By Marcos Bish, Managing Director, Summertown Interiors
Our green credentials take us back well before it became ‘fashionable’ to call yourself sustainable. We were the first contractor in the UAE with an office to receive LEED Gold rating (in 2009), and have successfully executed more sustainable interior projects with 100% success rate in the UAE than any other contractor. In 2014 we received our third Dubai Chamber of Commerce CSR label; we were named Sustainable Business of the Year at the Gulf Capital Awards; and Daman Corporate Health Awards rewarded us for ‘Employee Engagement of the Year Initiative’ for our health and wellness program.
In order to become the sustainable business that we are today, we have had to learn to adapt in order to grow as we embark on our sustainable journey. In 2011, when we set up our Eco Leaders committee – a team of employees volunteering to drive the ‘green’ movement at Summertown, we thought we had the right plan in place. And our plan seemed good, but in time we realized that it didn’t deliver everything we had hoped for. It became clear we needed to expand our vision if we wanted to achieve those tangible business benefits for taking the ‘green’ path.
As a company that walks the talk, our clients, partners and the business community in general look to us for advice and knowledge when it comes to integrating sustainability. From our own experience, the most common mistake companies make when they want to embrace sustainability is having too narrow a vision: setting just a few goals and metrics for measurement, and then following those without looking at the big picture.
In our case, we realised the only way to go about being a truly sustainable business was to integrate sustainability principles into everything we do. We needed, in the same way a person does, to make a major lifestyle change that would impact everyone and everything in our business, at all levels: our people, our partners and clients, our community and our planet.
Today, sustainability is at the core of everything we do and this not only makes our employees and clients happier, but is driving our economic engine. In the last year alone we have achieved 25% revenue growth. Taking the sustainability path and integrating it into every aspect of our business has paid off: now 54% of our total business comes from sustainable fit-out projects, which is one of our measures for success. Not only we are taking the sustainable path, but we inspire and convince others to do it and we have the expertise and experience to help them.
We believe it’s important to share our experience with others: our learning curve will help and encourage them to make the right choices. We hope more companies will understand that ‘going green’ is not about being ‘fashionable’. Being green is a lifestyle choice and a business strategy, one that, if done well, impacts the company’s bottom line; people will be more engaged and work better together, costs will be managed more efficiently, the company will gain credibility in the market.
Since we embarked on our CSR journey, we have reaped the benefits. We make tangible savings every day, our employees come to work with a real sense of purpose, are healthier and happier, and the results are reflected in our productivity levels, our carbon footprint and ultimately the success of our business.
And because this is that time of the year when we make resolutions, our ‘green’ journey in 2015 will have two main objectives: to take our first steps to attain LEED EBOM (Existing Buildings and Maintenance) certification, and to inspire and help other companies in the UAE to integrate sustainability into their business strategy.
