Multiplex is a premier construction company with a simple purpose: to construct a better future.
The fundamentals of ESG have been embedded in our global business for many years. We have led conversations and actions that have evolved our business and industry, and created significant positive impact for our people, communities and environment. Our global ESG strategy consolidates those efforts, and challenges us to do more at a regional level, as detailed in this report, to achieve our purpose.
01 Environment
Environment
Our European ESG strategy features four environmental pillars, with set goals and targets. These include:
Climate Action
Building in Sustainability
Responsible and Circular Resourcing
Net Positive Biodiversity, Air Quality and Water
Collaboration is key to the success of our ESG Strategy, and we witness the enthusiasm and leadership that comes from our supply chain, our peers and our clients first hand. It is clear that our stakeholders share our commitment to climate action, and we all recognise the need to work together, on an industry wide scale, to achieve positive ends. The construction industry urgently requires a fundamental shift, and we can only bring about the transformation required by pulling together.
Climate Action
Since launching our net zero strategy, One Decade to Act: Our Pathway to Net Zero Carbon, we have delivered several innovative low carbon initiatives. The net zero conversation has continued to evolve and continues to provide a framework for how we can drive positive change within the wider built environment by working in partnership with our clients, suppliers and the industry at large.
2023 Headline achievements
Goal 1: Zero onsite emissions by 2025
We entered an agreement to deliver an industry first Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that will provide additional renewable energy through the delivery of a new solar facility in Norfolk. The site is expected to deliver more than 9,000 MWh of renewable energy – displacing 2,850 tonnes of carbon emissions every year.
Goal 2: 50% reduction in embodied carbon intensity by 2030
Currently under construction, Elephant and Castle Town Centre will deliver almost 500 new homes, a new tube station and a new campus for University of the Arts London’s London College of Communication.
We are implementing circular economy principles on site by reusing construction materials. By substituting approximately 20% of the originally planned steel with reclaimed steel, the team anticipates carbon emissions reduction of 188 tonnes.
Goal 3: Net Zero Carbon Building by 2030
We successfully delivered fossil fuel free mixed-use behalf of our client, Native part of Bankside Yards Bank and the building benefits performance triple glazing, for tenanted areas and generation energy network development.
Building Operations
delivered the UK’s first mixed-use development on Native Land. Arbor forms on London’s South benefits from high glazing, smart metering connection to a fifth network across the wider
Goal 4: Zero Transport Emissions by 2030
Goal 5: Zero avoidable waste by 2030
In January 2023, we hosted the second of our Transport Taskforce sessions. Bringing together a wide range of stakeholders, the event sought to address feedback received from our first session and provide more details on the current and near term capabilities of electric commercial vehicles.
In partnership with Madigan Gill, we trialled a PPE recycling scheme at our 76 Southbank project. Nearly 3,000 items of PPE were collected, amounting to over 700kg in total. Nearly half of the items collected were reused, meaning they were cleaned, with any existing branding removed, and made ready for their next use. Most of the remaining items were recycled, with the PPE items being used for blankets, insulation, and pipe linings. For the small amount of the collections that could not be reused or recycled, they were incinerated for energy recovery.
1
2
Reduce absolute scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions 55% by 2030 from a 2017 base year. This comprises of emissions from our purchased electricity, gas and fuel.
We reduced our Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 70% compared to our 2017 base year.
Key suppliers representing 95% of emissions from our purchased goods (i.e. building materials) will set a sciencebased emissions reduction target by 2023.
Key suppliers and subcontractors representing 98.8% of our emissions from purchased goods have set, or committed to setting, science-based emissions reduction targets. These suppliers and subcontractors contributed to our Scope 3 Cat 1 emissions between our base year to our current reporting period.
In 2023 we reviewed the building sector specific guidance published by the SBTi. However, we identified that it does not address the challenges faced by Main Contractors to set up Scope 3 targets. We are currently in conversations with the SBTi to review our target to continue driving decarbonisation within our supply chain.
Progress against our WorldGBC Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment
Target Progress
1
We commit to only owning and occupying assets that are net zero carbon in operation by 2030.
