I am, honestly, well chuffed at this, and it was a lovely evening thanks to New Civil Engineer.
As I said last night, this is great recognition for the whole of the Net Zero Bridges Group, which has grown from five founding firms in 2021 to 37 member organisations today. If by some chance you don't know who we are and what we do, you can find out here: https://lnkd.in/e_N_zQEH
I'll also take the chance again to thank the NZBG's executive committee and task group chairs for everything they contribute: Cameron Archer-Jones, Daniel Green, Chris Hendy, Ciarán Lynn, Ian Palmer, Clotilde Robin and Ben Sibert. And thanks also to all our members for their energy and enthusiasm: the value in a body like the Net Zero Bridges Group is all the platform it can provide for collaboration and collective action.
The Group’s members have three things in common: we have publicly committed to address the climate and biodiversity emergency (see, for example, https://lnkd.in/eCUtpzV8); we want to understand how to reduce the carbon footprint of our work as bridge industry professionals; and we believe that we can do this better together than we could individually.
As the climate crisis unfolds in slow motion, it is easy to put off decarbonisation, struggling with the sheer scale and difficulty of the challenge. We're all constantly tempted by the comfort blanket of business-as-usual, maybe hoping that we will be better placed to take action tomorrow. But we simply cannot afford to be climate crisis bystanders, hoping that someone else will step in. The value of a body like the Net Zero Bridges Group is that we can create and experience a strong sense of community interest, motivating us to share the burden, learn from each other, and advocate for collective action by others.
I really do hope that in the years to come, this is just the first of many awards recognising the "outstanding contributions" that we might all hope to make in tackling the climate emergency.
The first award of the evening Outstanding contribution to the industry goes to Brian Duguid from Mott MacDonald who gave us an inspiring acceptance speech. #NCEBridges
Highways Inspector. TSCO, Compliance & Competency, NRSWA Supervisor & Op. SSSTS. Trainer 12ABD. 360 over & under, Roller. Licensing, Permits and Sections Specialist NRSWA. Data Protection Officer. Ex Homeless Veteran.
4wDriving change?? That’s a bit of a stretch, l will reserve judgement on this especially in regard to the job at Cherwell Services. But, it’s ok because National Highways done a risk assessment and that allowed HW Martin (Traffic Management) Limited to reduce, eliminate and use a type of B works installation that is not listed in any printed guidance. One rule for everyone else and all that.