Environmental Policy

Gleeds recognises that all activities can impact on the environment both locally and globally and acknowledges the need for responsible action in this area.

We operate as consultants to the built environment and we aim to minimise the environmental impacts of our business activities and influence those of organisations we work with to bring about positive change.

Our key aims are to:
Comply with and, where practical, exceed all applicable environmental legislation and other specific requirements to which the company subscribes:

• Support our clients in their environmental and Corporate Responsibility activities
• Prevent pollution of land, air and water from the company’s premises and its activities
• Reduce our carbon footprint
• Encourage our supply chain to adopt best environmental practices and procure goods from sustainable sources wherever possible
• Demonstrate a commitment to addressing local neighbourhood issues by actively supporting environmental initiatives in the local community.

To achieve this we will:

• Implement and maintain our Environmental Management System in accordance with ISO 14001
• Encourage the development and adoption of environmental strategies on projects we are involved in.
• Provide training and improve awareness of issues to our staff and make this available to our clients and involve employees in environmental programmes to promote a culture of environmental awareness across the organisation
• Identify, address and manage key risks 
• Set specific objectives and targets against agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPI) 
• Adopt measures to reduce our carbon footprint including developing environment friendly travel plans, minimising energy consumption, implementing the use of renewable energy sources, wherever possible, and promoting waste minimisation, re-use and recycling of waste and monitoring waste transfer arrangements to ensure safe disposal
• Measure and monitor our performance against targets and publish a yearly Corporate Responsibility Report reviewing the actual and potential environmental impacts of all the company’s activities and strive for continuous improvement in performance
• Review this policy annually.

Accountability for meeting the commitments in these policies rests with a Main Board Director but implementation requires the support and commitment of the company’s staff, with each office having a CR and Environmental Champion.

For more information please see our Corporate Responsibility Policy or our office based 'Grey to Green' Programme.

Richard Steer
Senior Partner

January 2010