In 2023, we continued to report our progress to the WorldGBC Net zero Carbon Buildings commitment. Globally, we have zero owned assets and seven tenanted assets, with a total floor area of 14,816 m2 across our Australian, Canadian, and European regions combined.
Two of the nine tenanted assets make up our London and Scotland head offices. 100% of the electricity used in both European offices was supplied through a renewable energy tariff.
Responsible and Circular Resourcing
Responsible and circular resourcing remains a key pillar of our sustainability strategy. In 2023, we continued to work towards eliminating waste across all our projects, while maintaining the highest standards of responsible sourcing for procured materials. We utilise the waste hierarchy to reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, and divert waste from landfill in line with circular economy principles.
In 2023, we continued to monitor compliance with our responsible sourcing standards during project delivery. This included ensuring procured goods were responsibly sourced, included healthy materials, and featured high levels of recycled content. To ensure the best material standards, ISO 14001 Environmental Management System Certification, BES 6001
Responsible Sourcing of Construction Materials,
2023 Headline achievements
99.93%
non hazardous construction waste diverted from landfill.
99.1% of the top 10 construction materials were responsibly sourced in 2023.
100% timber products were FSC or PEFC certified.
29.01%
average recycled content in key construction materials.
the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifications are validated by third party verification schemes.
We track responsible sourcing data across all live projects, in partnership with our supply chain. Our minimum responsible sourcing standards require timber to be either FSC or PEFC certified, and in 2023 we were once again 100% compliant with this standard, confirmed by audits of all timber deliveries received by subcontractors across our projects. Industry takeup of Environmental Product Declarations, produced in line with verifiable standards, increased again this year, with high quality, accurate carbon data improving our reporting of Scope 3 emissions in comparison to our 2022 results.
Case Study
Glass recycling at New Zealand House
The New Zealand House project team have partnered with Saint Gobain Glass to implement their cullet return scheme on the project. As part of the scheme, existing internal and façade glazing will be removed and stored on site, collected, and then transported to Saint Gobain’s collection centre to be processed into new flat glass. Saint Gobain estimate that every tonne of cullet collected prevents 300kg of carbon being emitted, and we anticipate that nearly 100 tonnes of glass will require removal from the building.
Building in Sustainability
‘Building in Sustainability’ focuses on ensuring healthy and sustainable livelihoods are provided through the projects we deliver. We know that the characteristics of buildings can affect the physical and psychological welfare of the people who occupy them. This is considered throughout our operations, from the welfare provided to our supply chain, to the assets we hand over to our clients.
2023 Headline achievements
In 2023, we achieved 100% of targeted sustainability assessment ratings (BREEAM, WELL, Code for Sustainable Homes).
These projects included:
Clarice Pears School of Health & Wellbeing:
Bankside Yards Building 3: BREEAM UK New Construction 2014 (Shell & Core) Excellent
One Nine Elms River Tower: Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4
BREEAM UK New Construction 2014 Excellent
The Broadway: BREEAM UK New Construction 2014 (Shell & Core) Excellent
Case Study
Delivering environmental certifications globally
Across our global operations, we have taken a leading role in the delivery of a wide range of sustainability assessments. Across 109 buildings, we have delivered the following:
Buildings PassiveHaus
Net Positive Biodiversity, Air Quality, and Water
Our understanding of the intricate relationship between buildings and the natural environment continues to evolve. We are ever conscious of our impact, and the opportunities we have to improve as a business. Nature is a key pillar of our ESG Strategy, and encompasses biodiversity, water and air quality. We have clear actions in place to facilitate nature positive outcomes.
100%
Compliance on NRMM audits.
500+
Hours of biodiversity volunteering across all our projects, which more than doubles the hours we achieved in 2022.
Case Study
Biodiversity Volunteering with RSPB and Idverde
In 2023 we embarked on the beginning of an ongoing partnership with RSPB, the UK’s largest conservation charity, and Idverde, the UK & Europe’s leading provider of grounds maintenance and landscape services. During this time we have been restoring and replanting the Sexby Garden at Peckham Rye Park in London, and Baron’s Haugh Nature Reserve in Glasgow. We have removed the old planting and replaced it with low maintenance, perennial pollinator friendly species that will support an increase in ecological value, helping to encourage wildlife. With over 570 hours of biodiversity volunteering completed, we look forward to continuing our efforts in supporting conservation across all our projects.
