Andrew Mather’s Integral Group in Sydney branded itself “deep green” right from the get go.
A lot of firms, he says, have sustainability as an add-on service.
“But for us, it’s core business and we sell that as a core service as much as mechanical, electrical and hydraulic.”
This means his company targets clients that are “sustainably minded and have good corporate conscience”, such as Lendlease, Mirvac, Frasers and Grocon, he says.
The Sydney presence ispart of a much bigger global operationbased in Silicon Valley, which tends to work with highly competitive tech clients, so there’s a lot of pressure not just on sustainability but technology as well.
“Because we work with global tech companies we plough money back into research and development,” Andrew says.
“We invite all our engineers to come up with ideas and suggestions that will either improve our buildings or something that advances sustainability generally. Or that’s innovative for the clients.
“Projects are adjudicated and there’s a fund allocated to some of those projects that it’s thought will benefit. We say, ‘Here’s $50,000 to work up the details behind that.’”
