Key Performance Indicators

Introduction

Western Australia has a high level of biological diversity. Road reserves in some locations contain threatened flora and fauna, or habitat suitable for threatened flora and fauna. Our road network often adjoins natural areas and in some locations the road verge itself hosts remnant vegetation with high environmental values.

We recognise that the management of the road network has the potential to impact on our environment. That inspires us to contribute to the conservation of the State’s natural assets by avoiding impacts where possible and by rehabilitating and enhancing affected areas. Our website contains information on the total number of threatened flora and fauna, as well as maps showing where our road reserves are adjacent to protected areas and areas of high biodiversity value such as Bush Forever, Black Cockatoo Habitat, Ramsar Wetlands or Low Represented Vegetation.

How we stay on track and accountable

Corporate Environmental Policy

The policy establishes principles of environmental protection, impact minimisation and conservation of natural resources. It is implemented throughout the organisation through management systems and processes.

Environmental Management System

The system addresses all business activity that has environmental aspects and risks, and defines responsibilities, competencies, procedures and standards, auditing and review. It addresses environmental risk across our entire business in all key processes including planning, delivery, maintenance, network operations and supporting services.

Environmental Objectives

Our environmental objectives are to:

• implement a systems-based approach to environmental management
• seek full compliance with all statutory environmental requirements
• maintain or improve the biodiversity values of roadsides
• minimise the impacts of noise associated with the road network
• protect Aboriginal heritage values of road reserves
• minimise the environmental impacts of materials used in road construction
• maximise the efficiency of resources we use
• minimise impacts of roads on water quality

Key Achievements

Aboriginal Heritage

We recognise our rich heritage of Aboriginal culture and our planning and development processes include identifying heritage sites and avoiding them wherever possible. Consultation with Aboriginal community representatives is important to understand the extent and significance of heritage localities, particularly when not yet adequately recorded. Over the last year we established an early risk assessment process and applied it to 318 projects across the State. In anticipation of the finalisation of the State’s South West Settlement for native title, we have developed processes to implement the related heritage agreements.

Environmental Management of Road Projects

Recent and significant changes to State and Commonwealth environmental legislation and processes have required us to upgrade our project development processes and review environmental aspects of our road maintenance activities.

All projects are subject to an environmental impact assessment. Screening and preliminary assessments identify where more detailed field studies are needed and when impacts are likely to be significant and require referral to regulators.

The following table presents the number of road projects and assessment level in the past three years.

Five significant instances of non-compliance were reported this year. Three related to the clearing of native vegetation and two involved rare flora. There were no penalties or financial sanctions relating to the incidents which are being addressed through compliance improvement actions.

Our environmental management efforts were recognised at the 2014 Premier’s Awards where we were a finalist in the Managing the Environment category for the Fitzgerald River National Park improvement project. In addition our Great Southern Region was awarded Best Tended Business as part of the Keep Albany Beautiful Awards.

Restoration Activities

We work closely with the Department of Parks and Wildlife to protect and manage areas of habitat. During 2014 we revegetated 154.2 hectares of land of which 60.6 hectares was revegetated as a biodiversity offset in perpetuity in accordance with the conditions of our State-wide Purpose Clearing Permit CPS818. The size, location and status of this revegetation (on a calendar year) can be found on the DEC website.

Areas of Habitat Protected

We provided $1.1 million in funds to the WA Offset Fund for the purchase of land that will be added to the conservation estate, to offset impacts on biodiversity habitat in the 2014 calendar year. In addition to the financial contribution, we also protected 60.6ha of habitat through biodiversity offsets during the 2014 calendar year.

Areas of habitat protected as a biodiversity offset to offset native vegetation clearing impacts are recorded on the Government of Western Australia Environmental Offsets Register.

Carbon Reduction Plan-Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation

We developed a Carbon Reduction Plan and target (5-15% reduction of 2010 levels by 2020) for Scope One and Two emissions and progressed our Climate Change Adaptation Plan. Details of various initiatives and achievements that reduce our emissions and energy consumption can be found on our website under the Climate Change section.

