Sustainable
Build Team are passionate about sustainability for three reasons:
- We love London, and want to do our bit to conserve the environment in which we operate
- Being green costs us less – in fuel, waste disposal and material costs - which in turn means we’re able to pass on the benefit to our customers
- Operating in a sustainable manner makes us more efficient – we get to travel around London quicker by bike and public transport, materials arrive direct to site, and waste is collected as it is removed by our network of recycle agents.
Build Team have a clear policy to minimise our impact on the environment:
How we Travel: We are attempting to get rid of as much as possible the gas guzzling vans which are so common amongst trades people. The build managers cycle as much as possible and we have a small fleet of Build Team branded bikes. If distance is too far we have a scooter which is shared. Obviously in the building trade there will be a need for vans and we have on order two LPG vans which will decrease our fuel consumption and carbon emissions. We are also incentivising our workforce to use public transport with oyster card top ups.
Our use of Materials: We try to use only water based paint as opposed to oil as the disposal of the oil paint is very messy and a virulent polluter. Fashionable solid wood flooring can be purchased from sustainable sources in most cases and we always favour these. And finally, to cut down on vehicle movements, we get all of materials (including the screws!) delivered direct to site. This also makes us more productive, and means our trades people get more done in a day.
How we Dispose of Waste: We see this as potentially the most important of the three. We try to reduce landfill as much as possible, recycling our scrap metal and reusing as much building material as possible which with a little work is easily salvageable. We have also found with our association with a London charity worker that we are able to find homes for kitchen cabinets and assorted appliances which may have found their way to the tip.
