Message from Senior Vice Presidents
To ensure our continued evolution as a leading business in the UK construction sector we renewed our focus on shared values and behaviours. Our approach recognises the key role Tarmac plays in building a long-term, sustainable social and economic future for this country, whether through creating jobs and skills, delivering infrastructure, managing land and habitats, or driving innovation and productivity through our solutions.
This report details progress against the four pillars of our Sustainability Strategy - People, Planet, Performance and Solutions. The framework aligns with the sustainability targets and strategic ambitions of our parent company, CRH plc, in achieving its vision of becoming the leading building materials business in the world by being the best at what we do, delivering shared value for customers, shareholders and stakeholders.
Despite an intensive business focus on working safely, we are deeply saddened to report two fatalities involving contractors. As a business we are committed to taking the learnings from these tragic incidents and using them to continue the focus on our Work Safe, Home Safe principles.
Our focus on developing and nurturing diverse, talented people saw us take on 48 graduates and apprentices (with a roughly 50:50 split between females and males). We also continued to build value for local communities around our sites, with Tarmac employees providing over 4,600 volunteer hours to various local organisations across the UK.
As part of our focus on responsible, sustainable habitat management, we took the number of trees planted to 112,000 over the past three years, and were also awarded the Best Restoration Scheme by the Mineral Products Association. This accolade was given for outstanding achievement in restoration for our work with Hertford and Middlesex Wildlife Trust and Hertfordshire County Council at Panshanger Park near Hertford.
We continued to drive customer-focused innovations to support efficiency and productivity, such as developing our digital information capabilities, recycling 8.7 million tonnes of waste from other industries, and building our offsite manufacturing offer at Tallington - from where we’ll supply the Thames Tideway Tunnel project. Communicating and promoting the whole-life benefits of using concrete in construction, such as thermal mass and durability, was also an ongoing priority, given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build its unique properties into the UK’s infrastructure, ensuring energy and cost efficiency for future generations. We also achieved the milestone of having our entire product range rated as ‘Excellent’ under the BES 6001 Responsible Sourcing scheme - providing reassurance to customers of the credentials of their supply chain partners.
Looking ahead, while 2018 will, no doubt, bring its challenges, we are confident that we are well placed to continue our long-term trajectory and capitalise on opportunities. We will continue to drive toward our sustainability goals, and support CRH in achieving its Group-wide objectives.
In closing, we would, once again, like to thank each and every employee and partner for their support in moving the business forward, and also our external Sustainability Panel for continuing to provide challenge and expert guidance in shaping our approach and leadership in this field.
Martin and Oliver
Martin Riley, Senior Vice President, Tarmac
Oliver Mahon, Senior Vice President, Europe North (UK Cement & Lime, Ireland and Finland)