Energy Usage and Greenhouse Gas

Our emission levels are on target to achieve our 2020 goal and our scope one and two emissions are 24,785tCO² meaning we are not exceeding the 30,670tCO² limit. These positive results are due to initiatives rolled out as part of the Carbon Reduction Plan and LED traffic signal lighting on the road network which now sees over 80% of the network upgraded. Our focus for future reductions is based around street lighting.

Sustainability Assessment in Projects and Operations

We adopt the Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) rating tool, Australia’s only comprehensive rating system for evaluating sustainability across design, construction and operation of infrastructure, for our highest value major projects. All major infrastructure projects with a value over $20 million utilise the IS framework as part of project development and evaluation. We have six projects registered for an IS Rating, with Gateway WA achieving an Excellent ‘Design’ Rating. More information is on our website.

We have introduced annual sustainability reporting for our projects with IS obligations, with public sustainability reports submitted for Gateway WA and Great Northern Highway Muchea to Wubin Stage 2 upgrade. Our website contains more information on IS and our project sustainability reports.

This year, we won the Organisational Leadership in Infrastructure Sustainability category at the ISCA Sustainability in Infrastructure Awards.

Resources for Road Building

Materials

Our main objective in resource conservation is to minimise the environmental impacts of materials used in road construction. We encourage our project partners to recycle and reuse materials and use recycled and environmentally labelled materials.

When obtaining road building materials we endeavour to avoid clearing natural vegetation, particularly high value vegetation. On-site materials unsuitable for use in road construction are used, as appropriate, for rehabilitating areas where road building materials have been obtained from.

We researched the use of waste materials such as recycled construction and demolition waste in construction practice. Our current research activities include:

• in-house monitoring and evaluation of pavement trials, such as recycled pavements tested on Forest Highway
• WA Pavement Asset Research Centre project into improving the performance of recycled asphalt mixes
• a joint Main Roads and Waste Authority project evaluating opportunities to increase the use of construction and demolition waste in road construction
• exploring improving crushed recycled concrete blends with Curtin University
• evaluating glass cullets in earthworks, bedding and drainage applications.

Materials Extracted

Resources Recycled

Water

Water is a precious resource and our State continues to experience the effects of a drying climate. To make sure we do our part in conserving water we encourage practices that reduce our impact on water sources including improving water efficiency and overall water use, utilising recycled water and avoiding the use of potable water. By prioritising the use of non-potable water over scheme water during construction we aim to ease the burden of water scarcity within the communities we work in. The table below shows our water use figures.

Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre

The Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) is a key research broker between industry, Government and research organisations for the built environment industry. We are a Core Member of the SBEnrc and provide public leadership to encourage the private sector to be a part of industry development. Our membership entitles us to a nominee on the Governing Board. For more information go to our website.

Property Management

Our commitment to constructing sustainable, environmentally friendly buildings continued this year with the design of our new Northam office. The building’s design complies with the 5 Star Green Star Office v3 rating, 4.5 Star Energy Base Building rating and 4 Star Water rating. It includes:

• solar and ventilation passive design
• double glazed panels
• high roof and wall insulation performance
• blinds to control and direct solar gain
• solar hot water systems
• water and energy efficient fixtures and fittings
• LED lighting with occupancy and daylight sensors
• 30KW Photovoltaic (solar array) system.

Ceiling fans and temperature sensors minimise the use of mechanical heating and cooling. The landscaping around the building incorporates xeriscape and water-wise principles and addresses the sites solar and prevailing wind properties.

Another project underway is the refurbishment of levels 3, 4, and 6 of the Don Aitken Centre. This project (and all future building projects) has adopted Green Star standards to improve environmental outcomes across the building asset portfolio. The Green Star design considerations will reduce the operational cost and environmental impact.