• Birmingham City Council

International Synergies and Birmingham City Council are pleased to be offering fully funded energy and resource efficiency assistance to local construction companies and suppliers through its latest ERDF-funded project. The HS2 Decarbonising Construction (HS2DC) project aims to help SMEs in the construction supply chain reduce the spiralling costs related to energy and fuel consumption, waste disposal, and the sourcing and sharing of cheaper raw material inputs.

The support on offer includes:

• A bespoke energy audit to identify opportunities to help you reduce energy and fuel bills both in the office and out on site
• Advice on how to reduce waste production associated with your activities and opportunities to reduce the associated costs
• A quick waste compliance check and assistance getting the required licenses and exemptions you need in place to carry and store you own work related waste materials
• Linking you up with our network of local businesses and social enterprises to share excess stock, items from site decommissioning and waste materials to turn them into new revenue streams
• Using our network to identify cheaper raw materials through use of over stock, items from decommissioning or:
• Getting an environmental policy statement, waste management plan or systems in place to help you win contracts and prove your environmental credentials to new clients
• Assist in identifying and applying for grants, or available tax credits, to offset any capital cost that could be associated with improvement ideas

Besides providing useful advice, delivered in a language that is easy to understand, we know that for small businesses finding the time to take up these opportunities is often a challenge in itself. For this reason, besides identifying the opportunity we’ll allocate one of our delivery team to help you take them forward, saving you both time and effort.

The project will be focussed both within HS2’s construction sites and further across other regional construction projects and activities. Our primary objective is to deliver 2000 tonnes of carbon reduction in the region by helping tradesmen and smaller construction companies to identify some low cost/ no cost quick wins they can achieve, and the extra pair of hands that is often required to make it happen.

We have a team of professionals with a wide range of industry experience, so you can be confident that we can do more than just talk a good job. International Synergies will use its practical knowledge and understanding of the challenges faced by SMEs to make a difference in demystifying the world of ‘decarbonisation’, ‘net zero’ and ‘sustainability’. This is now becoming higher profile right across the construction sector and a prerequisite of both construction contracts and new tender applications.

HS2DC will deliver both cost savings and significant carbon reduction to the GBSLEP region and participating businesses and social enterprises. It will also help the region’s SMEs understand how savings to their bottom line can be made through some simple changes that also reduce their company’s environmental impact.