Celebrating International Women’s Day with Lauren McCarthy

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Lauren McCarthy, Sustainability Manager at Sir Robert McAlpine, shares how she first discovered her passion for sustainability, and how she is pushing for greater sustainability innovation in the sector.

Similar to many young women considering their career options, Lauren never imagined initially that she would take a pathway into construction. During her teenage years, she was told she would likely fail her geography GCSE by a doubtful teacher, ‘I was completely spurred on to prove him wrong, and it’s a personality trait I’ve continued to live by ever since’.

A few years later, Lauren found herself at a crossroads after her A-Levels, so took a trip to Australia that changed her life’s trajectory more than she could have imagined. Her highly anticipated visit to the Great Barrier Reef resulted in disappointment, ‘I could not see a thing’. Her previous perceptions of a vibrant reef, home to hundreds of species, instead clouded by images of greying coral and visible water pollution, was an immediate call to action.

‘From this moment, it was the obvious choice to apply my degree to sustainability, and to make a contribution to Net Zero’. Lauren joined Sir Robert McAlpine a year ago, looking to deliver tangible impacts to sustainability policy within the construction industry. Cut to now, having piloted a sustainable design working group and implementing successful innovative on-site sustainability policy, it’s fair to say that she continues to push for these goals on a daily basis.

As part of sustainability efforts on the ongoing Therme project in Manchester as Sustainability Manager, Lauren works tirelessly to embed sustainable practice into every thought process imaginable, encouraging collaboration along every link of the supply chain.

Initially daunted by her first job out of university before starting at Sir Robert McAlpine, Lauren got her first taste of the challenges that can arise whilst working in the sustainability sector, particularly as a younger woman.

“I had to learn to assert myself quickly”, she explains. “Site visits were nerve wracking as a recent graduate surrounded by older men who had been in the industry for years – overcoming the imposter syndrome on site was a learning curve”.

She accredits this learning curve to the presence of a strong female role model as CEO of her first construction project. Aware of the impacts this can have on opening doors to women unsure on their career goals, Lauren has now taken to giving back to the community, recognising that a project’s success is not just demonstrated by timely completion or revenue achieved, but also by the mark it leaves on the surrounding community.

Such an approach is reflected in the course of the Therme project, with sustainable innovation reinforced by the client’s genuine passion for sustainability and a brief that reflects that passion. Lauren and the rest of the project team ensure that sustainability remains at the forefront of project activity. Taking a measurable, two-pronged approach to this allowed Lauren to push for holistic consideration, ensuring both responsible sourcing and waste management for the wellness resort construction project.

Through the creation of a unique design code forged in collaboration and early engagement with the client, going far beyond industry standard frameworks such as ISO14000 or BES6001, grey and blacklisted materials can be identified as harmful and avoided throughout the supply chain. The extensive non-compliance processes that trade contractors would need to undertake deter unnecessary corner-cutting when sourcing responsible materials.

Quantifying social value capture has allowed the project to hold itself accountable from the offset. Sir Robert McAlpine has rolled out a Carbon Risk and Opportunity Schedule to action this. By using an online platform, sent to subcontractors during the initial tender process, eyes are kept on the supply chain.

Submitted back to the sustainability team upon tender completion, populated with statistical analysis of exactly where excess product is going, the Carbon Risk and Opportunity Schedule is one of the innovative mechanisms that Lauren has worked on – minimising waste and maximising circularity.

While the initial hesitancy and imposter syndrome can be a steep learning curve, results and delivery cannot be argued with. After spending countless hours on crafting an optimal sustainable chain of operations for a project, Lauren began to question how the lessons learnt on-site could be transferred and standardised. Dedicated to embedding design changes, creating a routine that can be adhered to, Lauren chairs fortnightly meetings, bringing together sustainability champions from teams across the country to share ideas that can maximise sustainable operations.

Manchester’s ambitious 2038 Net Zero targets act as a driving factor for Lauren and the wider sustainability team, who have set themselves an ambitious target of 90% reuse of construction materials. Wider community goals are a reminder that sustainability integration can’t just be a box-ticking exercise and instead should be seen as a crucial consideration.

Lauren details how this is coming to pass on ongoing projects, ‘once a valuable idea is floated in meetings, they are submitted for technical analysis approval, and from there can be implemented going forward across the country as standard practice.’

The power that lies in this process is unprecedented. Ensuring that no sustainability mistakes are made twice, the working group allows efficiency in innovation. Examples of recent success stories as a result include implementation of Steel Zero and Concrete Zero targets – aiming for 80% carbon-free material use, as well as the implementation of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil as an alternative to diesel.

Lauren, committed to reducing waste and increasing circularity, saw a gap in the delivery of sustainable solutions and filled it. Adding social value to projects, encouraging active participation, and thinking proactively, she has helped Sir Robert McAlpine welcome input across the board.

So what’s next? ‘I want to keep pushing for further increases in fluidity of decision-making.’ Regulatory red tape can at times have the impact of holding back sustainability efforts, and this requires Lauren and her team to deliver more creative and crafted solutions in the pursuit of sustainable engineering excellence. That same attitude inadvertently instilled in her from her dismissive teacher, Lauren hopes to continue making waves within the construction industry. Considerable progress has been made, and the advent of a new generation, propelled by greater interest in sustainability efforts and the environment, will carry on pushing for further solutions in the industry.