Winvic retains The Planet Mark™ as carbon footprint down 8% per employee

Winvic, the UK main contractor, has been awarded The Planet Mark™ for Business Certificate for the fourth year in the row.
Winvic is widely known as the UK’s leading ‘shed specialist’ and now also regarded as an authority in privately rented sector projects, specialist sustainable builds and retail and leisure schemes. The Planet Mark™ award is in recognition of Winvic achieving a 7.8% reduction in its carbon footprint per employee in its latest year-on-year reporting period. The cut was against an annual 5% reduction target in emissions per employee.

“We are proud of our fourth consecutive annual reduction and we are committed to engaging our employees and suppliers to look at new measures to further increase our carbon efficiency while our business grows.”

Dave Ward, Managing Director

Winvic’s relative carbon footprint amounted to 0.35 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) per employee in the year ending July 2017, down from 0.38 TCO2e in the previous year.  This year’s footprint includes emissions from electricity, waste disposal and water usage.

This is Winvic’s fifth year of business carbon footprint reporting. It first calculated the carbon footprint of its Northampton head office operations for the year ending 2011 and set a target to reduce emissions by 5% annually.

Despite a 14% increase in staff numbers at the Northampton-headquartered business between 2016 and 2017, the company is committed to continuous improvement in sustainability and has set a target for 2017-18 is to cut its relative carbon footprint by another 5% (0.02 tCO2e).

Commenting on the results, as Winvic staff were presented with The Planet Mark™ Certificate this week, Dave Ward, Managing Director said: “We are proud of our fourth consecutive annual reduction and we are committed to engaging our employees and suppliers to look at new measures to further increase our carbon efficiency while our business grows.”

Presenting the award, founder of The Planet Mark™ Steve Malkin said: “Carbon reduction for a growing construction company can be challenging but Winvic demonstrates just what can be achieved with leadership and a commitment to sustainability from every person in the business. The company’s contribution to sustainable development and tackling climate change extends from the way it runs its business to every construction project it delivers.”

The Planet Mark™ Certificate recognises Winvic’s good practice in sustainability, including:

• measuring carbon emissions from electricity, waste and water
• cutting its per employee carbon footprint by 7.8%
• investing in the Eden Project to support education on climate change
• storing 260 tCO2e by protecting one acre of endangered rainforest through the charity Cool Earth
• committing to engage employees and suppliers to drive improvements.

To hit its 2017-18 emissions reduction targets, Winvic said it was focusing on improving its data collection, energy efficiency and waste management.

The Planet Mark™ was founded in 2013 with the iconic Eden Project in Cornwall, UK, and is awarded to businesses, properties, new developments and projects that are committed to reducing their carbon emissions.

Since it launched, The Planet Mark™ has certified over 100 organisations and helped holders of The Planet Mark™ cut their average carbon emissions per employee by 10% per annum.

Holders of The Planet Mark™ have a minimum requirement to reduce their carbon emissions by 2.5% per year.