Products and services for UTILITIES, INFRASTRUCTURE, CONSTRUCTION and the ENVIRONMENT
Burdens Limited has been in business for over 80 years. We are strongly committed to sustainability to allow the business to grow and to support and protect the communities and environment we operate within. To demonstrate our commitment to sustainability we operate an integrated management system combining ISO9001, ISO14001, OHSAS18001, Chain of Custody (FSC / PEFC) and Investors in People.
We have a range of ongoing initiatives that cross all of the operational areas of the business and combine a whole range of sustainability objectives.
Burdens realises the impact our delivery fleet can have. Following a full review of our operational requirements we carried out a full market review to allow us to provide the best technology, equipment and training for the business. We identified a need to exceed current safety and operational standards to ensure we have a fleet that can meet our needs today and tomorrow.
Having reviewed the marketplace we selected Mercedes-Benz Actros BlueTecEco 26 Tonne Drawbar models combined with HIAB XS166B-2 HiDuo 16 Tonne cranes as our new vehicles. The key decision making factors were based upon bio-fuels, fuel efficiency, aerodynamics and end of life and factory recycling. To further reduce the impact of our fleet we will be combining industry leading efficiency with a series of technologies and driver training to ensure that our fleet is operated as efficiently and safely as possible. All new vehicles will be fitted with a telematic system that will promote defensive and efficient driving through effective management and training. This will be tied with a driver warning system consisting of all round CCTV cameras and sensors to protect road users in vehicle blindspots and provide the driver with additional visibility and information.
Technology is only one part of delivering a 21st century fleet. As an Investors in People organisation Burdens passionately believe that people are the core to our business, and we want to ensure that our people are given the opportunities to meet the highest standards. To support this we have achieved ‘Driver CPC Authorised Training Centre’ status and have begun developing; Burdens specific Driver CPC courses - one of which is now being delivered through our 8 JAUPT approved training centres. Combining the best technologies and training we will be able to provide a truly 21st Century Fleet.
Burdens’ commitment to people and community can be found in our ownership structure and charitable foundation. Our ownership model was created in 1974 and was one of the first employee and charity based ownership models. Recent re-structuring has further improved the opportunity for the employee ownership structure. Our long term goal is that the business is wholly owned by employees and Burdens Charitable Foundation. Currently 99% of employees are shareholders.
The benefit of our ownership structure is that it rewards internally. Without public shareholders, focus can be made on the long term and the structure is geared towards supporting long term employee retention. We focus on generating staff involvement via an employee Information and Consultation Committee who are elected members and are able to comment and influence the decisions of the company.
In addition to our employee structure we offer all staff the opportunity to support the local community. Staff are able to request support for community projects from the Burdens Charitable Foundation and the business has recently supported the South West Children’s Hospice, the Chepstow Lifeboat Station, the construction and continued support of a school in Burkina Faso and our current project which is supporting Homes for Heroes.
Our final element to our commitment to employees, charity and the community is via the Capital for Colleagues programme which allows funds to be made available to support other employee ownership models. From our own experiences our ownership model is not always recognised by the banks and getting funding for starting an employee ownership structure can be difficult. The Capital for Colleagues programme bridges this gap and allows businesses wishing to move to this alternative structure to access financial and professional support.
Through the promotion of the employee and charitable ownership structure and its long-term plans to extend this internally and externally, we are demonstrating that there are ways to build a successful business, focussed on people and community.
In 2005 Burdens responded to the growing interest and demand for sustainable construction materials by setting up Burdens Environmental. This new proposition wanted to move away from “greening” of existing materials and start looking at the truly alternative and innovative products that were available to the market.
The objective was to understand and support the full life-cycle of the built environment. This would draw expertise from across the construction industry and look at the industry as a whole and identify where a whole new approach could be taken to improve the performance of construction projects.
"Burdens Environmental's Delivering Sustainable Construction day gives professionals a fantastic free opportunity to identify, source and learn about new products which help deliver sustainable building construction solutions and which help meet the climate change agenda."
Imogen Sherriff — Welsh Assembly Government
Our current initiative is to deliver new technologies across a range of construction sectors concentrating on sustainable and healthy homes, the energy, waste and recycling market, and providing additional services to the mainstream industry. By leveraging off the existing Burdens brand, we have been able to provide start-ups and innovative products access to professional support and opportunities to allow them to reach a global market without the need to rely on mainstream funding.
Ecomerchant has been involved in bringing Natureplus, a leading European eco labelling system to the UK, with strict criterias covering sustainability, durability, health and ethical sourcing. Joe Wild is on the European board of Natureplus representing UK interests and is also helping found a UK ecological materials organisation called the Alliance for Sustainable Building Products which aims to lobby for change in building methods and regulations through a better understanding of materials.
Ecomerchant has also teamed up with a leading German photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer and wholesaler to bring market leading integrated PV systems to the UK with 30 year performance warranties backed up by Burdens to give customers full long-term support in this volatile emerging market.
Our commitment to new ideas and technology has lead us to work with the waste industry to develop an operational small; scale anaerobic digester (AD) and biogas plant which is the first plant of its size in the UK to be certified to process animal by-products. This eliminates the final barrier within the UK to use AD to process municipal and commercial food waste locally. The AD plant in Llangadog, Wales, has been a partnership between Cardiff University, AWS Ltd., Burdens Ltd., and provides the Welsh Assembly Government and Local Authorities options for the deployment of anaerobic digesters as a viable solution to dealing with locally generated municipal and commercial food wastes. The use of AD and the resulting biogas generation allows organic waste to be diverted from landfill helping to meet UK waste targets, at the same time offering a sustainable local source for renewable energy and waste disposal.
