Environment

We recognise the potential impact of our business activities on the local environment and set clear objectives to minimise this impact and continually improve our environmental performance.

Our Environmental Management System is structured to ensure that all materials and services purchased and all activities undertaken by Birse Rail fully comply with current legislation, our environmental targets and contract specifications. Environmental performance is continually monitored and reviewed to ensure that all activities are carried out with all due consideration for the environment.

Our key environmental objectives are to:

• Minimise waste through re-use and recycling
• Prevent pollution incidents
• Reduce the effects of noise, dust, disturbance and inconvenience arising from our activities
• Minimise the use of energy and new raw materials
• Conserve and enhance the local environment
• Minimise disturbance and disruption to the local community

Sustainable Solutions

At the outset of every project we seek to identify designs, construction techniques and materials that offer the most sustainable solutions taking into consideration the whole life-cycle of the scheme.

This was evidenced in 2009 when we received the Environmental Sustainability Award at the Network Rail Partnership Awards for an embankment stabilisation at Stoke Gifford.

The Environmental Sustainability Award recognises organisations that have displayed exemplary behaviour in making sure that environmental considerations have played an important part when undertaking projects or general work practices on or near the railway.

The embankment stabilisation at Stoke Gifford involved works to a 500m section of track to prevent a temporary speed restriction being imposed. The sustainable design solution utilised unprecedented volumes of recycled ballast products.