4.4 Working with our local communities
Chapter 4
As a large and specialised construction company we are acutely aware of the impacts and disruptions that our projects may cause in local and public areas.
While these impacts and the way we operate are highly regulated, we believe there is an opportunity to proactively engage with local communities and impacted people, to achieve the best possible outcomes. