Environmental concerns on the construction site

Environmental concerns on the construction site Environmental concerns on the construction site Waste management Strategy objectives for the years 2016-2020
GRI:

Particularly important investments in 2018 include, among others, commissioning of the express road S7 Elbląg - Nowy Dwór Gdański (Kazimierzowo junction), completion of construction of the Zabrze heat and power installation, completion of the Czeszów - Kiełczów gas pipeline construction, commencement of works at the construction of the A1 motorway on the section Tuszyn - Piotrków Trybunalski - Bełchatów. Those were major construction projects, the implementation of which has affected the natural environment and the local community and has been associated with irreversible landscape transformations.

Apart from infrastructural facilities, we complete also pro-ecological projects that aim at the limitation of adverse environmental impact of existing structures, e.g. projects involving decarbonisation or fume desulphurisation. In the Budimex Group, the "Environmental Protection Policy" and certified environmental and energy management systems are in place. The Policy requires that all companies within the Group comply with national and international environmental regulations and cooperate with supervisory authorities. As part of the Integrated Management System used by Budimex and in Mostostal Kraków, appropriate certificates and norms were implemented, confirming the procedures currently employed in these companies regarding environmental management, most importantly PN-EN ISO 14001 norm.

In 2018, in the whole Budimex Group we introduced the "EcoLogical" Strategy, consisting of 4 principles and 11 environmental aspects, for which we established basic requirements in the form of environmental protection standards. The strategy is addressed to everybody – employees, contractors, suppliers, co-operators, whom, within the implemented rules, we want to encourage to actively engage in the improvement of the "Environmental Protection Culture". The Strategy also involves the Budimex Environmental Protection Standards, regulating the principles of ensuring performance of works and auxiliary processes that is safe for the natural environment. They concern the protection of water, soil, air, biodiversity.

Environmental procedures on construction sites are regulated within the framework of uniform internal procedures: "Environmental management on contracts" and "OHS and EP organisation and management on the contract". Their aim is to minimise the negative environmental impact of conducted works.

Selected buildings and structures constructed by the Budimex Group's companies have "green certificates", confirming the ecological efficiency of materials used for their construction and the possibility of managing them in the future. In 2018, 2 buildings received the LEED certificate and 4 buildings – BREEAM certificates, including office buildings Off Piotrkowska in Łódź or an office building at ul. Heweliusza 18 in Gdańsk. In the previous year, we have begun the construction of another certified buildings, which will be completed in 2019.

The environmental management standards in the Budimex Group exceed legal obligations and concern:

  • designing technological routes in a way ensuring an economical use of terrain and minimal modification of its surface,
  • restoring the work site to its condition from before the construction site,
  • minimisation of tree removal, relocation of plants elsewhere and replanting,
  • protection of trees in the construction site impact zone from mechanical damage,
  • construction facilities (depots, warehouses and transportation bases) should be firstly located in already developed and transformed areas, if possible far from housing development and naturally valuable areas,
  • reduction to the necessary minimum of the land occupancy in forests and wetland areas,
  • transportation of materials necessary for construction should take place primarily within the designated right-of-way,
  • solutions for protection against pollution with chemical substances coming from the construction sites are implemented on sections where earthworks and works are conducted near water reservoirs,
  • payment of special attention to environmental protection from contamination with petroleum products from cars and construction machinery,
  • relocation of fauna and flora living in habitats interfering with the construction site to new areas,
  • monitoring of the construction site by naturalists, e.g., ornithologists, ichthyologists, herpetologists, entomologists, botanists, chiropterologists in accordance with specificity of the construction site and the protected species present there,
  • cessation of works when animals enter the investment zone,
  • the schedule and cycle of works are closely correlated with the cycle of nature,
  • works in the vicinity of noise-protected areas are carried out only during the day,
  • material and waste management in compliance with the 3R principle – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle,
  • minimisation of idle operation time with regard to machinery and vehicles of the construction site,
  • speed reduction within the construction site and in its vicinity,
  • preparation of construction sites for unexpected situations and providing them with equipment necessary in case of contamination.