Sustainability is fundamental to Pinnacle psg’s business of managing places, people and communities.

We understand that sustainability encompasses the environmental, social and economic impact of our company. Our aims are to:

• Maximise opportunities for positive impacts on the environment
• Minimise our negative environmental impacts
• Maximise opportunities to increase our stakeholders’ awareness of the natural environment and ability to contribute positively towards it.

Our business has been recognised as a leader as regards to the social and economic aspects of sustainability and we are now aiming to take a leadership role on environmental issues.

Progress to date includes:

• We have an environmental management system with ISO14001 accreditation
• Pinnacle psg’s three estates in the London Borough of Westminster (CityWest Homes) have all achieved the three highest recycling rates across estates in the borough through engagement with residents.
• Supporting our clients and residents in creating more sustainable places to live including applying for funding on behalf of our residents to create more ecologically rich spaces on their estates. We maintain green roofs on two contracts.
• We recycle all of our green waste on some contracts and currently have a target of all green waste being recycled by the end of 2008. Wood cuttings are chipped on site where possible and used as mulch.
• We have conducted an audit of energy use across all sites in 2007. The following targets for reductions have been set: 5% for 2008, 3% for 2009, 2% for 2010. Achievement will result in accreditation from the Carbon Trust. We are on target, achieving a 2.7% reduction in the first quarter of 2008 by training and encouraging staff in offices and on site to make more economical use of appliances and machinery.
• We procure electricity for all of our corporate offices and 30% of our site offices from Ecotricity, one of the UK’s two electricity companies that only invest in renewable forms of energy. This effectively offsets much of the greenhouse gas emissions generated from our electricity use.
• We are reducing fuel use across our fleet through planning journey patterns and staff training/awareness of economical driving techniques. About a quarter of our drivers have been on a course to train them in energy efficient driving techniques.
• All staff involved in the use of chemicals in grounds maintenance and cleaning contracts receive training and guidance on reducing the negative impact of their use as a part of their job. Portion control is practiced with all chemicals.
• We offer clients the option of sustainable forms of planting. We also maintain our grounds with care for the seasonal activities of wildlife, for example protecting birds by not pruning during their nesting season.
• Our grounds maintenance staff separate litter collected and dispose of it in site-based recycling facilities
• Pinnacle psg procures sustainably where possible and is undertaking a procurement review to establish a framework of criteria which includes ISO14001 requirements and higher aspirations, to be complete by December 2008.
• All of our offices and most sites have recycling in place for paper, cans, glass and plastics.
• Company phones are recycled with profits donated to Pinnacle psg’s charitable trust, Pinnacle psg. Staff can donate their personal phones too.
• We have installed water-saving devices in all toilet cisterns across sites and offices.

Pinnacle psg is working hard to improve its own operational impacts, however, we recognise that the largest positive impact we can have is in the schools, estates, green spaces and streets in which we work and interact with people. We are working with specific clients to increase our positive impact, such as our client schools, to reduce energy use and increase biodiversity in the grounds.

New contracts offer us a unique chance to begin with exemplary standards and we will assess opportunities for positive impacts on a bespoke basis before we start on site. We offer to establish systems to tackle issues relating to the following on new contracts, in agreement with stakeholders: waste, water, energy consumption, transport, pollution and toxins, biodiversity and food production, and climate change adaptation.