KELLER has initiated a collaboration with the University Of Surrey, in United Kingdom in search of new concepts that will make geotechnical practices more sustainable.

Keller has teamed up with Luke Deamer, a P.hD. Candidate in Sustainability, at the University of Surrey’s Centre for Environment and Sustainability. Despite he is with the university, his PhD research project is entirely designed to support Keller. “Clients, investors, employees and other stakeholders are taking more of an interest in how we’re operating and the impact of what we do on society. So it’s increasingly important that we’re taking opportunities and innovating to become more sustainable,” Luke mentioned.

Luke’s aim is to identify and implement sustainable practices in geotechnical engineering. “Sustainability is about balancing that triple bottom line – balancing environmental, social and economic needs, today and in the future,” he stated.

According to Luke, sustainability is best interpreted through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which “address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice”.

When it comes to Keller’s projects, Luke mentioned that the aim is to embed sustainability across all Keller functions using the UN sustainable development goals as a framework. At first, the current techniques utilized will be assessed in terms of sustainability. Then, he will look into how the same work is done elsewhere and determine what sustainability best practice looks like. The final part is understanding the drivers and barriers to implementing that best practice. “As part of this, I’m interviewing internal and external stakeholders to build the business case to close the gap between existing and best practice,” Luke said.

Luke believes the key to success is to integrate sustainability into existing ways of working. “Sustainability shouldn’t feel like a bolt on or extra work. It’s just a case of adopting a better, more sustainable way of doing the same things.”

He’s currently implementing his approach in Keller’s UK business, initially in two functions – HR and HSE, with Engineering and Operations next. The plan is then to roll the approach out, branch by branch, tailored to meet the priorities of local stakeholders. “This is a very exciting project. Keller is committed to maintaining a sustainable business and meeting its corporate responsibilities and I hope my work will contribute towards this,” Luke concluded.