GVA Grimley has been awarded the prestigious ISO14001 certification for its Environmental Management System that it incorporated into the company’s business activities over the last 14 months. This internationally recognised standard is formal recognition of the processes and procedures for controlling and measuring its environmental performance and commits it to continuous improvement.
GVA Grimley took the decision to implement an Environmental Management System, not only across its office network, but also across all of its support and professional activities, one of the first UK commercial property advisors to achieve this.
Miles Keeping, Head of Sustainability at GVA Grimley said, “The ISO14001 environmental standard is becoming increasingly important to us as a firm. In particular, many of our public sector and corporate clients now require its advisors to have robust environmental and sustainability systems in place as a prerequisite of the tender process.
He continues, “We are delighted to have achieved this across all of our offices. It underpins our environmental policy and commitment to reducing our impact, as a firm, on the environment and we are now able to demonstrate this transparently to our clients.”
The new environmental management system has provided for lower costs with the implementation of energy saving devices as well as new waste management systems, encouraging higher recycling. All staff are actively encouraged to be more environmentally aware and to help by actively taking part in the new schemes. Take up has been exceptional with teams putting into place their own procedures to support the Environment Management System. In January 2009, GVA Grimley’s Glasgow office was certified as BREEAM excellent, another demonstration of the firm’s continued commitment to the environment.
