SOCIAL - BLOG
@DefraGovUK No nature. No business. It’s
that simple. With the Nature Handbook, you
can get to know and improve your business’
impact on nature. Find out more at http://
getnaturepositive.com and #GetNaturePositive
Mark Catchlove Looking forward to hosting
the author of Beyond the Workplace Zoo - Nigel
Oseland who will be sharing a few snippets from
the book as part of our Insight Series Online -
you can join online or in the room https://lnkd.
in/gQyZYun
@bifma Read our first of three articles
published by @CoreNetGlobal about the return
to the office – even more timely with the latest
vaccination mandates for larger employers.
https://bit.ly/3zYz34L
BaxterStorey https://www.linkedin.com/
company/baxterstorey/ We are delighted to
announce that our chairman Alastair Storey
has been appointed to the government’s new
hospitality council, to support the recovery
of the #hospitalityindustry following the
pandemic. Read more: http://bit.ly/3F2kQYh
@workplacetrends Very pleased to have
completed the final programme details and
times for #WPT21 #Workplace Trends: A New
World of #Work - adding @talentlockeruk
and @TheSpaceDrs - details at https://
workplacetrends.co/events/workplace-trendslondon
2021/
@Joanna_LD Visited @ISS__UK at fabulously
refurbished #SouthQuayBuilding @
CanaryWharf to discuss their generous hosting
of @IWFMISIG #LeadersForum2021 on 15.10
debating the #DATACONUMDRUM
Clive Lucking linkedin.com/in/clivelucking
Connecting Global Workplace Experts,
Occupiers & Landlords The BEST video about
returning to the office-hopefully puts a smile on
everyone’s face!!! Huge congratulations to the
creator (not me!) https://bit.ly/39Szy5U
Identity https://identitygroup.co.uk
Sustainability is at the heart of every aspect of
COP26 - UN Climate Change Conference. Great
to see that the UK Government will be using an
electric fleet for the transport of world leaders
during the summit. #COP26
18 OCTOBER 2021
BLOG FROM ANDREW BROWN, JUST RIDE THE BIKE, ACTIVE TRAVEL CONSULTANCY
TIME FOR FM TO MAKE THE
SWITCH TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE
TRANSPORT SOLUTION
In November, the UK hosts COP26 and
the media channels will be full of debate
about actions to be taken to reduce carbon
emissions to combat climate change. Two
of the most polluting sectors are the built
environment and transport. Indeed, transport
has overtaken power generation as the UK’s
most polluting sector responsible for 27 per
cent of the total greenhouse gas emissions.
That’s one reason the Government is backing
more provision for safer active travel and
wider use of bikes. Not just in the movement
of people, but as a means of transport itself –
moving goods and services. One example of
Government commitment is a further £400,000
grant from the Department for Transport,
administered by the Energy Saving Trust to help
kickstart and incentivise the adoption of e-cargo
bikes for businesses. Electric cargo bikes come
in two, three or four wheel options and are
primarily used in the last-mile delivery sector
– although are replacing less e icient vehicles
across a multitude of di erent applications.
The power assisted bikes can carry loads from
150kg up to 400kg with a trailer. They are being
used by construction firms like FM Conway and
Morgan Sindall to move materials between sites,
depots and their suppliers and construction
logistics consultants such as O’Neill & Brennan
and CSB Logistics are researching ways of
making cargo bikes more mainstream.
Last month London based e-bike specialists
Fully Charged hosted a well-attended e-cargo
bike summit in association with the Energy
Saving Trust, with people from construction,
last mile delivery firms, catering, flower
delivery, the textile sector and even an
investment bank. But no one from FM. Why?
Well, the transition is a hard one from a van to
bike. The construction firms using cargo bikes
are still learning – but certainly FM Conway is
committed and others, such as HSS Hire are
adopting them too. We know of one FM firm that
is looking at trialling bikes, but no others. Even
major suppliers to FM companies struggle to see
how the logistics of vans can be changed to a
cargo bike.
The trick is to go to events like Fully Charged’s
e-cargo summit. EVs are not the single answer.
Transport in facilities management, like
transport across the UK, requires an integrated
approach – vans and bikes together. It works
for a li maintenance firm that bought bikes
from Fully Charged. Their teams now complete
their work in less time and their operatives are
healthier and happier - and so are their clients.
Think about the choices. Electric vans do
not reduce congestion. They do not save time.
Andrew Brown, Just Ride the Bike
They do not save on parking charges. Couriers
using bikes that have also used vans argue the
bikes are 60 per cent faster. Emissions are 90
per cent lower than diesel vans and 33 per cent
lower than electric vans. Research claims that
over 50 per cent of freight (and this includes
service movements of MRTs in white vans) can
be replaced by a cargo bike.
If the transition is too hard then think about
customer expectations. The investment bank
attending the Fully Charged’s e-cargo event is
demanding all of its suppliers, including its FM
service provider, decarbonise their operations
and look at using di erent modes of transport. I
know of at least one major cleaning company in
London that expects its supplier to decarbonise
and is waiting for a switch to cargo bikes from
vans to deliver cleaning materials. If the drycleaning
company Oxwash can run a business in
Oxford, Cambridge and across London using a
business model reliant on cargo bikes why can’t
cleaning materials be delivered using a bicycle?
If FM’s do not rethink their logistics then
customers will do it for them. A commitment
to reducing caron emissions is now a given in
every invitation to tender. Major public sector
customers such as the MOD, NHS, and the MoJ
will all be seeking reductions in CO2 across their
sites. Some of these will be easier to implement
a transition from traditional vehicles to e-cargo
bikes as they are closed, or campus sites. So,
when responding to bids for something like a
nuclear plant or secure defence research facility,
a bike could, or should, be part of the integrated
transport solution.
With the current 130 per cent supertax and
grants available from the Department for
Transport, administered by the Energy Saving
Trust, there is no better time to make the switch
to a more sustainable transport solution – more
e icient and more productive, lower costs with
increased profitability.
ADVICE & OPINION
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/identitygroup.co.uk
