Media Release: Cairnhill Structures helps reduce its greenhouse gas emissions

CAIRNHILL Structures, the leading structural steel engineer and steel fabricator, is launching a series of initiatives to contribute to EU environmental measures designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 in a bid to tackle global warming

The Coatbridge-based company already has a practical commitment to sustainability, a policy which it has pioneered within the industry. It has set itself, and met, stringent sustainability targets over the past two years, resulting in it becoming the only structural steel works in Scotland to receive the British Construction Steelwork Association’s Sustainability Award.

Now, however, the company is setting out to calculate its carbon footprint on an ongoing basis, to create a benchmark for further emission reductions.

Carbon footprint is normally defined as a measure of the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by an organisation through the consumption of fossil fuels. It is usually expressed in tons of CO2 emitted on an annual basis.

In an energy-intensive sector such as structural steel fabrication, the scope for reductions is wide. Cairnhill’s managing director Jack Sanderson, who is deputy president-elect of the British Construction Steelwork Association, hopes that his company’s initiative will set an example for others within the sector.

He said: “In calculating our carbon footprint, we will be embarking on a programme of measuring our impacts, reducing where we can, and, for what remains, investing in projects that reduce greenhouse gases in amounts equal to what we are emitting.

“We want to see real, measurable, direct emissions reductions. Cairnhill has been adapting its business activities over the past two years to lessen its impact on the environment and we are pleased to be able to continue to do so.”

Cairnhill Structures, part of the Watson-Towers group of companies, has created some of the most high-profile steel structures in Scotland, including the pergola at the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh, the HQ of East Renfrewshire Council in Paisley and the Forth Bridge toll canopies.

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For further information please contact Cairnhill Structures: tel: +44 (0)1236 449393; fax: +44 (0)1236 428 328; email: enquiries@cairnhillstructures.co.uk

Issued on behalf of Cairnhill Structures by Blueprint Media tel 0141 353 1515

June 2007

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Contact: Sally Matheson
Phone: 0141 353 1515
Email: sallymatheson@blueprintmedia.co.uk