Contractors asked to demonstrate green credentials to landlords

As more companies and businesses strive to ‘go green,’ a recent article on the Sustainable Homes website reports on the latest news that construction contractors will now be asked to prove their green credentials to prospective landlords.

The article notes that as the public becomes more aware and concerned about climate change, environmental statements of intent have become increasingly commonplace in everything from advertising campaigns to annual reports.

However, going green often has an ulterior motive – such as improving a brand’s image or reputation – so it can be difficult to know if they are being completely honest, or if they will stick to their environmentally-friendly promises.

With this in mind, SHIFT for Contractors has now been established to provide social landlords with evidence of what contractors are doing to reduce their environmental impact. SHIFT’s principles are based on an independent verification of sustainability credentials; for contractors, the scheme will support their environmental claims and provide point-by-point analyses of their efforts.

It benefits both landlords and contractors; landlords can have greater peace of mind, while the professionals responsible for building, refurbishing and maintaining homes can prove they are as green as they claim to be.

So far, 19 landlords have come together to form this message aimed at the construction contracting industry:

“It is increasingly important that we take action to tackle climate change, think ahead in terms of adaptation, use our resources efficiently and make our residents’ homes warmer and more energy efficient.

“We really value what a programme like SHIFT does to independently measure environmental impacts and to help organisations identify areas for improvement. […] We are now backing a call for contractors to have their environmental performance independently verified and benchmarked. This would help us to identify those contractors who are going further in their own efforts to improve and see how they compare with their peers.”