The Task

As part of their capital expenditure United Utilities wanted to embed BS8903 as a management system throughout their procurement process.

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    Action

    • In 2008 we engaged with United Utilities to develop and deliver a comprehensive five-year sustainable supply chain management programme in order to achieve their regulatory targets through their supply chain.
    • We started with a set of senior management workshops to really pull out what sustainability means for the business and what is driving its implementation through the day-to-day operations.
    • From there we wrote and implemented a Sustainable Procurement Policy and Strategy and implemented its roll out by supporting their procurement teams with training, tools and supply chain development.
    • We clearly defined 10 sustainability objectives, including value for money, and ensured the Policy was communicated down to tier 2 suppliers.  In doing so we embedded BS8903 as a management system throughout their procurement process.
    • In 2010 they were our first client to be evaluated against BS 8903:2010, the then new British Standard for Sustainable Procurement, achieving “Expert” status.

    The Benefit

    • In the first two years they achieved cost savings in excess of £6m from sustainable procurement initiatives.
    • The 200 people in their procurement department increased their sustainability awareness of how to contribute to sustainability  from 40% to 90%, measured by independent staff survey.
    • In 2014, UU joined our award winning Supply Chain Sustainability School www.supplychainschool.co.uk to help develop their capital programme for the next regulatory (AMP) period.