Improving company performance through sustainability assessment

The present paper introduces the concept of developing manufacturing facilities, organisational procedures and company responsibilities through an approach to sustainable development. The approach is centred on a case study of Kingspan Insulation Ltd, one of the construction industry's main suppliers of insulation products. For the last 18 months Kingspan Insulation has been involved with an assessment of its organisational procedures, practices and wider community impacts using the sustainable assessment framework Sustainable Project Appraisal Routine (Spear). Over this time period, an assessment and subsequent reassessment have indicated areas where the company can improve its sustainability performance and have enabled them to demonstrate real progress towards sustainability. By adopting this approach of using independent assessment at annual intervals, the company has undergone rapid cultural change and achieved this within its normal operational budgets. The approach adopted and advantages realised are described along with the responsibility taken on by senior management. As sustainable development is a process of continuous improvement, the latest action plan developed with the company is outlined.