Wednesday 15th March 2023: I am excited about growing opportunities for our business in the Northwest region. Sisk is in the process of delivering some flagship new builds and retrofit buildings throughout the Northwest including Weir Mill in Stockport and Latitude Purple in Leeds.
There is genuine excitement within the business as Sisk has internally rolled out its new strategy: Breaking New Ground and we will be discussing this with our customers in the months ahead.
One of our five core strategic priorities across our business is Net Zero. We will transform the mindset, culture and capability of our business to be leaders in the delivery of Net Zero buildings.
Sisk has the skillset and demonstrable experience to deliver upon our clients’ Net Zero needs. We rolled out our Sustainability Roadmap: Building today Caring for tomorrow in 2021. Sisk became the first construction business in the UK to utilise the sustainable HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) fuel, trialling its use on our Northstowe project for Homes England. This trial demonstrated the ability to use this carbon reducing strategy effectively at scale. This has resulted in the successful transition to HVO on all of our sites across the UK. Furthermore, Sisk has achieved carbon neutrality by offsetting emissions from our operations through internationally accredited carbon reduction schemes.
As a business we have now reached a maturity to advise clients on their Net Zero strategy. We are establishing a Net Zero advisory service and in the process of creating an Embodied Carbon team to advise clients at design stage. We now offer the capability to reduce operational carbon on the lifecycle of a building with our Facilities management company, SENSORi FM.
This offers clients’ intelligent building solutions that can ‘future proof’ every aspect of facilities management. The results are tangible: each building performs at its optimum level, for a greater amount of its life. The life of the building is extended, and the experience of the building users is naturally enhanced.
We want to build strategic relationships with relevant design partners and suppliers. Sisk will be working with selected supply chain to identify low emission materials to be used on future schemes. For example, we are pushing to use over 90 percent recycled steel in building structures and using more sustainable concrete. Building on our ISO14064-1 Achilles Reduce Certification, we have further expanded to include measuring and managing greenhouse gas emissions in our value chain, otherwise known as Scope 3’s. This a key enabler to achieving net zero targets, managing climate change risk and carbon efficiency.
Sisk is currently delivering Weir Mill, a major retrofit project in Stockport. Parts of the buildings at Weir Mill date back to the 1700’s and our client, Capital&Centric’s vision has always been to deliver a community with an identity true to Stockport’s independent scene. Weir Mill will celebrate the site’s industrial past – with a focus on attracting creative, independent and unique operators to be based there.
Ongoing shortages of Grade A office space continue to be reported in many of the UK’s major cities. Our Circle Square project for client, Bruntwood is now fully let. This flagship development in Manchester City Council’s strategic plan, Circle Square is recognised as a catalyst for regeneration unlocking the potential for investment through the provision of next generation workspace, with two towers at 18 and 14 storeys tall providing 400,000ft2 BREEAM “excellent” Grade A office space.
Through the use of Digital Project Delivery tools such as Viewpoint (Fieldview), a reactive system was used for snagging and reporting on completed works. We were able to readdress repetitive snags and correct them before this impacted programme or quality of the onsite works.
Bruntwood were impressed by the quality of the office shell and they extended our work to include fit out works to a number of floors for incoming tenants.
We have also furthered our relationship with Bruntwood at Birmingham Health Innovation Campus (BHIC). Due to complete in September 2023, No.1 BHIC will provide 133,000 sq ft of specialist lab and office space for innovative life science and digital healthcare companies. Sisk is completing the fit-out of the building and this will offer premium lab and office space in the heart of a critical cluster of health excellence.
If you would like to discuss any future business opportunities with me in the UK North region, please connect with me on Linkedin.
Alan Rodger,
Regional Director, UK North,
John Sisk & Son
