A new report by Sky has shown that idealism is alive in well in the UK’s future business leaders. When quizzed about their views on social responsibility and green ethics, 70% stated that sustainability was not only an ethical choice but also created new opportunities for business. And 66% don’t think that standards should ever be allowed to slip – not even in a recession.

Of course, these ‘future leaders’ have yet to experience the rough and tumble of a public offering or AGM scrap. They are all MBA students, graduate trainees or, at most, corporate middle managers. A few may find that their sensibilities start to waver when earnings are down and a crowd of investors are baying for blood. But it is heartening to see that the ideal of a triple bottom line – profit, people, planet – has actually taken root.

In the eyes of these bright, young things, a company’s products and services can no longer be separated from its reputation: 69% say that a company’s vision and ethics are actually ‘essential’ in building trust. It’s all one big parcel.

And social purpose must go beyond mere lip service – 86% of these leaders of tomorrow are extremely scathing about the efforts currently being made by corporations to ‘greenwash’ their public image. So, not only are Sky’s focus group wedded to the idea of ethical business, they can also spot a faker a mile off.

So what are the key ethical issues on the table? Well, climate change is a biggie, as is community impact. And today’s businesses aren’t making great strides in either. Only 3% of these future leaders believe that enough is being done by the so-called ‘ethical firms’ of today.

Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch believes these findings represent a real turning of the tide: ‘While sustainability has become part of everyday business language, little has been known until now about the views of future leaders,’ he says. ‘This study shows that tomorrow’s business leaders are already engaged with sustainability and see it as an important part of their future careers. In their own words, this is ‘the sustainable generation’ and there is much we can all learn from them.’

All of which sounds entirely proper and beyond reproach. It would interesting to know, however, just how sustainable their commitment to sustainability will turn out to be…

Glass Roof Restoration for Iconic Natural History Museum

Oxford, 14 November, 2011: A conservation team from Beard Oxford is midway through the first phase of a unique project to restore and clean the iron and glass roof of Oxford’s University Museum of Natural History.

Arguably, one of the most significant examples of Victorian neo-Gothic architecture the building has three impressive glass roofs spanning the main exhibition court below, and made up of some 8,500 diamond shaped glass panes.

The painstaking 4-month project, on the first of three roof sections, involves removing and cleaning each pane, repairing any damage before refixing them all with silicone  seals to provide the museum with a long lasting solution to its leaking history.

At the same time, the team are cleaning the ornate ironwork to restore the iconic roof to its original colour scheme.

A key challenge for the team is to keep the weather out while work progresses to protect valuable exhibits and the building structure. A fully waterproof scaffold deck below the working areas is part of the solution helping to catch any water that comes in and minimising dust and dirt.  Externally the whole roof area is covered with temporary sheeting which has been purpose made to exactly for the size and shape of the roof. The priority is to keep the museum open and strong collaboration with museum staff is essential.

Work on the first section of roof is due to be completed at the end of February and if successful, the University plans subsequent phases of work to the remaining two roof sections over the next two years.

Neil Hyatt, Oxford University Estates Directorate, said: “Beard is an excellent choice for this type of technically challenging restoration. Their understanding of our requirements, collaborative approach and wide experience of other museum projects is invaluable.”

Civic Centre in Trowbridge back on track

(From Wiltshire Times)

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Civic Centre in Trowbridge back on track

8:00am Saturday 22nd January 2011

Trowbridge town crier Trevor Heeks has welcomed contractors Beard after construction work began again on the new Trowbridge Civic Centre.

The Swindon firm was chosen for the £4.9m project following the collapse of construction giant Rok last autumn.

Construction director Marc Bayley said: “Beard is pleased to be associated with such a prestigious project and looks forward to working with council team to deliver a facility we can all be proud of.

“Work is going well and we are on track for completion in November 2011.”

The centre, which has a new building surrounding the original Lansdown hall, is expected to be opened on December 13, in time for Christmas.

Hotshot Irish technology company with mobile commerce first

INTEGRAL ANNOUNCES NEXT GENERATION CONTACTLESS PAYMENT SOLUTIONS

For the first time in the UK and Ireland, VeriFone’s next generation VX Evolution payment solutions are being piloted with a number of merchants, by Integral.  Integral is the first to gain accreditation for the latest range of mobile and countertop POS systems in the UK and Ireland.

