Breakthrough project in construction

A UK PFI developer for public projects such as schools and hospitals realised that climate change presented major strategic issues which it did not have the capacity to address. Its clients were even less aware of the issues. We used a learning-by-doing approach in a breakthrough project to explore more profitable and creative responses.

We agreed both small changes and larger scale action in construction projects. We held a series of structured conversations with key clients, intermediaries and colleagues. We introduced key sustainable development concepts and skills. We successfully developed the core competencies and relationships that would be required to support progress in the company at the end of the project.

By the end, top managers understood the strategic importance of this issue for the company, projects had improved, there were action plans and a structure to manage the issues into the future. Two project members who started as climate sceptics completely changed their perspective.

These breakthroughs also brought operational improvements. The client's ratings on environmental management improved dramatically both in internal benchmarking and in commercial appraisal by its customers.