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Month: August 2022

The built environment is considered at high risk for modern slavery and wider exploitation due to the enormous demand for labour, a severe skills shortage, complex supply chains and the prevalence of indirect and self-employment.

Construction is one of the most at-risk sectors, with 18% of global forced labour victims working in the industry.

With an estimated 40.3 million victims worldwide, it’s important to look at the modern slavery risks within your own organisation and supply chain.

To support our industry in taking action against modern slavery, we are pleased to provide our Members with a Modern Slavery Training Pack. This training pack provides direct links to free resources and training sessions designed to help your organisation and supply chain gain a better understanding of modern slavery and how to tackle it.

This simple pack will guide you through relevant virtual training sessions, e-learning modules and learning resources. Download below or share with your colleagues and supply chain.

Download now >

The following companies have reached Gold membership on the School this month, demonstrating significant commitment to developing their sustainability knowledge. Find out more about their journey’s here, or discover how you can become Gold here.

Congratulations to all new Gold members!

  • Alfred Bagnall & Sons (North) Limited
  • Apleona HSG
  • Arco
  • Balfour Beatty PLC
  • BREBURltd
  • BW Workplace Experts
  • Centurion Traffic management
  • Gibbs & Dandy (Saint-Gobain)
  • H E Barnes Ltd
  • KONE plc
  • M Group Services Limited
  • Mabey Hire Ltd
  • Mace
  • Mivan Ltd
  • Moores Furniture Group
  • Peel Ports Group
  • Powerday plc
  • Readypower Group
  • Rhodar Limited
  • Selwood Pumps
  • Showersave
  • Thompson Cole
  • Venesky-Brown Recruitment

 

The Value Toolkit is a new way of thinking for the construction industry. It represents a step change in the way that projects are conceived, developed and, most importantly, how value is delivered through the project lifecycle. The Value Toolkit has been developed by the Construction Innovation Hub, in collaboration with HM Government and key players in the UK construction sector.

The School is pleased to be able to host 6 pilot training courses to allow our Partners and Members to understand better this new procurement approach, click below to book and find out more:

  1. Supply Chain – Tuesday 6th September – 13.30 to 17.00 (face-to-face in Birmingham) – Understanding the government’s new approach to procurement – The Value Toolkit for the Supply Chain
  2. Facilitator – Thursday & Friday 8/9th September – 9:00 to 5:00 (face-to-face in London) –  The Value Toolkit – How to facilitate your clients’ adoption of value decision making
  3. Commercial Professionals – Friday 16th September – 09:30 to 13:00 (face-to-face in London) – Understanding the government’s new approach to procurement – The Value Toolkit for Commercial Professionals
  4. Supply Chain – Thursday 22nd September – 9.00 to 12.30 (virtual) – Understanding the government’s new approach to procurement – The Value Toolkit for the Supply Chain
  5. Facilitator – Thursday & Friday 22/23rd September – 9:00 to 5:00 (face-to-face in Birmingham) – The Value Toolkit – How to facilitate your clients’ adoption of value decision making
  6. Commercial Professionals – Friday 23rd September – 09:30-13:00 (virtual) – Understanding the government’s new approach to procurement – The Value Toolkit for Commercial Professionals

The Supply Chain Sustainability School and the Worshipful Company of Constructors are partnering to offer a Climate Action Scholarships Programme, aimed at addressing the climate crisis and uncovering opportunities that will improve sustainability in construction.

The 12-month programme, launching in Autumn 2022, will offer two successful applicants a £2,500 bursary to support costs associated with completing the programme, plus an experienced mentor will support them to shape and deliver their research project. Free attendance at a number of additional learning sessions will also ensure robust and appropriate experimental methods and data analysis are applied to deliver validated outputs.

The scholars will also receive support in disseminating the findings of the project widely, through the extensive networks that both organisations bring and also other relevant thematic groups.

The completion of these projects can also form part of applications for professional membership, as part of an accredited apprenticeship scheme or extending continuing professional development.

The scholarships are also a valuable mechanism for companies to develop the potential of their employees who may not normally have the opportunity and support to carry out structured research, as well as demonstrate their own leadership in the field.

Shaun McCarthy OBE, Chair of the Supply Chain Sustainability School, said: “We know that no single organisation or person has all the answers to addressing two of the main issues of our age: the climate and biodiversity crises. Thankfully, there is a multiplicity of solutions available to us – some we know already and some we are yet to develop. But to make them happen soon, and at scale, we know that we must collaborate.

Moreover, we need to inspire the next generation to carry on the work in generating new thinking and ways of working to maintain momentum in tackling climate change. To that end, the Worshipful Company of Constructors and the Supply Chain Sustainability School are working together to offer a number of research scholarships each year to address the climate challenges we face today and realise opportunities relevant to construction, now and in the future.”

For more information and the full benefits, see here.

The next programme will open in Autumn 2022. If you are interested in applying, please visit the website to download the brochure and application form.

The Supply Chain Sustainability School is partnering with Balfour Beatty to run a second survey of the UK construction supply chain, which goes live today (Wednesday, 24th August).

The aim of the ‘Greening the Supply Chain‘ survey is to understand how successfully the sector is decarbonising, and what further support it needs from Government, customers and others in the industry to deliver net zero carbon.

Anyone working in the UK built environment industry is invited to have their say by completing the survey.

This year, there are two versions of the Greening the Supply Chain survey, based on region:

The deadline to respond to the survey is 23:59 on Friday, 7th October. The survey is completely anonymous and takes only five to ten minutes to complete.

At the end of the survey, responses will go into a report that will be shared widely across the industry and with customers, Government and other stakeholders. This will then help inform the support offered to the built environment sector to decarbonise.

Last year’s survey targeted nearly 40,000 of the construction and infrastructure industry’s supply chain partners. The survey results were published in the report, Greening the Chain. It found that 87% of respondents were developing or already implementing a carbon reduction strategy. It also highlighted challenges such as lack of necessary skills and poor availability of low carbon materials. Read more about the 2021 survey here.

For 2022, we are also undertaking supporting interviews with a number of our Partners who will be quoted in the report. If you are keen to participate in this, please email [email protected] and we will follow up with you directly.

Those wishing to participate in the 2022 Greening the Supply Chain survey can anonymously complete the main version here and the Scottish version here.