15/01/2024
Our Carbon Reduction Strategy
A roadmap for a greener future in the damp proofing industry
Reducing carbon emissions is at the heart of our sustainability strategy. We are committed to halving our 2015 relative levels of carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving the Government’s net zero requirement by 2050, if not sooner.
Delivering low carbon damp proofing solutions not only helps us reduce our client’s carbon footprints, it generates benefits our business as well as helping to build our brand and reputation as a greener provider of our services.
| “Climate change is the greatest challenge to face humanity in modern times. Failure to turn the tide against climate change will only bring serious, lasting and catastrophic consequences, worldwide. As a responsible and conscious business, we must recognise and rise to the part that we must play in this struggle. It is important that all decisions that we make are taken with our environmental responsibilities in mind and that our actions have a real impact on ultimately moving us towards net zero” |
| Wesley Blackburn, Director |
The reduction of our impact on the environment has accelerated in recent years, with investment shifting towards greener premises, practices, equipment and vehicles. Recently, we have:
| 2022 | Moved to a new, purpose-built warehouse facility with the latest electrical heating and lighting facilities. Replacing an old, fossil fuel heated building |
| Added roof insulation to Head Office to reduce heat loss by 25% | |
| Added a large recycling point to Head Office, tripling the space dedicated to our recycling practices | |
| Bike storage facility acquired to encourage cycle-to-work initiatives for our workforce | |
| Eliminated the remaining petrol-burning tools from our fleet, 100% of tools are now powered by electricity | |
| Warehousing storage facility enabled bulk-storage and bulk-transport of stock items, reducing the number of deliveries from suppliers by around 70% | |
| Added an electric-only forklift truck to our fleet | |
| 2023 | Achieved a 100% Euro 6 road fleet of vehicles, the first regional damp proofing company to do so |
| Switched to new fleet tracking hardware and software, which alerts management to unnecessary and/or inefficient routes and speeding incidents | |
| Encouraged ‘van share’ journeys to and from work by allowing more of our workforce to take vehicles home with them on the proviso that they share the journey with at least one colleague | |
| Renewed our energy supply contract to a green tariff on which 50% of the energy supplied is guaranteed to come from renewable sources | |
| Procurement of 2 x Volkswagen Transporter vans to replace 2 x Volkswagen Crafter vans. The former are lighter and more fuel-efficient vehicles, more suitable for use by our electrical teams than the Crafter models | |
| Switched the supplier of our damp proofing products to Wykamol, a UK-based supplier recognised as the leader in sustainable product manufacturing in our industry. Prior to this, our damp proofing membrane products were imported from Europe; this is no-longer necessary and is now transported from Burnley together with our existing product line orders. |
As a business which provides its services in our customer’s homes and properties, travel to these destinations accounts for the majority of our carbon emissions through the burning of diesel and petroleum fuels to power our fleet vehicles and electrical site generators (current numbers set out below).
| ASSET | QUANTITY | EURO 6? | FUEL |
| VW Crafter | 17 | Yes | Diesel |
| VW Transporter | 2 | Yes | Diesel |
| VW Tiguan | 2 | Yes | Petrol |
| VW Tiguan | 2 | Yes | Diesel |
| Generators 3.4KW | 8 | N/A | Diesel |
Cumulatively and at its current size, the fleet uses around 36,000 litres of fuel per annum, which equates to around 90,000kg of CO² emitted. This is to be regarded as our most significant opportunity, at the time of writing.
Our 4,550ft² Head Office warehouse facility is currently lit and heated by the latest and most efficient electrical products available. However, the source of the power for these installations is drawn from the grid, where it may have been generated by carbon-emitting methods. Generating most, if not all of this energy on-site would eliminate the environmental cost of the creation and distribution of grid-drawn energy; this is an opportunity for improvement.
Currently, we use around 30,000kwh of electricity per annum to meet our energy needs at our Head Office. 50% of this electricity is currently generated by renewable means, leaving 15,000kwh generated by non-renewable means. Using the eGRID emission factor, 15,000kwh of electricity from the grid equates to 2,525kg of CO² per annum.
In pursuit of our Social Value Plan (available separately), our team is focussing its efforts on social value initiatives in which there is either a main or ancillary environmental benefit. For instance, a recent voluntary project at a local hospital focussed on the planting of new trees and shrubs to encourage local biodiversity. These initiatives harbour a dual benefit; they create valuable community spaces as well as offsetting our carbon footprint. It is vitally important that these initiatives continue.
The size of the opportunity for carbon reduction, specific to our fleet and energy needs equates to 92,525kg of carbon per annum. Between today and 2030, an achievable set of changes to our operations are planned, which will directly impact our carbon output. These are:
| PRIORITY | DESCRIPTION | TARGET | ANNUAL CO² SAVING |
| 1 | The transition to a 100% EV fleet | 2030 | 90,000KG |
| 2 | Installation of EV charging bays at our Head Office | 2026 | |
| 3 | Installation of solar panels on the roof of our Head Office warehouse, dedicating over 4,500 ft² to the system | 2028 | 2,525KG |
| 4 | Installation of a battery array at our Head Office, to collect surplus energy for use by our fleet charging bays | 2028 | |
| TOTAL | 92,525KG | ||
As one of the industry’s forward-thinking entities, Allerton will continue to look for new opportunities which might reduce or offset our carbon output even further than the initiatives outlined above will. This Strategy will be reviewed and updated on an annual basis so as to include these opportunities and to log our achievement milestones as they are reached.
©2025 | Allerton Damp Proofing Ltd is a Company Registered in England No. 2023575 | VAT Registration No. 381 4256 53 | FCA Registration No. 791947