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MAR Achieve EcoVadis Accreditation

We are proud to announce that we have successfully achieved EcoVadis accreditation status, recognising our dedication and progress towards sustainable improvement.

EcoVadis is a globally renowned platform that evaluates corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability across a range of industries. This achievement reflects our ongoing commitment to ethical and environmentally conscious operations.

A proactive approach to sustainability and corporate social responsibility is a key pillar of our business activities and corporate strategy. We actively pursue meaningful innovation, focused sustainability, impactful social progress, and robust governance, both internally and externally.

Throughout 2023/24, we invested significantly in developing our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Framework, consolidating our policies and values into measurable benchmarks. Our ESG Reporting tracks our progress against company objectives, ensuring that:

• We build a greener future for current and future generations.
• We provide an optimal working experience for our staff.
• We deliver the highest quality of service and add value to our clients.
• We differentiate ourselves from competitors.
• We achieve our commitments through measurable benchmarks.

“Sustainability is a personal passion of mine and I have always focused on ensuring that MAR FM operates ethically and responsibly in everything that we do. I’m fortunate to have a supportive and driven team around me, who share the motivation to drive progress within the business. Working with EcoVadis is just one part of a larger strategy to drive MAR towards our environmental, social and governance objectives and is a great way to strengthen our processes. It will also help to determine what our next steps should be to accomplish our sustainability goals, as well as opening up opportunities for new business.”

Andrew Rigg, CEO

Why we signed up

The EcoVadis process allows us to identify opportunities for improvement throughout the business and the feedback we receive is used to form part of our future ESG objectives.

By conducting impartial, third-party auditing, we can more accurately measure our progress, with improved accountability and transparent reporting, serving as a powerful tool to drive our sustainability journey.

In addition to our own goals, we can more effectively synchronise with the targets of both our clients and suppliers, recognising the importance of having partners that mirror our values and demonstrating our genuine commitment to operating ethically and sustainably.

How does it work?

EcoVadis ratings are determined through an evidence-based questionnaire, evaluated by a team of impartial experts. The questions vary according to company size and are tailored to more than 200 industry categories, across 160 countries. They cover four sustainability themes: Environment, Labour and Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement.

As of June 2024, we obtained a score that placed us higher or equal to 78% of all companies rated by EcoVadis, for which we received a Bronze Medal. With EcoVadis having evaluated over 100,000 companies, we are genuinely pleased with our score as an initial benchmark from which to develop.

“MAR has a proactive approach to sustainability and social responsibility, investing extensively in baselining, operational improvements and delivering change at pace. Being a successful business is about more than just commercial achievement, it’s about doing things ethically for our colleagues, clients, community and the wider environment.“

Zara Harrison, Marketing, Brand and Sustainability Manager

What Are Our Plans for the Future?

EcoVadis both guides and challenges us, reflecting our intention to improve our score year after year and our commitment to continuous improvement.

Based on our feedback from this assessment, we will be focusing on several key improvements, within the four sustainability themes:

Environment

A proactive approach to sustainability and corporate social responsibility has long underpinned MAR FM’s business activities. As a company, we continue to work purposefully in this area, promoting meaningful innovation and sustainability, impactful social progress and robust governance.

Our future environmental commitments are centred around achieving sustainable change through various initiatives. For example, in collaboration with our suppliers, we are prioritising sustainability within our supply chain by implementing eco-friendly chemicals and consumables into our soft service operations. This initiative aims to consolidate and minimise delivery frequency, achieve carbon-neutral supply and transportation, and positively impact our existing clients. We are committed to expanding this programme to as many clients as possible over the next 12 months.

We are also in the process of obtaining Planet Mark accreditation, a rigorous certification that provides a platform for measuring and reducing carbon emissions, which we expect to complete successfully by the end of August 2024.

Additionally, we will continue to procure 100% renewable energy, transition to LED lighting, offset gas usage until a suitable alternative is in place and act on feedback from our Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) audits.

MAR Facilities Management has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2030 and net zero by 2035.

 Labour and Human Rights

 We performed well in this category, with strong policies already in place. We’ve held ISO9001 since as far back as 1998 and ISO45001 accreditations since and continue to work energetically to ensure we create an environment in which colleagues feel valued and efforts are recognised and rewarded, providing the best possible experience of working life to our colleagues. Moving forward, we will be improving our auditing for policy compliance, especially where third parties, such as suppliers, are concerned. We will also be introducing an advanced system that allows for improved internal reporting. As well as continuing to enhance our colleague remuneration packages and reward and recognition benefits.

Ethics

Capitalising on nearly 40 years of industry experience, we have developed robust processes, ensuring that best practices are followed and standards are maintained at a consistently high level, whilst optimising productivity.

Our flexible management system adheres to ISO9001 standards, delivering efficiency and allowing us to focus on continuous improvement.

To improve in this area, we will be reviewing our internal documentation to identify new materials that might be beneficial to publish and introducing additional risk assessments, such as anti-corruption, especially where third parties are concerned. Additionally, we will explore if and where it may be necessary to expand our reporting around labour and human rights policies.

Sustainable Procurement

This is an important area of focus for us moving forward. We are in the process of updating our sustainable procurement and supply policies, enhancing our existing vetting process, introducing regular auditing and only working with like-minded suppliers, ensuring sustainability is a key consideration in all procurement decisions.

Find out more about our environmental, social and governance objectives, in our latest ESG Report. To further your sustainability journey, visit the EcoVadis website. Alternatively, contact our team for more information about our culture, values and services, and discover if we are a good fit for a partnership.