Joined the Air Pollution Footprint Partnership, supporting the trial of calculator tools prior to the launch.
2023 Headline achievements
A team of Multiplex volunteers starting the restoration works at Peckham Rye Park
02 People
People
In 2021, we launched ‘Leave No One Behind’, our ten year social equity strategy to tackle inequality and injustice in construction. Key issues addressed by our strategy include: the just transition; mental health; wellbeing; fair employment; prompt payment; modern slavery; diversity and inclusion and income inequality.
We have set goals and targets to achieve over the course of this decade, included within our strategic pillars, which are as follows:
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Socio-Economic Value
Diversity, Inclusion and Respect
Respecting Communities
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Our approach to health, safety and wellbeing is driven by our commitment to caring for our people, providing safe and desirable places to work where everyone feels supported. This is reflected in our ‘One life. One team’ programme, which is designed to enhance the working environment, promoting collaboration and engagement to enhance quality of delivery, safety, health and productivity across all our projects.
Multiplex is on a continuous journey to boost safety culture and standards across our business and industry. For our projects, our robust ‘Safer by Design’
strategy focuses on eliminating critical risks that will have the greatest consequences. This means working with clients to design out safety risks and design in safety controls in the early stages of projects, because we know we stand to have the most impact when we plan upfront.
For our people, we resource and promote programs to support their physical and mental health – from flexible working programs that are recognised as industry leading, to mental health first aid training that equips our people to support each other.
333
Workplace occupational health intervention tours were conducted.
142
Engagement ‘Time Out’ sessions were held building the culture and community on our projects.
9 RIDDOR free projects.
0
Serious Safety Incidents (SSI).
All
Staff completed the One life. One team. Workshop which is also part of the onboarding for all new starters.
154
High risk review workshops were held to ensure critical risk activities were delivered right first time.
Case Study
All
Staff completed the mandatory mental health training, which is also part of the onboarding for all new starters.
Industry Collaboration Leads to Safety Improvements
In late 2022, a Mobile Elevating Work Platform suffered a malfunction whilst in use on one of our projects, which resulted in the machine destabilising, putting two operatives at risk. Following their rescue, we launched an investigation, involving the manufacturer, supplier and a representative of the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF). After extensive collaboration, the investigation concluded in 2023, and resulted in additional quality control processes at the production factory and an amendment to IPAF industry training.
2023 Headline achievements
Diversity and Inclusion
Our strategy is devoted to developing and retaining a workforce that reflects the diversity of the global communities in which we operate. We will achieve this by working on five strategic focus areas, including: Base, Mindset, Networks, Family and Gender Equality
We will have a solid Base from which to monitor and measure progress. We will continue developing a Mindset that prioritises inclusion at all levels of our business, providing Networks that support all our people. We will ensure we are a Family friendly workplace by delivering parental leave, family care, wellbeing initiatives and flexible working. We will focus on retaining female employees, facilitating their development and fostering Gender Equality in everything we do.
2023 Headline achievements
We have continued promoting Multiplex Flex, our flexible working model. Results from our 2023 employee survey showed that staff felt we were a flexible employer, benefiting both the company and our people.
Our UK Women’s Network continue to support our female staff and drive initiatives to attract and retain female talent and enhance development opportunities for them.
In 2023, we piloted a high potential programme, and a larger percentage of women have met the criteria to participate.
Case Study
Multiplex’s UK Women’s Network
We are committed to creating a fair and equitable high performing workplace with an inclusive culture, where everyone has the freedom and opportunities they need to succeed.
In 2020, we established the first Multiplex UK Women’s Network (UKWN) as part of our UK social equity strategy; aiming to foster a more inclusive workplace for women in our business, supporting UK leadership in understanding the current challenges female staff face, driving initiatives to attract and retain female talent and enhancing development opportunities for them.
The UKWN has led and supported significant changes in our company, winning the Women’s Network of the Year award at the 2023 London Construction Awards.
Some noteworthy achievements include:
Creating “The Good, The Bad and The Built Environment” podcast to share stories and insight from prominent female leaders and male allies in the built environment industry.
Hosting multiple networking events with guest speakers to share knowledge, connect and empower.