The VeriFone VX Evolution solutions support the latest PCI standards (PCI PTS 3.0) and smartphone protocols for reading contactless enabled cards or NFC (Near Field Communications) enabled smartphones, ensuring a merchant’s investment is future-proofed. Today consumers can pay with contactless cards simply by waving or tapping their card on a VeriFone contactless reader, but very soon consumers will be able to utilise their NFC enabled smartphones to pay for goods totalling less than £15, or enter a PIN number on their phone for higher value payments.

Eric Cooney, Head of Marketing at Integral said: “We’re still in the pilot stage, assessing performance in the field and taking customer feedback before rolling out to more merchants. Initial feedback is very positive. Being the first with this new technology means we are ahead of the trend as I firmly believe within a short time many smartphones from major vendors will be NFC capable and this will drive NFC forward as a standard payment method.”

Integral has a proven track record in developing innovative payment systems on VeriFone platforms for 20 years. Tony Saunders, NEMEA Marketing and Sales Director, VeriFone confirms: “In the UK and Ireland, Integral is the first to accredit our VX Evolution devices including the wireless VX 680 and countertops VX 520 and VX 820 DUET.”

Initial merchant deployments are using the VX 680, which incorporates a 3.5 inch full colour touch screen into one of the smallest portable handheld payment devices available. Whilst the colour screen enables logos and high visibility branding and messaging to be presented at the point of sale, the large memory capacity on the VX 680 also means merchants can add feature-rich services such as loyalty and new applications that will capitalise on NFC enabled smartphones. As the VX 680 device is fully portable, using eitherWi-Fi, GPRS or Bluetooth communication technology, it enables retailers, restaurateurs and other hospitality organisations to offer mobile payment wherever customers want to pay.

ENDS

ENVIRONMENT AGENCY PARTNERS WITH THE ENVIRONMENT BANK

-to create Eco Markets for coastal flood management and habitat banking

Swindon, 7 April 2011: A new market mechanism to enable sea levels to rise in a managed way, creating coastal grazing and sea marshes on the Suffolk and Essex coast, is being piloted by the Environment Bank in partnership with the Environment  Agency.

Developers and companies will be required to offset their impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services by purchasing conservation credits, which will be used to manage Essex and Suffolk coastal land registered with the Environment Bank. It is understood that the Conservation Credit approach is to be a feature of the forthcoming Natural Environment White paper.

Landowners, farmers and local wildlife trusts will be involved in helping to create, restore and manage the land enabling sea level rise to be accommodated, providing flood risk mitigation and creating valuable biodiversity.

“This is an exciting and innovative project which we hope will facilitate the delivery of our coastal flood risk management projects by creating a new market for intertidal habitat creation around our coast in Essex and Suffolk,” said Dr Charles Beardall, Area Manager for the Environment Agency.  “We will support the Environment Bank in exploring this approach with the partnerships we have developed throughout our Shoreline Management Plans locally.  This is a good demonstration of private sector investment working alongside public bodies to create wider environmental, economic and societal benefits for coastal communities”.

For the past four years, the Environment Bank Ltd has been refining a delivery model for the UK in consultation with central government, NGO’s, developers, landowners, farmers and local authorities.  Now the Shell Foundation has agreed to provide funding and internal expertise for the next year to allow the Environment Bank to proceed with developing mechanisms for magnetising natural resources into practice.

“This represents a hugely significant market-based opportunity that can be scaled up (in the UK and in emerging economies) and become financially viable,” said Chris West, Chief Executive, of the Shell Foundation. “The project will explore the potential for private investment and emerging external markets to offset development impacts on biodiversity and impacts of coastal change on communities and businesses,” he continued.

David Hill, Chairman of the Environment Bank added: “Creating markets for ecosystem goods and services should stop the environment being treated as a non-replenishing extractive industry. We think that offsetting will naturally expand to encompass water, carbon (sequestration), nutrients, flood risk mitigation and natural resource restoration. The model we have developed, together with the trading infrastructure we are constructing, will be capable of listing, registering and validating credits in respect of the full range of emerging markets for ecosystem services and we are grateful to The Shell Foundation for all their support.”

Similar schemes exist in the US and Europe and estimates put the value of biodiversity markets globally at $10bn per annum. Some experts believe these may outgrow carbon markets within a short time frame.

ENDS