A warming climate means hotter drier summers. Population growth will also bring greater demand for water in homes and agriculture. Water is an important raw material in construction, and we must play our part in ensuring that we use this increasingly precious resource wisely to conserve supplies for everyone. Reducing our consumption also helps keep water in our reservoirs, rivers and streams supporting important habitats and biodiversity.

Our commitment

There are a number of ways in which we can address the challenge of water resilience in what we do. We can reduce the amount of water we use during the construction process. We can influence the market by choosing materials which use less water in their manufacturing. We can design our buildings so that they need to use less water when occupied.

Our aim is that by 2030 will achieve a 50% absolute reduction in water use on site.

We report our performance against our targets every year as part of our Sustainable Development Review. You can see our performance here.

Our operations

Here are some of the ways we are reducing water consumption on our projects:

  • we install water meters as soon as we arrive on site.
  • we utilise early opportunity to install and connect environmental infrastructure on site for later applications e.g. dust suppression and wheel wash.
  • we maximise water efficiency within site offices by using aerated taps, flow control and waterless urinals.
  • we display environmental performance figures in prominent places on site.
  • We challenge our site teams to consider what potable water is required during construction, seeking alternatives wherever practicable.

Our buildings

Where we are responsible for fitting out buildings, water efficient appliances, fittings and fixtures come as standard. We engage our customers early in the project design process to understand their project sustainability aspirations and requirements. We then propose a range of cost-effective measures which meet both our customers’ and our requirements.

We have experience and expertise in planning and constructing all forms of sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS). These ensure that the buildings and developments we construct are more resilient to extreme weather. They mitigate risk to the built and natural environment from surface water and floods, by slowing and holding back water.