Collaboration on certified Climate Emergency Training - Business In The Community
Climate Change & Carbon Footprint

Collaboration on certified Climate Emergency Training

The Climate Emergency Training Collaboration has shown that the time for competition has been surpassed by the need for collaboration in reducing emissions and widening the awareness of the issue and the challenges we face as an industry.

About the company

McLaughlin & Harvey is a building and civil engineering company founded in 1853, operating all over the UK and Ireland from its offices in Belfast and Bellshill. The company’s success is based on combining traditional values with innovation. 

The issue

Climate change and the drive for Net Zero status across many industries, not just construction, has led to the creation of many standards documents, codes of practice and guidance. Alongside this, companies have been raising awareness of the issue and its complexity through staff awareness training.  The construction industry is a major consumer of resources, and also a significant source of emissions at 42% of all UK emissions.  Many companies will be committed to training their staff, but with so many companies acting in isolation the consistency of content and quality remains in question.  

What the company did

McLaughlin & Harvey worked with Keep Scotland Beautiful/Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful to develop construction industry specific carbon literacy training for staff and supply chain as a key part of their Net Zero Strategy. The training is independently certified by the Carbon Literacy Trust and serves as a benchmark for quality and content.  The Company offered peer contractors the opportunity to access the training content with a view to promote collaboration on the issue, while also avoiding the need for independent costly and time-consuming training to be developed in isolation. This has resulted in four major Irish contractors joining forces in the delivery of certified consistent training to their staff and supply chains. 

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO HAVE DEVELOPED OUR CLIMATE EMERGENCY TRAINING FOR CONSTRUCTION IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MCLAUGHLIN & HARVEY, GRAHAM, MCALEER & RUSHE AND HENRY BROTHERS. WE HOPE THAT OTHER BUSINESS IN THE SECTOR WILL FOLLOW IN THEIR FOOTSTEPS IN WORKING TOGETHER TO PLAY THEIR PART IN REDUCING EMISSIONS AND CREATING A BETTER FUTURE.

Catherine Gee, Deputy Chief Executive, Keep Scotland Beautiful

How BITC helped McLaughlin & Harvey

The BITCNI Sustainability Professionals Forum provided McLaughlin & Harvey with the platform to form the relationships with peers in the industry. The strength of these relationships made the decision to offer an opportunity for collaboration an easy one, and has resulted in the delivery of high quality, consistent training for four major contractors. This initial collaboration has also enabled further discussions on future collaborations to be possible. 

Impacts and Outcomes 

  • Demonstration of collaboration over competition 
  • Development of certified, industry specific training 
  • Consistency of delivery and content quality 
  • Supply Chain engagement and development 

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