CARES welcomes UK government procurement policy for steel

CARES supports the initiative of the UK government to give preference to procuring products which are able to demonstrate compliance with a recognised responsible sourcing scheme, certified by a third party.

The UK government made this commitment in its Procurement Policy Note – Procuring steel in major projects which was published on 30 October 2015. The new policy note provides guidance on how to take account of steel throughout the procurement process including the consideration of social and environmental impacts.

CARES is well-placed to provide responsible sourcing certification services in the UK. The CARES Sustainable Constructional Steel (SCS) scheme is the only responsible sourcing scheme that is independently accredited by UKAS to the rigorous requirements of BS 8902:2009 - Responsible sourcing sector certification schemes for construction products.

Lee Brankley, CEO of CARES, said “I believe that the policy objectives of the Procurement Policy Note will be achieved by including reference to the CARES SCS scheme in any additional guidance document,” in a letter sent to the UK government’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills earlier this week.

Reinforcing steel products manufactured by CARES-approved companies within the SCS scheme are fully traceable throughout the entire supply chain, from hot metal production to site delivery. In addition, all of the approved companies have an environmental management system certified to ISO 14001, a quality management system certified to ISO 9001 and an independently verified environmental product declaration (EPD to EN 15804) or validated carbon footprint data.

The SCS scheme has also been assessed by BRE Global against the requirements for responsible sourcing credits within BREEAM New Construction 2014. The aim of these credits is to encourage the specification and procurement of responsibly sourced materials in construction.

There are many CARES SCS-approved companies in the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Turkey and others are also seeking that certification.