Forum for the Future helped Balfour Beatty develop a vision of the sustainable future it wants and a strategy and roadmap to get there.

The global engineering, construction, services and investment group has now taken the first steps on its journey. It has launched its vision for 2020, set out minimum commitments for 2012 and required each subsidiary to declare what level of progress it is aiming for and how it will deliver.

The group, which creates and manages essential assets from hospitals to schools, from road and rail to utility systems and major structures, asked us to help, because it could see sustainability rising up the industry agenda. Customers were placing increasing emphasis on sustainable practices in contracts for big projects.

But what does sustainability really mean for Balfour Beatty? What should its ambitions be? And how should it deliver improvements across a diverse group where each subsidiary is given a lot of autonomy? We helped them take the steps to answer these questions.

1. Identifying and prioritising key trends and global issues
With an internal working group, we identified the key trends and global issues likely to affect the business, from the availability of skilled labour to the cost of carbon. We did this using a unique combination of horizon-scanning and benchmarking with our Leader Business Hallmarks.

2. Developing a Vision Statement
The working group used the key trends and issues to outline where Balfour wants to be in 2020. Central to the group’s vision is a commitment to bring three, sometimes competing, interests into alignment: profitable markets for Balfour and its customers; the needs of local communities; and living within environmental limits.

3. Creating a Roadmap
This is a strategic action plan that sets out the steps Balfour expects its operating companies to take over the coming years to achieve this vision. The roadmap sets out Balfour’s goals for 2020 in 10 areas including customers, staff and climate change.

The Roadmap also solves the problem of how to direct subsidiaries and give them autonomy. Each focus area has three levels of progress:

• Minimum expectations by 2012 (mandatory first steps for all operating companies).
• Excellence for 2012 (optional for those operating companies wishing to pursue best practice on a given issue).
• The group’s aspirational goal for 2020.

Balfour has already taken its first steps with the Roadmap. It has launched the vision and required each subsidiary to declare what level of progress it is aiming for and how it will deliver.

Contact: David Bent