Proudly Bidvest

We constantly seek new ways to put our “Proudly Bidvest” positioning to work. The theme is becoming a fundamental element in the corporate culture, expressed as pride in our work, pride in our values, our quality, BEE achievements, job creation milestones and progress on our journey towards sustainable development.

Bidvest Properties

Material sustainable development issues

• Constraints on energy supply per site and increasing energy costs
• Constraints in getting basic services provide, such as water, sewerage and roads
• Skills shortages and capacity limitations at council local government level
• Increasingly stringent environmental standards for buildings

Sustainability

Bidvest Properties operates within the framework of international standards set by government legislation in South Africa. This covers the full spectrum, from building legislation and fire regulations to health and safety at work and environmental statutes. These are costly, first-world standards, which raises a concern that such standards not only expose the imbalance between the affluent and low-cost (and informal) building sectors, but further impede progress towards providing low-cost solutions accessible to the historically disadvantaged sectors of the economy.  

A major constraint facing property development on a given site is obtaining enough power capacity from Eskom. This naturally brings energy efficiency more clearly into focus. By reducing our environmental footprint through” green building” practices, we strive to maximise useable building space for our clients and tenants. Typical methods to save costs and improve energy efficiency include energy-efficient compact and T-bay fluorescent lamps and energy-saving movement sensor technology (in new and refitted buildings).

Given the current economic downturn, the additional capital investment needed to establish more energy-efficient buildings puts pressure on the rental market. This has become a significant business challenge which we address by working closely with our prospective clients when making decisions on the extent of green building. The decision that has to be made is generally based on the payback period to cover the additional upfront capital costs, for example for the latest air-conditioning technology based on melting ice. Uncertainty around Eskom tariff hikes and green taxes or incentives often constrains our ability to make significant progress in reducing the environmental impact of new buildings.

Skills shortages within municipalities are becoming more acute and continue to affect the planning approval process. 

Consistent with the Bidvest way of doing business, Bidvest Properties actively manages business ethics, including all aspects of anti-competitive behaviour, corruption and fraud. There were no incidents of fraud or any penalties paid for unethical behaviour. We manage our risk exposure to builders who may find themselves in financial difficulty during a project.

Ontime Automotive

Material sustainable development issues

• managing societal impact of downsizing
• cost of fuel
• impact of vehicle emissions
• rising claims culture in the UK

Sustainability

Following severe restructuring during the economic downturn, we have had a year of consolidation, focussing on core business. The company’s headcount has stabilised, and staff morale has benefited from landing some significant new business. Volcanic ash from the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökul, affected business negatively as people drove less, while there was also a period of uncertainty during the change in government. Nevertheless, new business is being written and the market is stabilising, although substantially off boom-time levels. We are confident that our governance of economic, labour, human rights, social and environmental issues has contributed to our reputation in the industry and is thereby contributing to the sustainability of our business through the current tentative recovery phase.

An Environmental Policy is in place and we carry out regular Environmental Training with our staff to mitigate the impact our services have or could have on the Environment. This is also audited by NQA to maintain our 14001 standard. Following on our initiative to fit tracking technology to our vehicles to monitor driver behaviour, we will now be producing ‘league tables’, whereby drivers can be ranked and rewarded for economical driving performance. Other training has focuses on more efficient waste management processes and behaviour.

Ontime Automotive’s fleet of 400 vehicles is largely up to the Euro 2 standard, and all new vehicles are at Euro 5 (the standard required in the EU by 2009). This profile has not changed significantly from last year.

Newly introduced intensity measures should assist us in gauging the effectiveness of our initiatives in improving our carbon footprint. Our financial intensity indicator reveals that for every £1 million of revenue earned, Ontime Automotive releases 387 metric tonnes of CO2e, while our activity related indicator shows that each vehicle costs the environment 34,6 metric tonnes of CO2e, 51,6m3 of water and 2 100 litres of general refuse annually. Ontime Automotive disposed of 4 200 tonnes of vehicle scrap at an authorised de-pollution site. The UK business recycles 4% of total materials used.

Mindful of the growing claim culture in the UK, we have maintained our health and safety training and were again audited by and accredited with CHAS (Contractors Health and Safety Accreditation Scheme). The rate of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences are down from 12 to three, with total incidents down from 84 to 27 over a three-year period.