Contractors to launch online sustainability tool

A group of main contractors, including Skanska, Morgan Sindall, Lend Lease and Kier, are planning to launch an online service for subcontractors to help them improve their sustainability credentials.

The service will centre around a free self-assessment tool that will allow potential suppliers to test if they can meet main contractors’ sustainability criteria and then tell them how to improve if necessary.

It will give personalised signposting to free online resources and provide subsidised training to enhance green skills in the industry.

Andy MacAskill, procurement and supply chain director at Skanska, said his firm’s involvement in the initiative stemmed from the company’s ambition to be a leading green contractor. “The only way we can be the leader in green contracting is to have a green supply chain,” he said. He said Skanska spent around 80% of its revenue with its supply chain.

The project is due to launch in the second quarter of this year and will entail investment of about £1m.

Suppliers using the tool will not have their information passed on to main contractors and the number of times they can go through the process will not be limited.
MacAskill said the tool would spell out in clear, specific language what suppliers would need to do to win work with contractors and would have both a regional and project focus.