Case study – All about people – Our champions
Every cause needs a champion…
And the environment is no different. On this page we highlight members of the Tube Lines Environment team and Community Relations team as well as some of the many other employees who have made significant contributions to our environmental performance and community related activities in 2007.
Environment Manager Charlotte Simmonds
“It is always nice when others acknowledge the work that you do and recognise its importance. I think being short-listed demonstrates the importance of the environment in today’s agenda.”
In 2007, working with London Underground to improve environmental incentives in the PPP contract has been a major focus, as well as ensuring that new Piccadilly line train specifications include environmental requirements and developing a proposal for a model, energy-efficient station. Charlotte sits on the London Climate Change Partnership Transport Group and is a customer representative on the Carbon Trust's consultant accreditation panel. In 2007 she was included in Management Today's '35 Women Under 35' list of top women in industry as well as being shortlisted for the Shell-sponsored Women of the Future Award - business women category.
Corporate Environment Adviser Rebecca Brown
“We are responsible for a large proportion of the green space in London and have a duty to protect it. The easy to use wildlife management strategy will help us achieve this and it will be launched in 2008 together with Tube Lines’ second nature area."
Rebecca masterminded the production of the Tube Lines wildlife management strategy in 2007, providing detailed information and practical guidelines on the protected, interesting and invasive species on our land. She also managed the remediation of our contaminated land and achievement of our business objectives.
Operations Environment Adviser Shane Mc Entee
“We’ve gone the extra mile when calculating our carbon footprint to include the total carbon emissions associated with every activity we undertake, from refurbishing an escalator and upgrading a station to maintaining and cleaning the trains.”
Shane was shortlisted for the Engineers Ireland Innovation Engineer of the Year award for his cutting-edge work to calculate Tube Lines’ carbon footprint in 2007. He also managed our discharge upgrade works and was responsible for quantifying the effect of climate change on Tube Lines’ asset and practices.
Projects Environment Adviser Rachael Labruyere
“Employees are becoming far more proactive in wanting to manage the environmental risks associated with their works. We established some excellent practices when working on stations such as Arsenal and Goodge Street, which were very sensitive to noise. We are now using these processes at other stations.”
Rachael is a noise specialist working with projects to implement best practicable means and monitoring and reporting performance.
Community Relations Manager Sara Mohideen
“Communication with the community and other stakeholders about our works is key. Not only does it let people know what we are doing and why, it helps us to understand their concerns and minimise disturbance as much as possible. Our achievements in this area have been down to the support and commitment received from across the business and our continual drive for improvement. Additionally the work we are doing to develop charitable partnerships, support the communities in which we work and encourage our employees’ charitable efforts is having a really positive impact. We are proud of what we have achieved to date and are committed to further developing our work in the community.”
Sara manages community relations for Tube Lines as well as the Community Support Fund, supplementing employees’ efforts to support worthwhile charities and community groups.
Facilities Manager Clive Jones
“It’s a question of constantly looking at our energy use and fine tuning it. Communication and understanding are essential too. The support for energy efficiency has been getting progressively better over the last couple of years.”
Clive helped us to beat our corporate objective to reduce energy consumption at our premises and the Piccadilly line depots by 2 per cent, achieving a 20 per cent reduction.
Facilities Support Manager Jon Miller and Print Room Manager Sandra Hunt
“We exceeded the paper reduction objective and all expectations through a combination of changes to our printers, persuading people to change their habits and monitoring stationery more closely.”
Jon and Sandra helped us to beat our corporate objective to reduce the amount of white A4 paper used by 15 per cent - saving a whopping 34 per cent.
DSM Manager Rachelle Huggins
“ We achieved a 15 per cent improvement in fuel efficiency, thanks to a range of initiatives including the installation of a Global Positioning System (GPS), driver awareness training and monitoring.”
Rachelle helped us to beat our corporate objective to improve the fuel efficiency (total miles driven per gallon of fuel taken from our fuel tanks) of our commercial road fleet over 7.5 tonnes by 5 per cent, achieving a 15 per cent improvement.
Telecom Specialist William Flaherty
“I think that the Community Support Fund is a fantastic scheme. I recently received a donation of £300, which was used to buy tents for the cub pack that I help run in East London. The donation helped boost the money that we had already raised to buy new equipment. The cubs can’t wait for their next camping trip and I was so pleased with the donation that I have joined the committee that makes decisions on which activities are funded.”
Read in our Community section how the Community Support Fund is actively supporting employees and charities.
Stations Project Manager Peter Murray
“It’s all about challenging the norm and the way we work….We have become smarter and more thorough in our processes.”
Read in our noise section how a Six Sigma project has cut the time it takes us to investigate, resolve and close out noise complaints by over 50 per cent - and the importance of embedding noise control into our project management processes.
Senior Field Engineer Ali Al-Ashbal and Construction Manager Dave Harris
“The team’s zero waste to landfill achievements were down to a determination to succeed. This has helped us to focus on re-using materials and it has improved our materials management, housekeeping and even safety on site, too.”
Read in our waste section how a pilot project to send zero waste to landfill saw almost 99 per cent of waste from slope restoration works at Kingsbury re-used and recycled.
Field Engineer Sascha Paschen and Cockfosters Depot Duty Manager Peter Riley
“It will be fantastic to be able to wash the pits clean without worrying about contaminating the surrounding area, helping us to look after the depot and environment more effectively.”
Read in our pollution section how the first of four drainage discharge upgrade projects, at Cockfosters depot, will divert water used to clean and maintain trains and prevent the risk of contamination.
Tunnels Team Engineer Jon Elder and Environmental Asset Manager Steve Judd
“Whenever there are any issues with animals roosting, it is essential to act swiftly and manage the situation efficiently. The London Bat Group seemed pleased that we had approached them so early and were very happy to work with us to make sure that measures were put into place to protect the bats.”
Read in our wildlife section how good planning helped to ensure that an important bat colony continued to flourish in a disused tunnel and how we manage the important green spaces on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines.
New Works Project Manager Martin Collett
“Although we are not a research and development company we make sure that we keep up with emerging technologies and identify opportunities to apply them in an innovative way to reduce our carbon footprint.”
Read in our energy and utilities section how we are investigating a range of new ideas for increasing energy efficiency.
Tube Lines Escalator Services Project Delivery Manager Ian Kill
“Once the systems are in place, environmental management is an easy thing to do and contributes to better site management.”
Read in our climate change section how smart new working practices have broken the speed records for escalator refurbishment as well as reducing our carbon footprint.
