These green innovators have helped push sustainable building to new heights
Ray Anderson
Fifteen years ago, Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of global modular flooring specialist Interface, set his company on the path to becoming the world’s first sustainable business by 2020. Despite operating in a traditionally carbon-intensive industry, Anderson changed Interface’s business model to consider sustainability in all dimensions, thus helping to pioneer the sustainability movement for the industrial world. Known as Mission Zero, this 2020 goal underpins every aspect of the company – process, product, people, place and profits. A 67% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions on an absolute basis has consequently been achieved at Interface, along with savings in avoided waste costs, attracting a number one ranking in Globescan’s survey of sustainability experts. Anderson advises on sustainable practices to industry and government, having co-chaired the President’s Council on Sustainable Development and been an architect of the Presidential Climate Action Plan, a 100-day programme presented to the Obama administration. He was also named one of TIME International’s Heroes of the Environment in 2007 and is the author of “Mid-Course Correction” and the recent “Confessions of a Radical Industrialist”.Vote for your 2009 Green Guru manufacturer here
John Garbutt
Kingspan Insulation marketing director John Garbutt is also chair of the Construction Products Association’s Sustainable Construction Committee. He has been involved with a number of industry advisory groups, providing expert guidance on the 2006 and 2010 versions of the Building Regulations Approved Document L, the 2008 BRE Environmental Profiles Methodology Revision, the Code for Sustainable Homes, the Carbon Reduction Commitment, and BES 6001 on responsible sourcing. Garbutt has been the driving force behind Kingspan’s internal sustainability appraisals, initiating the first eco-profiling of any insulation material in 2001, and following it in 2004 with the introduction of Arup’s SPeAR tool to appraise the firm’s operations at its Pembridge manufacturing site – the first time a manufacturer had undergone this process and made the results public. An annual review now closely informs the company’s sustainability action plan, with initiatives including recycling, community involvement and improving biodiversity. Garbutt is also involved in developing the SPeAR framework to support schools in implementing the government’s Sustainable Schools Strategy.Vote for your 2009 Green Guru manufacturer here
Chris Harrop
Group marketing director Chris Harrop has been the driving force behind manufacturer Marshalls’ sustainability agenda since 2004. Recognising the growing demand to manage the environmental impact of the business and its products, Harrop set about delivering real sustainable change. At the heart of this is Marshalls’ sustainable business model, which balances the social, environmental and economic elements of business, using a set of key performance indicators to deliver sustainable change. The firm introduced carbon labelling of over 2,000 domestic and commercial paving products with the Carbon Trust’s official scheme, was among the first in the industry to launch a carbon calculator and to belong to the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), implementing the ETI Base Code in India and raising awareness of child labour issues in Indian quarries, and has helped raise awareness of greenwash. It has also achieved Wildlife Trust biodiversity benchmarks for two sites and undertaken an environmental profiling project with BRE for commercial products. Harrop speaks on green issues all over Europe and is credited worldwide for his ethical supply chain work.Vote for your 2009 Green Guru manufacturer here
Stef Kranendijk
Chief executive officer Stef Kranendijk has been instrumental in manufacturer Desso’s commitment to environmental responsibility and its partnership with the Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency (EPEA). The EPEA’s challenging Cradle to Cradle (C2C) concept aims at the creation of products that can eventually be recycled in their entirety to provide the raw materials for new goods. Kranendijk has been a passionate and committed exponent of this approach. Pallas, the first certified Cradle to Cradle carpet tile made in Europe, was launched by Desso early this year, and the firm now has nine C2C products. Desso also has established a certified Take Back programme, diverting used carpet tiles from landfill and creating new jobs throughout the reprocessing chain. Desso moved its global banking operations to Netherlands-based Rabobank, an international leader in ethical finance, and has a worldwide policy to convert to green energy by the end of 2010. Third-party certification from bodies such as BRE is another key part of Desso’s sustainability and corporate responsibility initiatives.Vote for your 2009 Green Guru manufacturer here
Andy Spencer
As well as accelerating the sustainability agenda at building materials company Cemex, where he is UK sustainability director, Andy Spencer has chaired the UK Concrete Industry Sustainable Construction Forum and the Mineral Products Association’s Environmental Management Group. Within Cemex, he has been responsible for getting sustainability on the board agenda and bringing about a sea change in employee focus on sustainability, resulting in a 50% reduction in environmental incidents in less than 12 months. His other achievements at Cemex include developing a carbon calculator to provide carbon footprint information for customers across all product groups, internally training over 200 employees on energy and water management, resulting in a 15% reduction in use of water and 10% in fuel, accelerating the ISO 14001 accreditation process by achieving accredition for 220 sites in 24 months, and achieving BRE responsible sourcing accreditation for Cemex Readymix at 230 plants. He has also helped drive the use of alternative fuels in cement manufacturing and in new product areas such as asphalt, and founded the partnership with the RSPB on biodiversity and quarry restoration.Vote for your 2009 Green Guru manufacturer here
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