supplies are FSC-accredited – which means that the wood we use is sustainably sourced. We trialled the QFlow system in 2018, which helps us simplify the verification process for FSC timbers, improve productivity, reduce costs and enhance stakeholder relationships. The QTimber app also helps us manage incoming timber supplies to make sure they meet the required standards and allows us to electronically track the materials. The results of the three-month trial were extremely positive, with major tracking improvements; we’re currently identifying adjustments we need to make to fully cover our timber procurement.
Supply Chain Sustainability School
Working with our suppliers is key to our ambitions. We’ve become a Partner of Supply Chain Sustainability School, a collaboration of more than 3,000 companies that brings together clients, contractors and first-tier suppliers to build skills in their supply chains. Through the School, clients, contractors and suppliers work together to tackle environmental and social sustainability issues within the construction industry. Our membership will also underpin our ISO 20400 strategy by providing the tools we will need to ensure the standards are met.
OUR 2018 PROGRESS
