Mott MacDonald Limited

Why do you care about the climate?

We are the first engineering consultancy to be certified Carbon Neutral (meeting the PAS 2060 standard), and have been approached by EA, Anglian, Southern and Yorkshire Water to develop roadmaps to net-zero. We know sustainable designs, methods and material specifications can tackle climate change. We will develop solutions that limit emissions by challenging design norms and integrating SMNR principles. For example, we use our award-winning Design for Resource Efficiency (D4RE) and Moata Carbon Portal tools to deliver low waste and low whole-life carbon projects. When used on Colwyn Bay (see Q8.7a) we diverted over 99% of waste from landfill, avoided 34,500 wagon road-miles, and reduced embodied carbon by 30%. For Totnes, we worked with nearby Exeter and Dawlish Warren schemes, to undertake bulk procurement that delivered carbon savings. During appraisals, we identify carbon sinking options.

As a community partner, we create resilient welsh communities. As climate change brings more weather extremes, there will more floods (and droughts). Protection is not enough, and delivering adaptability and managing flood exceedance is equally, if not more, important to creating resilient welsh communities. On Millburn Flood Alleviation Scheme, we identified an option that used the adjacent road to convey flood water safely away from properties saving money and carbon costs We understand the importance of critical infrastructure in floods. In the 2015 Cumbria floods, damaged bridges severed communities. We were appointed by Cumbria Council to lead on its award-winning Infrastructure Recovery Programme. We deployed our Moata Geospatial platform GiGi to manage post-event inspections and deliver risk-based prioritised plans for asset recovery. We recognise that people are experts in their own lives, and believe it is more important than ever to empower communities to manage their own environment. Adopting the WBFG 5 Ways of Working, we involve communities in our projects, so they understand the interventions being proposed. We took this approach on our award-winning Rhiwbina, Totnes, and Colwyn Bay projects. This involvement creates inter-generational exchanges in social learning about how to live with floods, and ‘hydrocitizenship’ that will transform community relationships with water.

As a knowledge sharer and agent of change, we lead by example. In 2019 we signed the Structural Engineers’ Declaration of a climate emergency, and facilitate carbon debate through our annual Carbon Crunch events at One Great George Street. We look forward to sharing our industry-leading knowledge with you, your suppliers and welsh communities, through David Viner, who has worked on the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and Kim Yates who leads our Carbon Neutral work. We want to “turn the tide” on the climate emergency, and have collaborated with Constructing Excellence Wales to get this body named under the Future Generations Act. We empower staff to discuss, develop and share ideas on how to tackle the climate change emergency, as demonstrated when our Early Career Professions led a Yammer discussion on ‘Future Mobility and the Pursuit of the Zero Carbon Economy’.

What action do you want to see from our leaders?

Clear and integrated leadership.

What gives you hope for the future?

In Wales we have great hope, as signified by the recent announcement of a Climate Change Dept in the Welsh Government