Sustainability

Banks Long & Co recognise that the promotion of sustainable developments is a central part of our role in the management of climate change. We have a responsibility to manage our business in a way that takes into account wider environmental concerns and we are committed to putting in place working practices that enable our business to operate in a way that minimises our impact on the environment and reduces carbon emissions. We acknowledge that a key part of this is working with our clients on new schemes, to advise as to sustainability, energy performance and how the built environment can deliver community, social and economic benefits. 

We recognise the challenges that the world is facing in the form of climate change and acknowledge that the way in which we operate our business can have a negative or positive impact on the climate. We have identified the following areas where we can reduce our impact on the environment whilst still delivering the high level, responsive service our clients require.

Some of the steps that we have taken as a business are:

• We employ local staff who are encouraged to travel to work using public transport 
• Car sharing is encouraged wherever possible and whenever Covid-safe
• Staff are encouraged to cycle to work and an office shower is provided to promote this
• When site visits, meetings or inspections are required we do our utmost to combine these visits with our other commitments in the area. This minimises travel times, reduces the number of journeys required and reduces the level of emissions
• We support and encourage agile working. All of our surveyors have the capability to work from home as well as from the office. This concept is supported and promoted
• Our fleet of work vehicles includes an increasing number of electric and hybrid cars
• We have systems in place for the electronic storage of documents. We have systems in place which discourage the printing of emails or non-essential paperwork. Any printing utilises recycled cartridges
• We hold all drawings and technical documentation electronically to remove the need for them to be printed and hard copies held
• Correspondence is sent out by email instead of by post and the same is requested of parties that we deal with
• Reports are sent to clients electronically unless a hard copy is requested or required
• Marketing brochures are emailed to prospective occupiers rather than being posted
• Our office has a recycling scheme in place for all paper waste that is not confidential as well as for any plastics, wrappers, etc. All confidential waste is shredded and subsequently recycled
• We occupy energy-efficient premises and our office building has an Energy Performance Rating of B41
• We utilise local agency board contractors who are able to combine jobs and minimise travel required. We have also sourced contractors that use and re-use recycled products wherever possible

Climate change is an ongoing and evolving concern and in light of this, we will continually monitor the way in which we carry out our work. We pro-actively seek to work with property owners and developers that share our ethos of reducing carbon emissions and promoting sustainable developments.