Can you tell us a bit about Morgan Sindall Group?  

Sure, Morgan Sindall are a multifaceted construction and regeneration business, and we touch every aspect of the building environment in terms of infrastructure, construction, house building, maintenance and design.  

We’re a decentralized business, made up of different brands, which enables us to be agile and market leaders in different areas in different areas. My remit is Sustainability and Procurement Director for all the brands across the group. I ensure we have a clear strategy across all our brands and our supply chain.  

How critical is that relationship between procurement strategy and sustainability? 

It’s incredibly useful to oversee both areas. There are myriads of sustainability people now appearing in every sector and they get frustrated because they’re not part of the operational process. If you can’t influence the 3rd parties, then you’re not going to make any difference. It’s key to make sure that your messaging, the way you do things, and the way you procure things are deliberate and consistent. 

What are your key environmental ambitions?  

Our ambitions are to continue to protect and develop people, to improve the environment by working with nature and to enhance communities by being local.  

Although we have mobile factories, we don’t just come and go. We’ve got 80 offices where we have a physical presence, this helps us to better provide value for the community and mitigate any environmental impacts as best as we possibly can. 

What are some of the key challenges you are facing at both a business and a project level?  

Well, the big one, the big elephant in the room, is Scope 3 carbon. We all concentrate and blow trumpets about operational carbon, and yet 98% of it is in the finished product. The problem in the UK is that the focus is capital cost, not life cycle cost – everyone is procuring buildings and assets based on the entry cost without considering the life cycle cost and the life cycle impact. That’s the biggest barrier for all of us.  

Lack of clarity into the supply chain is another big one. Most of the supply chain and construction is made up of SMEs and a lack of direction and costs, means that we can’t progress as quickly as we should. 

Finally, we operate on small margins. We’re an industry that makes between 2-3% in a good year. We can’t afford a mistake, so it is a big challenge to gamble on a new process, if it fails, we all lose money. 

Can change come from within the industry? Or do you think we need more Government intervention? 

Regulation is critical. While we are all on these tight cyclical commercial margins it isn’t going to happen without the regulation. Currently environmental accomplishments are used as a differentiator ‘aren’t we good for doing this’, but we need to all be collaborating more, working together to find a better way of doing things.  

And where does Madaster fit into all this? What are you hoping that Madaster will help you achieve from an environmental perspective?  

I think Madaster is key part of the story. One of our big challenges is lack of data uniformity around buildings, products and materials. We need to get material passports in place to provide visibility, transparency and clarity across the supply chain. Madaster is the receptacle for all this information that will enable us to work collaboratively. It’s the binder.  

We’ve already started using Madaster in our fit out and construction businesses. We are delighted to be a Madaster Pioneer and look forward to sharing our learnings to support others to join the platform. It’s well established in Europe, now it’s time for the UK to get on board! 

Get in touch to find out more about how Madaster can you deliver against your sustainability objectives