Sustainability

At Apollo we’re committed to reducing our impact on the environment. Apollo’s environmental management system has been accredited under ISO 14001 since 2007 and we have now embedded the following targets throughout the business.

Shrinking our carbon footprint

At Apollo we are committed to reducing our carbon emissions by a minimum of 5% per annum. 

In 2011, Apollo implemented an online carbon monitoring system for all sites and offices to report their energy use and to calculate their carbon emissions on a monthly basis to an internationally recognised standard. 

Effective measuring ensures that we are able to efficiently identify areas of high use and address these areas by implementing bespoke reduction programmes across the business, including ideas such as including Peugeot iON electric cars on appropriate projects.

To ensure we continue to move progress with our environmental agenda Apollo gain certification from Planet Positive, an international environmental mark that recognises organisations that have committed to reduce their carbon footprint by at least 5% per year and have a sound reduction programme in place to achieve these targets.

Reducing waste to landfill

Apollo is committed to reducing the volume of non hazardous waste to landfill year on year and has signed up to the WRAP commitment of halving waste to landfill.  In order to obtain accurate data and make continuous improvements on all levels, every project is required to complete a WRAP site waste management plan, irrespective of value.  By making further improvements, we aim to achieve zero non hazardous waste to landfill.

Apollo continues to work closely with manufacturers, suppliers, subcontractors and waste contractors to drive efficiency in waste, revising our waste contractor pre-qualification questionnaire to ensure that we are using waste contractors whose aims align with our own. 

To date, Apollo has successfully reduced the volume of construction waste sent to landfill from our sites from 2.6 tonnes of non hazardous waste to landfill per £100,000 turnover (FY08/09) to 1.4 tonnes of non hazardous waste to landfill per (FY10/11). This equates to a total of over 88,000 tonnes of non-hazardous being diverted from landfill (a diversion rate of 90%).

Sustainable products

Apollo is committed to improving our approach on the procurement of sustainable products in order to reduce the impact associated with the products used on projects. 

Apollo promotes the use of FSC certified timber on all our projects, continually working with our timber suppliers and joinery subcontractors to ensure they understand our requirements and are able to provide us with the necessary Chain of Custody documentation to demonstrate compliance.   At present we estimate that over 90% of the timber we purchase is certified under the FSC scheme.

To demonstrate our commitment and to assist us in the development of a formal improvement programme, we have also signed up to the Mayor of London’s Green Procurement Code.  We were awarded Bronze status in 2011 and we’re now working towards Silver status.

Community

Apollo is an associate member of the Considerate Constructors Scheme, whose aim is to improve the image of the construction industry by encouraging sites to be considerate and good neighbours, as well as respectful, environmentally conscious, responsible and accountable.  This year, Apollo won an impressive 14 awards at the annual awards which reward the top 7.5% of sites across the UK.

Through Planet Postive we also invest in and deliver community projects in order to increase awareness on energy efficiency issues among the communities we work in.  In 2011, Apollo trained 12 Community Investment Managers to undertake sustainability workshops and assemblies in schools.