With Government Funding (Envirowise) support, the EMCBE and Responsible Solutions founded and ran the REC (Resource Efficiency Club) for 2 years, specifically to address the challenge of site waste minimisation.
In those 2 years, and through collaborative working between the REC Members and their selected pilot project teams, circa £490K was demonstrably saved or otherwise not spent on, for example, waste disposal.
The work of the REC was applauded by Envirowise, but Funding has subsequently been withdrawn.
Nevertheless, the success of the REC demonstrated the value to be achieved from collaborative working amongst the regional supply chain, and the potential for further success in a more generic ‘Construction Environmental Improvement Club’, which would address issues other than just site waste minimisation.
On the 19 December 2008, the potential was explored and tested with an audience of 30 stakeholders, who enthusiastically participated in an exercise to shape the possible structure and agenda for the CEI Club.
For financial sustainability, the ‘not for profit’ CEI Club needs to be a ‘membership based’ organisation, with Members coming from clients, contractors, specialists, suppliers and designers in the supply chain. The Membership Fees will be modest and provide extremely good value.
The CEI Club will:
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Enable organisations to keep abreast of environmental, legal, management and performance issues through events, workshops and ‘one-to-one’ support (optional).
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Provide a forum to learn, develop and share best practices in a collaborative environment.
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Build on what was achieved during the 2 year life of the REC.
The agenda will keep the environmental ‘triple bottom line’ issues of ENERGY-WASTE-WATER in the forefront.
A ‘Key Features Document’, which describes the; Objectives, Scope, Membership Structure and Outline of Service for CEI Club Members, is downloadable your information and consideration.
The CEI Club will not exist without your support and participation, and I urge you to respond positively to the attached proforma (‘Membership Subscription Form’) which asks for contact details of the person or persons who will be best placed to be your organisation’s main point-of-contact for the Club, and confirmation of Membership Level required.
An event, the first CEI Club event, will be held on Wednesday, 4 February, and details of that will be sent out very soon.
In the meantime, please provide the aforementioned response as requested, in order to confirm the consensus achieved on the 19 December, namely that a successful CEI Club will be very worthwhile, and by the 26 January please. We stipulate this deadline in order to determine whether arrangements for 4 February will be viable.
