Environmental policy

Bo Cook Landscape & Garden Design

Created: May 2024

Mission statement

At Bo Cook Landscape & Garden Design we recognise that the environment is vital to our business, our staff and our clients. We recognise our responsibility to manage our environmental impacts carefully, including maximising the potential positive environmental impacts of the gardens we design. We are committed to reducing our negative environmental impacts, promoting environmental responsibility and continually improving our environmental performance as an integral part of our strategy and operating methods. We will encourage clients, contractors and our wider network of contacts to do the same.

Policy aims

We endeavour to:

·       Consistently apply environmental principles in our design work.

·       Incorporate environmental considerations into our business decisions.

·       Continually improve and monitor our own environmental performance.

·       Promote environmental awareness among our clients, contractors and our wider network.

Policy priorities

1.         Our design work

·       We will adopt, apply and regularly review a clear set of design principles to ensure that all of our designs minimise negative environmental impacts and maximise their potential environmental benefits.

·       We will ensure that all of our staff understand and are sufficiently trained to consistently apply these principles.

·       We will network and pursue educational opportunities in order to ensure that we continue to apply best practice approaches in sustainable design.

·       We will brief contractors on these design principles and explain how they have been applied at the outset of each project, in order to ensure their effective implementation.

2.         Our purchasing

·       We will seek to avoid the need for purchasing through maximising the re-use of products and materials.

·       We will continue to apply environmental considerations when making purchasing decisions, including through the adoption of an environmentally preferable purchasing policy.

3.         Transportation

·       We will continue to minimise travel through lift-sharing and the use of video-conferencing.

·       We will prioritise carbon considerations when replacing our vehicle.

Governance and engagement

We have developed a detailed action plan to ensure delivery of the objectives and targets above. Responsibility for each action within that action plan has been assigned to an appropriate person. Timescales for delivering each action have also been assigned and these will be kept under review.

 We are committed to reviewing and updating progress against our action plan on a quarterly basis.

All staff will be made aware of our environmental objectives, targets and actions, as well as any related policies or procedures. We will also seek to routinely identify any training needed to facilitate delivery of this policy and to meet them wherever this is feasible.

Our Environmental Management System

This environmental policy and our environmental action plan, alongside any other related policies, procedures and monitoring comprise our Environmental Management System (EMS). Our EMS is certified by Green Small Business. Our certification is maintained through an annual review of our action plan carried out independently by Green Small Business.

We will update this policy at least annually in consultation with staff and other stakeholders where necessary.

Next Review: May 2025