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Environmental, Social and Governance

Throughout our 40 year history of being a leading UK designer, manufacturer and supplier of specialist products for the civil engineering industry, we have always made strides to consciously improve our ESG performance. 

In our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report, we aim to be transparent with our customers and partners about the ways we are monitoring and improving our impact on the world.

We are committed to working towards minimising the environmental impact of all our activities, from developing products that increase whole-life performance to increasing recycling and reducing waste wherever we can.

We will also continue to improve our social impact and governance performance.
We will continue to review and enhance the way we report on and measure our ESG performance. There has never been a more crucial time to be aware of our social and governance responsibility, and our impact on the environment, and we take our responsibility seriously.

Our pledge to a sustainable future

Fully committed to a sustainable future

We pledge to constantly monitor our continued sustainability improvements through the setting of quantifiable objectives and targets on an annual basis. We have introduced a documented environmental management system using BS EN ISO 14001:2004 as the framework to evaluate and improve our environmental performance.

We will comply with relevant environmental legislation and endeavour to stay ahead of proposed legislation by implementing the best practices of the industry wherever this is practical.

In all of these areas, management will take the lead in providing the commitment and focus to empower local teams to make the maximum contribution to improving environmental performance.

This includes the provision of the relevant information, training and resources necessary to enable all employees whose work has a potential environmental impact to make a maximum contribution to achieving our business objectives and targets.

Contributing toward net-zero carbon

As a large supplier to the UK construction industry, managing the reduction of carbon usage is crucial to the success of the Wrekin business. We appreciate it is not just the actions of our business as a designer and distributor or civil engineering solutions which needs to be managed, but those of the supply chain we’re a part of.

To this end, Wrekin are committed to measuring and managing the reduction of carbon emissions across our activities and those of our suppliers.

Lighting

80% of lighting in our facilities is low energy LED.

EV Charging

Four EV charging stations are available on site for staff & customers.

Energy usage

Targeted 3% reduction in electricity usage in 2022.

Waste

0% of site waste is sent to landfill.

A crucial time to take action

Here are just some of the ways we are leading the field in helping to ensure a more sustainable future:

  • We consistently work on improving our environmental performance through the conservation of energy and natural resources and to prevent pollution.
  • We will oversee the reduction and, where possible, the elimination of emissions, nuisances and waste.
  • Our strategy is to prevent creating waste wherever we can and to reuse or recycle - then only as a last resort to dispose of materials in a safely managed way.
  • We will partner with our customers and suppliers in the development of returnable, reusable and recyclable packaging.
  • We minimise packaging and where possible use recyclable packaging for our products. In fact the vast majority of our products aren't even shipped in packaging - the manhole covers, gully grates and most of our geosynthetic products are moved on pallets or as rolls.
  • We arrange all our meetings responsibly to minimise the need for travel.

Sustainability through Wrekin innovation

Unite - A sustainable success story

One of our most successful partnerships is with Thames Water, which was experiencing problems with the lifespan of its manhole covers on some of London’s busiest and most demanding routes. With approximately 1.2 million manhole covers across 67,000km of sewers, the company needed a solution that was easy to install and proven to last. We have now supplied more than 100,000 units to the company without one recorded failure for more than 10 years.

Our industry-leading ductile products are designed to use as little material as possible without impacting on their strength. The benefits of this can mean a reduction in CO2 emissions when shipping - and allows for more of the products to be shipped together. Through clever engineering we create strength in our access covers which provides rigidity and longevity.

Unite range is the very definition of sustainability. A decade in the making and has been in service on the UK’s highways for over 18 years with more than 500,000 installations and zero recorded failures. Unite when used with our rapid curing UniPak mortar system comes with a 10-year guarantee, providing whole life cost savings.

Unite has patented features that minimise the bedding pressure, which allows clients to simply ‘fit and forget’ – saving them a lot of time and money over the years by not having to dig up roads for repairs and replacements due to failing ironwork.

Environmental responsibility

We take our responsibilities seriously

As a company, we work to continuously improve our health, safety and environmental performance, and to communicate with our stakeholders about our collective performance. We operate safely, profitably, with due care for future generations and work towards sustainable development. Wrekin works to support:

  • Securing a competitive and economically sustainable industry
  • Adopting innovative, environmentally responsible solutions that help satisfy society's needs
  • Optimising the use of resources to deliver a low carbon future
  • Demonstrating leadership in all areas of safety
  • Delivering good practice in ethical behaviour
  • Adopting the highest standards of corporate governance and accountability
  • Respecting the culture and rights of individuals
  • Ensuring all reasonable steps are taken to prevent harm to human health and the environment

So many of our products have

Impressive sustainability credentials

Clicklift

Our innovative manhole covers need only to be installed once - and raised with ClickLift - so there is no need for a client to do the same job twice

Armadillo manhole cover protector shell

The modern Armadillo ensures manhole covers and gully grates can be installed once and protected throughout a new development, thereby minimising waste

Unipak materials

The modern UniPak flowable mortar cures rapidly, within an hour, meaning roads do not need to be closed for days - reducing the impact of queuing traffic. A manhole cover can be replaced in a few hours and the road reopened

Foundry

Many of our products are manufactured from fully recyclable ductile iron and steel

Haul road using Wrekin geogrid and geosynthetics

Our geosynthetic solutions allow building work to go ahead on land which would otherwise not be suitable for construction and for the creation of haul roads. Site offices can be built on location, minimising travel and the associated environmental issues, especially in remote locations such as wind farms

Stone on geogrid and geotextile

Our range of geo products can be used with reclaimed and recycled aggregates

Lorries stuck in traffic on UK motorway

We can minimise the cross sectional area of a build up, meaning less material is required for the equivalent strength, creating efficiencies and reducing the number of lorry journeys needed

Contact us

Contact us

Whether you are looking for live project support, or are in the initial stages of specification, we are always on hand and happy to help.