MMB and JBA Bentley have enjoyed a successful night at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE)’ annual awards in Yorkshire and Humber. Held at the Leeds Marriott Hotel, the annual ICE gala dinner celebrated and showcased the very best of engineering across the Yorkshire and Humber region. JBA Bentley’s flood alleviation scheme at Winteringham Ings to South Ferriby, delivered with the Environment Agency, was presented with a Certificate of Excellence in the Centenary Award category. In the Smeaton Award category, Mott MacDonald Bentley’s scheme with Yorkshire Water at Swinsty Impounding Reservoir Spillway received a Certificate of Commendation. JBA Bentley have successfully delivered flood alleviation works at Winteringham Ings to South Ferriby, on the South Bank of the Humber Estuary. Following severe flooding in 2013, the existing defences and surrounding areas suffered £50m worth of damage. JBA Bentley constructed a range of new defences designed to provide better protection from future flooding, whilst successfully overcoming significant ecological and social challenges. The project has been recognised previously for excellent environmental practice and low carbon delivery by the Green Apple Organisation, as well as by CECA for demonstrating an excellent approach to Health and Safety. At Swinsty Impounding Reservoir, Mott MacDonald Bentley designed and constructed a new reinforced concrete spillway and raised the crest bridge to improve safety at one of Yorkshire Water’s most visited impounding reservoirs. Due to the heritage of the reservoir, many existing structures were re-used to preserve its history and drive carbon efficiency. This is the first award recognition for the project, building on our strong reputation for reservoir safety work in the Yorkshire region. Operations Director, Ian Bester, said, “Well done to the teams involved in both projects. “Maintaining a focus on low carbon delivery and excellent collaboration with our clients has helped us to deliver two challenging schemes that will have a positive impact on the surrounding areas and their communities. “Congratulations to all – it’s fantastic to receive such highly-regarded recognition.” Find out more about our work at Winteringham Ings to South Ferriby at Water Projects Online. Read about our scheme at Swinsty in the latest edition of our Annual Review. Don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay up to date with the latest news from across the business.

As part of parent company Mott MacDonald’s certification, JN Bentley has achieved carbon neutral status for the very first time after meeting PAS 2060 – the internationally recognised specification for carbon neutrality. Certification follows external verification of JN Bentley’s carbon footprint by the Carbon Trust. This footprint covers emissions from fuel and energy used on construction sites and in offices, plus the operational impact of home working and employee-owned vehicles. One of the first organisations in its sector to achieve independent verification, JN Bentley has achieved carbon neutrality through a combination of effective energy and carbon management and responsible offsetting. Steve Tetlow, JN Bentley director responsible for greenhouse gas emission reduction, said, “We’re pleased to have been certified as carbon neutral following verification from the Carbon Trust. “Certification demonstrates to our clients, suppliers and colleagues that we are taking the carbon challenge seriously and taking meaningful steps on our journey to becoming net zero – something we have committed to achieve by 2040. “In the future we intend to further reduce our footprint through alternative, innovative means such as being operationally ‘green’ and developing low carbon solutions for our clients. “Lots of hard work has gone into achieving certification for the very first time; thank you to everyone involved.” Read our Carbon Neutral Qualifying Explanatory Statement. Details of Mott MacDonald’s journey to net zero can be found on the company website.

Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education have presented their first ever Groundworker Apprentice of the Year award to Jack Jewkes, a Level 2 GCO groundworker apprentice from the @one alliance collaborative skills team working at JN Bentley. Explaining why Jack was chosen for this award, the judges commended the fact that “Jack has settled in well with JN Bentley, impressing his managers and colleagues with his hard work ethic.” They further commented: “Jack has had to go out of his comfort zone on several occasions and he joined the JNB training manager at the ‘Yorkshire & Humber Speakers for schools’ campaign event in 2021, where he gave a presentation to over 200 pupils about his apprenticeship journey. He has had good progress on his NVQ and has proved to be a good and reliable worker.” Speaking about his win, Jack said: “To be noticed for the hard work and dedication I have put into the apprenticeship so far is overwhelming. Being able to speak to schools on Microsoft Teams about my journey on the apprenticeship, to featuring in the @one alliance newspaper shows that the work you do doesn’t go unnoticed. When starting the apprenticeship I hadn’t much of a clue on what jobs I’d be doing, so I was a bit nervous on what to expect and what was going to be expected of me. Since then, I have done a variety of projects, each one allowing me to learn new skills along the apprenticeship program, include talking in front of a large group of people to being trained on jobs within an experienced gang.” Groundworker apprentices work closely with site engineers to prepare sites ready for construction works to begin, by interpreting design specifications and assisting throughout the process, from conception to completion, working closely with all on-site construction personnel. Find out more about doing an apprenticeship with us by visiting our careers page. Don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay up to date with the latest news from across the business.

Our Mott MacDonald Bentley (MMB) team at Bewdley Bank Service Reservoir in Wales were delighted to scoop the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Wales Cymru 'Designed in Wales' award. To increase the resilience of Hereford’s water supply network, we designed and built a 34 megalitre service reservoir at Bewdley Bank for Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. The ICE in both the West Midlands and Wales recognised its excellence, awarding the project the Innovation and Designed in Wales Awards, respectively. The latter is presented to the best project designed in Wales and constructed elsewhere (either in the UK or overseas). By taking a procurement-based approach to project delivery, several efficiencies were realised, including an enhanced focus on quality and right first-time delivery. Standard designs already successfully deployed elsewhere in MMB were used where practical and accelerated the design programme. Using supplier expertise and early input minimised re-design further down the line. Our workforce learnt from colleagues’ experience on previous reservoir sites – bringing first-hand knowledge and best practice to work at Bewdley Bank. The design itself incorporated a semi-precast structure which allowed significant programme and health and safety benefits during construction. The judges praised the scheme’s strong sustainability focus with a public health driver at its core and an emphasis on landscape considerations, materials re-use, sustainable drainage, and ecology. Jamie Colwell, Design Director at Mott MacDonald Bentley, commented: “Winning this award is great recognition for both a fantastic project and a superb team effort – especially having been previously praised for innovation on this scheme. It’s rewarding to see our relationship with DCWW progress from strength to strength – and being recognised by the ICE really highlights this.” The ICE Wales Cymru Awards were held virtually on 1 December 2021, recognising teams and individuals that have delivered some of the best civil engineering projects/work across the country. Find out more about the awards here. Read more about our work at Bewdley Bank at Water Projects Online. Overhead view of Bewdley Bank Service Reservoir Don’t forget to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay up to date with the latest news from across the business.

JN Bentley has published its latest annual review. The Annual Review takes a look back at 2021 in the world of JN Bentley, Mott MacDonald Bentley (MMB) and JBA Bentley. Throughout 2021 we continued to adapt to new ways of working whilst striving to consistently deliver high quality and meaningful engineering projects. Given it was another challenging year, we achieved a lot of great things, from environmental milestones and digital development to award-winning projects and employee excellence. The review covers the key areas of the business: people, money, and safety – with an overview of our most innovative projects from the year and a round up of other important themes such as digital, carbon, and social value. We hope you enjoy the read. Read the 2021 Annual Review here. Printed copy? We have a small number of printed copies of the annual review available. To request a copy, please email communications@jnbentley.co.uk

