Gold level accreditation for our sustainability

South East-based community creator Thakeham Group has been acknowledged for its high-level commitment to advancing sustainability within the industry, with the award of Gold level accreditation with The Supply Chain Sustainability School (SCSS).

SCSS is an award-winning industry collaboration led by partners and members to create a learning environment, upskilling those working within the built environment sector. It encourages companies to implement practices and processes that enable sustainable business operations throughout the supply chain.

The Gold membership accreditation required Thakeham to satisfy a range of sustainability criteria to demonstrate continuous improvement. These criteria include consistent use of educational resources; sharing knowledge and experience with other school members; and the completion of sustainability assessments.

For Thakeham, Josie Thornewill, Head of Sustainability, said: “The SCSS has become a key part of how we demonstrate our sustainability improvement. It helps us to work closely with suppliers and works hand-in-hand with our commitment to meet our three big zero carbon commitments.”

Last year, Thakeham launched a three-fold crusade to become zero carbon by 2025. Specifically, the home developer pledged that every Thakeham home will be zero carbon in lifetime operation; that each home built will be carbon neutral in production; and, Thakeham Group as a whole will also be zero carbon.

During the accreditation process, Thakeham shared how they aim to use sustainability data to help subcontractors reduce their operational and production carbon emissions. Activity on the Supply Chain Sustainability School gives a competitive advantage for contractors, and we are developing our supplier performance evaluation to reflect this – contractors being able to evidence that all supervisors and managers had already completed a specific level of training adds significant value to tenders.

Josie Thornewill adds: “We need to eliminate and reduce emissions at the earliest stages and work with suppliers who share our vision for zero carbon placemaking. The School helps us to evidence our collective progress and how seriously we take sustainability issues. That’s why we are especially proud to achieve Gold membership.”

Our interview case study with SCSS can be found here.