| Sustainability Report 2009/10
Sustainability report | Environment | Meeting the challenge of climate change | Smarter plant buying to reduce our impact Smarter plant buying to reduce our impact
Steve Jarvis, General Manager of BAM Nuttall Plant, says that the environmental agenda first started to loom large three or four years ago when the company began to look at where its major impacts were.
At an early stage, they identified that a lot of energy use could be put down to inefficient portacabins.
BAM Nuttall Plant looked at what could be done to improve the efficiency of site accommodation. Now, units sent out from depots such as the Allbrook Plant Depot where Steve is based, boast a much better profile.
Not only do the units have energy efficient lighting, controlled by a motion sensor, and heating controlled by a timer, they have also massively increased the effectiveness of insulation through the introduction of things like UPVC double glazed windows, which are 60 percent better insulated than the traditional windows they replace.
Overall, recent tests carried out on such efficient cabins by our sister company BAM Construct have shown a 54 percent saving in energy use over conventional cabins.
In addition, the impact of the materials is also of concern. Where timber is used in portacabins, for instance, it should be from sustainably managed sources. And the new plant has been so designed that around 90 percent of it can be recycled at the end of its working life.
Of course it's not only environmental issues that come to the fore when looking at what types of plant should be bought, it's also health and safety.
BAM Nuttall Plant has the philosophy that it should aim to take out as much of the risk in operating plant before the plant even gets to site.
One example is the new high visibility telehandlers. This is a new product that is designed to give the best degree of visibility to the operator.
So when it comes to major risks with telehandlers, such as reversing, the operator is able to identify and avoid the dangers so much better.
What's next? Steve Jarvis believes it is only a matter of time before plant is required to have labelling that identifies its CO2 footprint, and enables operators to better estimate their carbon emissions on site. It's an agenda that manufacturers and site operators alike need to be aware of, he says. More: Meeting the challenge of climate change | Our aims | Our Performance | Case study 1: Smarter plant buying to reduce our impact| Case study 2: Driving down the impact of car emissions
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