At JN Bentley we are committed to creating a fun workplace, where people have a voice, feel safe, reach their potential, prosper and where rewards are shared. We know that when we care about our people and they care about each other, they are happy. Wellbeing has been a major focus for the business – like many others – over the past 12 months. Throughout 2021 we have placed added focus on mental health, sharing resources with colleagues and promoting the types of support available both internally through things like our Employee Assistance Programme and outside the business too. Building a wellbeing network Having a network of support can have a huge impact on people’s mental health. As part of our wellbeing approach in 2021, we have grown our cohort of Wellbeing Champions – both on site and in our offices – and developed a library of resources and support materials for colleagues and line managers, accessible through our intranet. These include a series of Wellbeing Toolbox Talks that have been rolled out to site teams. Colleagues share their stories We supported various national wellbeing campaigns throughout the year, including Stress Awareness Month, Mental Health Awareness Week and Movember. As part of these campaigns, colleagues shared their personal stories, telling of their experiences around mental health challenges, including anxiety and depression, managing grief and how to cope and thoughts of suicide. We also shared employee stories of physical illness including cancer, personal injuries and long standing illness such as diabetes and the impact that these have had on their overall wellbeing. Images (above): Colleagues support Movember campaign We’re really grateful to those colleagues who shared their stories – these have helped to encourage open conversations around mental health and wellbeing across the business and we hope will give more people the confidence to speak up and reach out for support. Mental Health First Aiders During 2021, we trained Mental Health First Aiders (MHFAs) across the business and launched an internal MHFA crisis line, a positive addition to our existing wellbeing benefits package. Available to all employees 24/7, the confidential crisis line allows colleagues to access immediate mental health support either through our trained MHFAs or counselling services available through our Employee Assistance Programme. Supporting charities and fundraising The lingering Covid-19 restrictions didn’t stop our colleagues from fundraising to support some great causes throughout the year. With plenty of bake sales, coffee mornings, team events, quizzes and challenges organised, our teams raised over £24,000 for charities including The Samaritans and Movember. Our Company Matching scheme also supported employee efforts, contributing over £3,300 to charitable causes. Images (above): Colleagues taking part in fundraising activities – from charity football matches to muddy 5km runs and marathons. Company-wide activities also brought our teams together during the year. This included a competitive walking challenge – part of our national walking month campaign – which saw teams walk over 33,000 miles. These events not only allowed us to support some great causes but helped to bring teams back together for some well spirited collaborative competition after a challenging 18 months. Thank you to all those that took part! Looking to 2022 We’re really proud of the resilience and positivity our colleagues have shown over the last 12 months and are grateful to those that have shared their personal stories in support of our wellbeing campaigns throughout 2021. Looking to 2022, we will continue to build on our health and wellbeing programme, with a focus on mental health and aiming to further reduce the stigma, encourage positive wellbeing conversations and make sure we are providing the right support for our colleagues. ~ Remember to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to stay up to date with the latest news from across the business.

JN Bentley has committed to becoming net zero for all emissions by 2040. The company has also committed to becoming net zero for all scope 1 and 2 (direct) emissions by 2030. The commitments cover JN Bentley, Mott MacDonald Bentley and JBA Bentley. The UK Government target is to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, with the UK water sector committing to net zero operational emissions by 2030. With over 50% of UK carbon emissions sourced directly or indirectly from infrastructure, the time to act to reduce the impacts of climate change and protect the planet for future generations is now. There are six strands to the carbon approach. These steer the company’s route to net zero: 1. Leadership 2. Learning 3. Compliance with PAS 2080 4. Operationally Green 5. Low carbon solutions 6. Measures and targets The company is putting the finishing touches to its roadmap to 2040 and will share further details over the coming months. Acting now will protect the planet for future generations and help deliver improved value for clients as they too strive to achieve their own carbon goals. Whilst the task in hand requires great collective effort from stakeholders across industry, launching the carbon commitments is an important step for JN Bentley. Doing carbon ‘well’ will focus minds on innovation, collaboration and thinking that little bit differently – all things on which the organisation prides itself. Although today marks the launch of the commitments, work is already well underway towards achieving them. A number of projects can boast impressive low carbon credentials and a dedicated carbon working group is focusing on areas of the organisation that can make an immediate impact, including a constant review of the mix of vehicles on the company fleet, alternative fuels and office energy consumption. Keep across the company’s social media channels for examples of work already underway during the next week.