Ibstock Brick's strategic approach to sustainability has won it a shortlisting for the 2018 BusinessGreen Leader Awards.
The brick manufacturer will go up against seven other businesses in the Manufacturer of the Year category.
The BusinessGreen Leader Awards shine a light on the UK's leading green businesses, with entries judged by a panel of sustainability professionals and green economy leaders.
The winners will be announced at the end of June.
Ibstock Brick says it is committed to driving sustainability through investment across its business. For example, it has invested £54 million in the UK’s most efficient brickworks at its headquarters in the heart of Leicestershire. Located on an old landfill site and close to the principal raw materials source, the building meets BREEAM Industrial criteria, is clad in a highly breathable material to reduce the need for additional ventilation equipment, and consumes energy and resources efficiency.
Another key initiative has been its Horizon Scanning strategy, which allows it to identify, prioritise and manage the risks involved in all of its activities.
Ibstock Brick's progress has been monitored though key performance indicators, and its sustainability drive has led to improvements such as reduced carbon emissions, increased recycling of water, and reduced waste.
Michael McGowan, Quality, Environmental and Energy Manager, said: “Ibstock Brick is no ordinary manufacturing business. Our approach to sustainability has been quite different, and the way we achieved ISO50001 highlights this.
"Creating an ‘Energy Centre of Excellence’ at one of our factories allowed us to develop our strategy, pilot key initiatives and set objectives and targets for the entire business. We also identified people as the energy users, as opposed to machinery and processes.
"This formed the backbone of our People First approach, which is now at the heart of the success of our sustainability journey.
"Our Sustainability Working Group is key to developing actions that drive improvement in the manufacturing process and will continue to push forward our future improvements.”
