Balfour's green ideas

12 October 2021

A Balfour Beatty project is being established at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to highlight ways of achieving a zero carbon construction site. 

The Edinburgh Biomes initiative includes improving the energy efficiency of the Garden’s iconic glasshouses and constructing new facilities to reduce the organisation’s carbon footprint, while providing a bio-secure propagation environment.  

Recognising that an estimated 80% of the company’s carbon dioxide emissions are generated from its supply chain, Balfour Beatty will focus on reducing Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions associated with the construction phase of the project. 

In doing so, the company will not only be monitoring its own emissions, but also those associated with its supply chain’s on-site activities, the embodied carbon of materials used, emissions generated from transport vehicles to and from site, as well as waste generated.

The company will share its progress and findings on a dedicated website.

Leo Quinn, chief executive of the infrastructure group, said: “Balfour Beatty set out its vision for the construction site of the future in 2017. But with the growing importance of the climate change emergency, we know we need to take decisive action now.”

Commenting on the initiative, Kwasi Kwarteng, secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, said: "Balfour Beatty’s 'Towards Zero Carbon Construction Site' is an outstanding example of the level of ambition needed to achieve our climate goals.” 

In December 2020, Balfour Beatty launched its refreshed sustainability strategy, Building New Futures, which sets out ambitions to achieve net zero emissions, generate zero waste and positively impact over one million people by 2040. This addresses three areas, namely the environment, materials and communities, with each area assigned a target. 

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