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We were delighted to attend Barratt’s recent virtual Supply Chain Conference. Barratt is one of Plastic Surgeon's largest housebuilder clients, and every year they invite over 200 of their key suppliers to attend this conference which sets the key objectives for the year ahead.
We were thrilled to see that the key focus for this year’s event was the environmental agenda. John Adams, Barratt’s group procurement director, led the conversation and the need for the company’s supply chain to focus on improving its sustainability performance.
Barratt emphasised its commitment to becoming the leading national sustainable housebuilder in 2015 and since this time has committed to implementing the change required. Over the coming months, they will be focussing heavily on further reducing carbon and waste materials and encouraging suppliers to partner to share innovative ideas and solve specific problems.
The housebuilding industry has a daunting challenge with the need to build more new homes coupled with the delays created due to the Covid pandemic. This need however cannot come at the expense of the environment. The climate crisis becomes more pressing by the day and the devastating consequences are already being felt across the world. We need to build more homes and grow the UK economy, but long-term sustainability must be at the forefront of our minds.
One of Barratt’s key focus is to reduce its waste intensity. In 2015 it set the target to reduce waste by 20% by 2025 and it is already at 15%. One of the key ways they have achieved this is by measuring meticulously every piece of waste that is created by building just one home. By doing this, they have been able to produce a thorough breakdown of all of the waste created in the construction process. This has then been used to change their processes to reduce unnecessary waste.
We have been working with Barratt for 14 years, as one of the leaders in their field, it has been fantastic to see how our work has aided them to further improve their sustainability criteria and reduce the amount of waste they produce.
Our typical work includes repairing damaged internal doors, chipped worktops, cracked sanitaryware, and scratched GRP. Our varied skill set means we can repair any hard surface damage, both internal and external, reducing the need for replacement and creating less waste. In 2019, we saved 668 tonnes of material from going to landfill for Barratt alone and in total across our business 4,376 tonnes of waste was saved from landfill.
Richard Moreton National Account Manager at Plastic Surgeon works closely with Barratt and attended the conference:
“We continue to develop new areas of repair to further support Barratt in reducing its impact on the environment.
“We are very much looking forward to partnering with others in the supply chain to share best practice and develop innovative methods to further improve Barratt’s sustainability credentials.”
The Barratt Developments Supply Chain Conference 2020 featured speakers including housing minister Christopher Pincher – who, Barratt said, emphasised the importance of the green agenda – Savills’ head of residential research Lucian Cook, and Barratt’s chairman and CBI vice president John Allan, as well as David Thomas, Barratt’s CEO and Steven Boyes, chief operating officer.
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