Creating a Reverse Mentoring Pilot scheme for the women of Multiplex and Senior Leadership Team.
Delivering a series of expert led educational workshops on Women’s Health.
Partnering with Mentoring Circle, as a lead sponsor, securing a number of Multiplex placements per year as mentees on this female led, industry leading, 12 month development programme.
Socio-Economic Value
We care about the people who bring our buildings to life. Our employees deserve to earn a living wage in a safe and respectful environment, and we are committed to ensuring legal, fair and responsible treatment of all our workers at all times. We know that we have an opportunity to maximise our impact by using our purchasing power to generate social value far beyond what we spend, which is essential to improving the livelihoods of local communities and multiplying the gains for local businesses.
Social Procurement
Leveraging our supply chain relationships is key in our drive towards social procurement. Throughout the year we have continued to work on improving our payment terms and implementing our new Pre-Qualification and supply chain database system, MPartners. Our supply chain are required to be accredited with the industry led Build UK/CECA developed Common Assessment Standard (CAS), with MPartners also including specific ESG topics, emphasising to our suppliers the importance we place on ESG.
2023 Headline achievements
£80,310,195
Spent with SMEs local to our projects. 14% of our overall business spend.
£217,353,611
Spent with non local SMEs. 39% of our overall business spend.
£82,854,287
Spent with businesses local to our projects. 15% of our overall business spend.
Further reduced the average time to pay our supply chain by 9 days to 30 days.
Case Study University of Glasgow’s Meet the Buyer
The University of Glasgow team held a Meet the Buyer event in preparation for the University’s Keystone building, construction due to commence Q4 2024. The event was very well attended by local businesses and demonstrated the market demand to work on the next phase of the Campus Development programme; with Multiplex having already successfully delivered four buildings on behalf of the university. Presentations from the Client, Project Managers, and our team provided an overview of the scheme, highlighting some of the key social value deliverables.
Ethical Treatment of Labour
Construction is consistently ranked as one of the industries with the highest risk of modern slavery. At Multiplex, we want to be known as a great company to work with and for. That is why one of the pillars of our social equity strategy focuses on the ethical treatment of our labour force, ensuring that all those working on our sites and within our broader supply chain is treated with the fairness and dignity that everyone deserves.
2023 Headline achievements
Achilles completed our biannual site engagement audits across all sites, with nearly 1,000 interviewed.
Completed 3rd party employment practices audits for our logistics & security supply chain partners.
Hosted Nutral’s roundtable event, discussing how all value chain members can help support ethical employment across the workforce.
Recorded a case study video for Supply Chain Sustainability School on Worker Voice & Ethical Labour Case Study: Multiplex Construction Europe.
Case Study
University of Liverpool’s research: Modern slavery and the construction sector
In 2023, eight members of our operational staff volunteered to support research being carried out by the University of Liverpool on modern slavery in the construction industry. The research used an innovative photo-elicitation methodology, in which Multiplex staff were asked in the weeks prior to an interview to take a photograph on their smartphone whenever they encountered something that prompted them to think about modern slavery. The photographs taken were then used as the basis for the interview, with our staff having the opportunity to explore their understanding of modern slavery and how it related to their work.
Eight major construction companies participated in the research, with approximately fifty interviews. The findings from the research have been used in a followup impact and engagement project, sharing relevant findings and facilitating improvements in practice within the sector.
Equitable Employment
As part of our ongoing commitment to attracting diverse talent to our business and the industry, a continued focus area for 2023 was the provision of work placements across our projects. We prioritised partnerships with organisations that champion typically under represented groups found in construction, including those from low income households and individuals from ethnic minorities.
To deliver these placements, we worked closely with schools, colleges, universities, and charities as well as local authorities and training providers to offer opportunities for candidates across all disciplines. We want to make sure we play our part in diversifying the workforce to help build a more sustainable and resilient construction industry of the future. 133
New entrant roles and new apprentices were placed across our sites.
89
Work experience placements were hosted across our projects.
11 Graduates were hosted across our projects.
2023 Headline achievements
Case Study
Build your own house
Our commitment to supporting neurodiversity in the workplace is championed through our bespoke Neurodiverse Work Experience Programme. We created a ten week virtual learning programme with the brief: ‘build your own house.’
