Environment
Curtins operate in an efficient and environmentally sensitive manner, both in the work we do and how we do it, to maximise the positive impact of our services and enhancing the natural and the built environment.
We are committed to the continual development and improvement of our ISO14001 accredited policy and systems through internal and external action plans and real time management data. We do this internally, as a company, by setting action plans and targets that all our staff can be involved in. These include reducing our energy, fuel and waste levels, lowering our travel mileage, whilst increasing our recycling volume.
Equally, when it comes to providing engineering services for our clients we’re as keen to promote low carbon solutions. One way this can be achieved is the refurbishment and re-use of buildings as an alternative demolition and building new. We’re experts in assessing existing buildings and seeing solutions that breathe new life and value into them, such as Liverpool’s grade I listed Albert Dock complex (pictured).
We’re as environmentally aware when it comes to providing engineering services to our clients. We’ll recommend solutions that consider the natural potential from the structure – ventilation and daylight; and will encourage that energy and resources are minimised through options such as green roofs and walls and sustainable drainage.
We have established a sustainability focus group, whose role is to monitor and further enhance our environmental policies and innovations, both internally and externally.
Measuring Embodied Carbon
We analyse the embodied carbon in our structures, measure the tonnage of carbon and appraise low carbon design options.
We have developed an embodied carbon assessment toolkit that calculates the carbon in our principal construction materials. This embodied carbon data is embedded into our REVIT models, so the carbon tonnage can be presented visually to our clients. The models highlight the carbon hot spots in our structure; enabling our engineers to make informed decisions on where further engineering effort should be focused to minimise the impact of the particular solution.
Our approach also extends to the civil elements of design, measuring carbon in roads and hardstandings, and combining this innovation with our Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) designs.
CPD workshops
We offer CPD workshops to raise awareness of the effects of climate change, the importance of embodied carbon for sustainability and to introduce our seven steps for managing the issue.
