Sustainability and Social Outcomes

Sustainability & Social Outcomes

A cottage built in the 1800s was salvaged and resettled into a new Waikato location

Sustainability, including social outcomes, is a cornerstone for CRL. The project is being designed and constructed to the highest sustainability standards.

In the past year, CRL Ltd and its construction partners have demonstrated their continued commitment to optimising the use of materials, energy and water, striving for zero waste to landfill during construction and targeting an “Excellent” Infrastructure Sustainability rating. The project also continues to support opportunities for training, employment and supply chain diversity during construction. To independently verify its sustainability performance, the Infrastructure Sustainability Council of Australia (ISCA) Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) rating tool is used across the project.

With C1 and C2 close to completion, the project is on track to deliver on targeted sustainability outcomes across both contracts. This means achieving an “Excellent” ‘as built’ rating which can only be obtained once the

CRL Ltd’s sustainability objectives focus on

contracts reach practical completion.

The IS rating tool is also being used by the Link Alliance to verify progress on its ambitious sustainability targets for C3. Because the C3 contract makes up 85 per cent of the entire project, the opportunity to achieve sustainability

outcomes is equally as immense.

REDUCING RESOURCE CONSUMPTION ZERO WASTE TO LANDFILL

SOCIAL OUTCOMES

MANA WHENUA

GOVERNANCE AND REPORTING

Reducing resource consumption

C1 and C2 contracts remain on track to achieve targeted reductions in energy and materials-related greenhouse gas emissions (our carbon footprint).

The construction and operational energy related carbon footprint is 29 per cent below the ‘base case’, or business as usual. The reduction in embodied carbon of construction materials compared to the base case is projected to be 25 per cent, exceeding the target of 10 per cent reduction.

CRL Ltd and its contractors implemented a number of initiatives to reduce the project’s carbon footprint. This includes sourcing electricity directly from the grid through continued use of a transformer rather than a diesel generator. Construction Although reuse initiatives have resulted in water savings for both C1 and C2, savings have been more modest than projected. This means initial targets of a 20 per cent water reduction for C1 and 30 per cent reduction for C2 are unlikely to be met. To date, CRL Ltd and its contractors have achieved an 8 per cent reduction of water use when compared to business as usual.

The water recycling system installed for C1 in November 2018 has meant that to date, 41 per cent of construction site water has come from non-potable sources. Potable water use has dropped to an average of 56

Resource use for C1 and C2 to 30 June 2020

CARBON FOOTPRINT Materials emissions reduction

Energy emissions reduction Target 12%

Achieved 25%

Target 30%

Achieved 59%

Water use reduction

kilolitres a month. and demolition waste diverted from landfill

Target 25%

Achieved 8%

Target 90%

Achieved 92%

Spoil diverted from landfill Target 95%

Achieved 98%

0 20 40 60

C 1 w o r k e r u s i n g r e c y c l e d w a t e r d u r i n g c o n s t r u c t i o n w i t h i n t h e C P O

80 100

Weekly sustainability inspection being conducted at C3’s Aotea Station site

Zero waste to landfill

Construction and demolition material makes up around half of all waste to landfill in New Zealand. The sheer scale of the CRL project provides an incredible opportunity to divert hundreds of thousands of tonnes of spoil, construction and demolition waste.

On the C1 and C2 contracts, more than 12,700 tonnes of waste has been diverted from landfill for recycling or reuse this financial year. Across all CRL contracts, 314,293 tonnes of waste has been diverted to date.

Diversion was achieved through a number of initiatives. These include diverting materials through Auckland’s Community Recycling Centres, gifting basalt rock from Mt Eden to Mana Whenua, backfilling the C2 tunnels with crushed concrete and sending spoil from both C1 and C2 to Three Kings to remediate the closed quarry.

This year, CRL Ltd and its construction partners also identified a number of opportunities where materials that might have been sent to landfill were salvaged and reused for communities in New Zealand and in the Pacific.

Most of the salvaged material was sourced from Mt Eden where more than 30 commercial buildings, workshops and small factories were demolished. The buildings provided cupboards, desks, shelving, tables, doors, benches, toilets, drawers, ceiling panels and carpet tiles.

Two containers packed with salvaged materials were shipped to the Pacific Kingdom of Tonga and used there to help rebuild cyclone-battered communities. Alongside the Tonga shipment, salvaged items were used to help build a church in Auckland south.

One spectacular recycling operation involved the relocation of one of Auckland’s oldest pioneer homes –a 19th century Kauri cottage in the path of the southern tunnel portal at Mt Eden. The cottage, believed to be 143 years old, was saved from demolition and carried by truck to a new location in Waikato.

A second Pacific community, the island of Niue, was the destination for an old café saved from demolition at the project’s Karangahape Station site. The café in Beresford Square was dismantled section by section and shipped 2,500 kilometres to Niue to be reassembled as a café on a vanilla plantation to help promote tourism on the remote island.

C a f é a t B e r e s f o r d S q u a r e t h a t h a s b e e n r e l o c a t e d t o N i u e

Progressive Employment Programme intern who is now employed with the Link Alliance’s Health and Safety team

Social Outcomes

The CRL project is committed to leaving a positive legacy for Auckland’s communities by delivering targeted training and employment, creating supply chain opportunities and by engaging its future workforce.

This financial year, CRL Ltd and its construction partners launched a Progressive Employment Programme (PEP). The programme provided training and job opportunities for Māori and Pasifika rangatahi (youth) to help them side-step barriers to joining the workforce. Six interns were provided with meaningful work experiences whilst receiving pastoral care and training.

Under the PEP the interns were exposed to a wide range of jobs - IT, carpentry, admin work, traffic management and others that form the basis of the infrastructure industry. Importantly, the PEP was also about learning to be work fit – balancing life at work with life at home.

Five of the interns were offered fulltime employment on the CRL project, with three now employed within the Link Alliance.

The learnings from this pilot have been used by the Link Alliance to plan the next phase of the Progressive Employment Programme for Māori and Pasifika rangatahi. The first cohort of rangatahi will be welcomed onto the project in July 2020.

Other employment opportunities continue to be enhanced across the project, with CRL Ltd and its construction partners continuing to strengthen and create relationships with Auckland’s future workforce through tours, training and presentations to tamariki and rangatahi.

The Link Alliance, which is the CRL project’s largest employer, estimates that around 300 of its team are Māori and Pasifika. Beyond the learning and training opportunities provided to all staff, the Link Alliance has invested in Māori leadership training for six team members. An additional four Māori and Pasifika staff have undertaken vocational training and three have completed a Certificate of Competency so that they’re able to work within a tunnelling environment.

To achieve its social procurement outcomes on the C3 contract, the team is working with He Waka Eke Noa to encourage the wider inclusion of Māori and Pasifika businesses in the construction industry supply chain. Three Link Alliance construction contracts have been awarded this financial year to Māori and Pasifika businesses with a value of over $1.2 million.