During the programme students heard from a wide range of our staff, including some with neurodiverse conditions themselves, such as autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia, who shared their career routes into construction, and challenges they have overcome in the workplace since. Students showed great engagement and commitment throughout the ten week period and presented their achievements to the team at the end of the programme. They also attended a group site visit, a brilliant opportunity to experience a live construction project.
Since the pilot, we have successfully run an additional in person Neurodiverse Work Experience Programme at our One Leadenhall project, in partnership with The Courtyard School. This has been a positive step towards raising awareness, fostering an open dialogue and building confidence with supporting neurodiversity of all levels within the workplace.
We are proud to say that our initiative received formal recognition:
• Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) “Award of Excellence” in the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion category, October 2023.
• Shortlisted for the London Construction Awards in the Diversity & Inclusion category, September 2023.
• Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) Leading Lights Awards winner, November 2023.
Social Value Investment
For transparent, robust, and accurate reporting, we partnered with Social Value Portal to complete a full retrospective measurement of our live projects to demonstrate the total local and social economic value that we have invested back into our communities. Our data is verified by Social Value Portal on a quarterly basis by a qualified economist. This platform also allows us to demonstrate how our achievements align with the National TOMs (Themes, Outcomes, Measures) Framework and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
2023 Headline achievements
£1,350,454,415.46 of social and local economic value delivered to date, and validated by Social Value Portal.
When launching our Social Equity Strategy, Leave No One Behind, in December 2021, we identified seven of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that we believed were particularly relevant to the social value commitments we set out within our ten year strategy. Through Social Value Portal, we identified our estimated contribution towards each of those UN SDGs. These figures are based on mapping via the Portal which takes into account whether the beneficiaries of the TOMs interventions (our recorded outputs) mirror what the SDGs are aiming to achieve, and whether the measurable contribution of the TOMs would directly impact the progress of the Global Goals indicators.
Social and Local Economic Values:
£12,537
£41,907 £9,925 £12,189 £39,574 £26,177 £49,209
Respecting Communities
We are proud to be a responsible contractor, and we know that driving meaningful and inclusive engagement whilst providing long term support to the communities in which we work is critical to our wider ESG approach.
2023 Headline achievements
£232,616
Was raised in total for charity.
58 education engagement events organised.
61 community engagement events were held.
3,969 students engaged with through our projects.
925 members of the community engaged. 15 diversity and inclusion events organised.
45 Average Considerate Constructors Scheme across our projects.
4,047 hours of volunteering completed.
Case Study Plan Zheroes volunteering
In 2023, we discovered Plan Zheroes, a local charity that redistributes surplus food from Borough Market to local homeless shelters and foodbank charities. We have been volunteering with them on a regular basis, diverting good quality food away from landfill and instead making sure it reaches those who need it most. We are proud to say that many of our project teams have gladly volunteered their support so far, with future opportunities to get involved in the pipeline.
03 Governance & Operational Excellence
Governance and Operational Excellence
Governance and Risk Management
The committee of highest governance within Multiplex Construction Europe is the European Senior Leadership team (SLT). The SLT is responsible for the development, approval, and updating of the organisation’s strategies, policies, and goals related to economic, environmental, and social topics. This is done in conjunction with the Global Leadership Team who manages all Multiplex organisations.
The SLT includes the following management personnel:
• Technical Director
• Finance Director
• Operations Director
• Regional Director
• Regional Directors - Operations
• Head of Sustainability
• Health, Safety and Wellbeing Director
• Head of Legal
• Human Resources Director
• Head of Engineering
• Legal Director
• Managing Director (Chair)
In relation to climate-related risks and opportunities, the SLT, who meet twice a week, are responsible for the following:
• Keeping informed of climate related issues;
• Assessing climate-related issues to identify those that are material to the business;
• Developing goals, targets and action plans to address the climate-related issues;
• Managing the implementation of action plans;
• Monitoring and reporting progress against the goals and targets.
The SLT and management teams are critical in ensuring the business addresses all climate related risks and opportunities that are essential to the business. There are two key management teams: the Sustainability function and project operations. The Sustainability function are responsible for assessing issues and developing plans while the project operational teams are responsible for implementing those plans, monitoring progress and feeding back to the Sustainability function.
