Latest carbon performance audit figures show the private builder cut emissions by 13% last year, achieving a 40% reduction compared with the company’s baseline year of 2010. 

Rick Willmott chief executive has now called on other construction firms to do more to reduce carbon emissions.

“I have no doubt that our sustainability achievements have played an increasingly important role when it comes to winning work.

“Any company committed to leaving a lasting legacy in the built environment must view carbon management as a key focus area.”

Willmott Dixon has focused heavily on tackling emissions in which the company has direct control, such as purchasing electricity from renewable sources and finding ways to reduce emissions from transport and construction activities. 

The builder is also addressing emissions generated by the supply chain that they have influence over, so-called Scope 3 emissions. 

Since 2012, Willmott Dixon has calculated its unavoidable emissions and offset them by purchasing credits in projects which are reducing carbon emissions by an equivalent amount.  This means the company is certified as carbon neutral.

He said: “With around half of the UK’s carbon emissions coming from the construction and operation of buildings, we must strive to find less carbon-intensive ways to operate as an industry.  And this includes getting better at building energy efficient buildings, which will stand up to the more extreme temperatures we can expect in the coming decades.”