Resilience
To assess the resilience of the business strategy and model, two climate scenarios were applied to determine potential impacts. These scenarios have been aligned to pathways adopted by the IPCC for their Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) and are referred to as Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs). The RCPs are projected models developed to represent different possible warming outcomes at the end of the century.
Firstly, we considered a scenario consisting of a sharp and immediate decrease in global emissions. In this scenario decarbonisation efforts within the value chain and more generally across the global north are realised in the short to medium term in line with the Paris Agreement. This scenario is aligned with Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 2.6, where the average change in global mean surface temperatures (compared to the pre industrial period) is 1.6 degrees Celsius between 2081-2100. This scenario is defined by the following characteristics:
• Consistent and joined up policy development
• Climate conscious customer behaviour
• Rapid decarbonisation of the grid
A secondary scenario, equivalent to the highermedium (RCP6.0), has also been considered in determining the resilience of the business. In this scenario the global carbon emission profile plateaus in the 2030s, thereafter rising until mid century before decreasing in the final decades of the century. In this scenario global mean temperatures rise on average by 2.8 degrees Celsius.
In assessing the risks and opportunities against these scenarios it is evident that the transition risks are most prevalent under the ‘RCP2.6’ scenario and conversely the physical risks more so under the ‘RCP6.0’ scenario. It is however recognised that the acute impacts of climate change are already being experienced and require consideration within short term business planning.
Risks and Opportunities
Management have identified climate-related risks and opportunities up to 2030 as the short to medium term given that this timeframe represents the design & construction lifecycle of current business operations, and 2030 to 2050 as the long term.
Across these timeframes, key transition risks, physical risks and opportunities relating to climate change have been identified. Transition risks are those associated with the transition to a lower carbon economy, whilst physical risks are those relating to the physical impacts of climate change. Management have also assessed the impacts as well as the measures that can be taken to mitigate risks and capitalise on opportunities.
Transition risks
Policy and Legal
Expedient changes to environmental policy, resulting in a shortage of key skills within the immediate labour pool
Inability to sufficiently resource projects and achieve accelerated programmes
Promote and monitor upskilling and knowledge transfer of supply chain
Short to medium term
Increased taxation of carbon intensive products
Increased supply chain costs associated with non-road plant, vehicles and equipment, emphasised by limited availability to service projects
Multiplex Transport Taskforce to monitor forthcoming policy measures and engage supply chain with allowance made within tender enquiries for requisite plant specifications
Inflation of tender pricing to account for increased product costs
Develop low carbon specifications and continued development of strong and diverse supply chain relationships
Short to medium term
Short to medium term
Increased taxation of carbon intensive energy supplies
New build by exception only policy
Technology
Increased costs of energy costs, resulting in additional prelim costs and risk of uncompetitive pricing
Limited newbuild market opportunities
Energy management processes to reduce demand, specification of renewable energy tariffs and introduction of Power Purchase Agreement (PPA)
Increasing business capacity to respond to retrofit market opportunities
Short to medium term
Potential cost uplift for low emission technology and products
Inflated tender pricing and uncompetitive in market
Maintain technically-led approach, using carbon hierarchy to ‘design-out’ carbon impacts and minimise exposure to ‘procuring-out’ carbon
Long term
Short to medium term
Unavailability of low emission technology in the market
Inability to meet Client and/or local authority requirements
Use of early project appointments to facilitate supply chain engagement
Short to medium term Market
Commoditisation of by products from carbon intensive industry, specifically Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS)
Products that have historically been used to reduce the embodied carbon of structural solutions have carbon intensity factors significantly increased to reflect commoditisation
Use of alternative low carbon solutions such as calcined clays or other structural solutions including CLT/steel hybrid to meet project environmental targets
Short to medium term
More stringent client requirements reflected with increasing environmental outcomes specified within contracts
Potential for increased risk and financial penalties associated with the delivery of environmental outcomes
Thorough examination of contract requirements and utilisation of early engagement to seek clarifications and minimise exposure
Expectations set by industry bodies for the market, e.g. UKGBC, LETI, BBP
Reputation
Public expectations of the construction industry and general stigmatisation of the construction sector
Impracticable environmental deliverables on the balance of other project factors such as cost, programme and quality
Ongoing industry engagement to champion a managed transition to a low carbon economy
Short to medium term
Short to medium term
Inability to attract and retain talent within the business
Strong ESG leadership and active participation from staff
Short to medium term Market expectations and increased stakeholder concern, e.g. local communities
Reduced revenue as a result of negative market perception, lack of confidence from supply chain and challenging planning landscape
Ambitious ESG strategies and transparent disclosure
Short to medium term
Physical risks
Acute/abrupt
Increased severity of extreme weather events
Reduced revenue from decreased production capacity, e.g. concrete curing, tower crane operation, rainwater drainage, material deliveries, workforce productivity (onsite and absenteeism)
Increased operating costs, e.g. more drainage mechanisms, tower crane operation, increased heating/ cooling in offices and welfare
Climate change adaptation appraisals during the development of construction methodologies at tender stage
Use early project engagement to optimise operating plans and technological solutions to minimise peak energy demand
Short to medium term
Chronic/gradual
Global temperature rise, resulting in changes in precipitation patterns and extreme variability in weather patterns
Buildings unfit for use in the future, e.g. unsuitable MEP for temperature conditions, unsuitable drainage for change in precipitation and increased flooding
Climate change adaptation appraisals during design development at tender stage
Short to medium term
Long term
Key:
Opportunities
Opportunity
Improved resource efficiency in construction operations including reducing, reusing and recycling waste and water
Use of renewable energy sources, new technologies, and a shift toward decentralised energy generation
Access to new markets, e.g. low carbon projects
Development of low embodied carbon building materials and net zero emission services
Adoption of energy efficiency measures and construction methodologies
Impact
Reduced operating costs, e.g. reduced energy use, reduced waste processing
Increased reliability of energy supply and reduced exposure to future fossil fuel price increases
Increased production capacity resulting in increased revenue
Increased workbook resulting in increased revenue, continued compliance with policies and legislation
Increased production capacity resulting in increased revenue, increased reliability of supply chain
Mitigation
• One decade to act: Our Pathway to Net Zero Carbon
Number of incidents of non compliance with environmental permits, standards, and regulations environmental permits, standards, and regulations in 2023.
Structural Integrity and Safety
Discussion of processes to assess and manage environmental risks associated with project design, siting, and construction.
Quantitative Number FEN160a.1
Discussion and Analysis N/A FEN160a.2
Workforce Health and Safety
Amount of defect and safety related rework costs. Quantitative Reporting currency FEN250a.1
Total amount of monetary losses as a result of legal proceedings associated with defect and safety related incidents.
(1) Total recordable incident rate (TRIR) and (2) fatality rate for (a) direct employees and (b)contract employees.
Quantitative Reporting currency FEN250a.2
Quantitative Rate FEN320a.1
Lifecycle Impacts of Buildings Infrastructure
Number of (1) commissioned projects certified to a third party multi attribute sustainability standard and (2) active projects seeking such certification.
Quantitative Number IFEN410a.1
Multiplex operate an ISO 14001:2015 certified Environmental Management System (EMS), helping to ensure consistency of delivery across our projects.
A central part of our EMS is the development of an Environmental Sustainability Management Plan for each site. This live document outlines the project specific environmental risks and controls, and is communicated within the project team.
This is supported by our Environmental Responsibilities Training, which is delivered by our project-based sustainability team.
Not currently recorded.
of commissioned projects with a third party sustainability standard: In 2023, 4 projects achieved their sustainability assessments (see Building in Sustainability)
Topic
Lifecycle Impacts of Buildings Infrastructure
Accounting Metric Category
Discussion of process to incorporate operational phase energy and water efficiency considerations into project planning and design.
Discussion and Analysis N/A IFEN410a.2
Climate Impacts of Business Mix
Business Ethics
Amount of backlog for (1) hydrocarbon related projects and (2) renewable energy projects.
Amount of backlog cancellations associated with hydro-carbon related projects.
Amount of backlog for non energy projects associated with climate change mitigation.
(1) Number of active projects and (2) backlog in countries that have the 20 lowest rankings in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index.
Total amount of monetary losses as a result of legal proceedings associated with charges of (1) bribery or corruption and (2) anti competitive practices.
Description of policies and practices for prevention of (1) bribery and corruption, and (2) anticompetitive behaviour in the project bidding processes.
Quantitative
Quantitative
Quantitative
Quantitative
Reporting currency IFEN410b.1
Reporting currency IFEN410b.2
Reporting currency IFEN410b.3
Number, Reporting currency IFEN510a.1
Quantitative
Reporting currency IFEN510a.2
Discussion and Analysis N/A IFEN510a.3
Response
We utilise our supply chain partners to develop our client offering, enabling us to put forward opportunities for energy and water efficiencies.
When appointed on the project, we work closely with the existing design team, using frameworks such as BREEAM, to benchmark the building’s performance and to seek further opportunities for improvement.
Our digital capabilities also enable us to take a systems approach, which in turn facilitates decision making and end user operations.
31 December 2023 Multiplex Construction Europe had 8 live projects.
One Exchange Square
One Leadenhall
30 Grosvenor Square
311-345 Argyle Street
76 Southbank
Elephant and Castle Town Centre
One Nine Elms Western Yards Building 2
2023 we secured three main contracts:
76 Southbank
One Exchange Square Bankside Yards – Building 2
have secured other PCSA’s on commercial and higher education schemes and aim to convert these PCSA’s into main contracts during 2024.
31 December 2023 Multiplex Construction Europe construction revenue backlog stood at £1.1 billion.
04 2023 Performance Data
2023 Performance Data | Environment
Footprint (Scope 1, 2 & 3)
We record electricity, fuel, transport, waste and material information on all our sites, and we use this information to calculate our total carbon footprint inventory. Our carbon inventory follows the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Standard and has been consolidated based on financial control. The unit used is CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent). We have taken a market-based approach to determine the carbon footprint of our electricity consumption and use the Inventory of Carbon & Energy (ICE) from the University of Bath to determine the embodied carbon of our building materials. We use the Energy Performance Certificates of the buildings completed each year to forecast operational carbon emissions. We apply an emission uplift factor of 85%, as recommended by Innovate UK, to address the widely recognised gap between designed energy consumption and actual energy consumption. We assumed a building’s lifetime lasts 60 years, and we account for the UK government’s emissions projection for electricity over this timeframe.
On One Leadenhall, Multiplex has been engaged in a Construction Management (CM) role, thus limiting the operational and financial influence we have. While we continue to track the carbon data for the development, in line with the GHG protocol, the data is not allowed in the above table.
Responsible Sourcing and Circular Economy
Non Hazardous Waste Produced
Tonnage of Non Hazardous waste by Disposal Route (t/£100K spend)
Hazardous Waste Produced
Hazardous and Non hazardous waste reporting covers excavation, construction and demolition phase.
Hazardous and Non hazardous waste is reported in tonnage due to the increase in tonnagereporting projects in 2023. Converting waste data from volume to tonnage is more accurate than tonnage to volume.
Responsible Sourcing
The information in the table above is taken from our Metrics Environmental Reporting system, based on the Building Research Establishment’s online SMART Waste platform. The materials certifications are independently certified ISO 14001 Management Systems, BES 6001 certifications, CARES, EcoReinforcement and FSC or PEFC for timber.
Net positive biodiversity, water, and air quality
Onsite water consumption
We use water in our offices and welfare facilities, as well as on our sites for various purposes, including construction activities, commissioning, cleaning and dampening down dust. We usually consume water through the main water network. We record water consumption on all our sites, and whilst our water consumption is relatively low, we continue to drive for water minimisation and management through our processes and systems, and employee engagement initiatives.
Onsite groundwater or trade effluent discharged to public sewer
We measure the discharge volume of groundwater and trade effluent on all our sites and report this information to the relevant water regulatory body, where applicable. To manage the quality of our effluent discharge, we align with the minimum standards of the relevant water regulatory body. These standards often stipulate requirements for the content, pH and volume rate of the discharge.
2023 Performance Data | People
*Data extracted from online Human Resources (HR) system “Workday”
Most activities conducted on Multiplex Construction Europe’s construction sites are undertaken by subcontractor workers.
2023 Performance Data | Health, Safety and Wellbeing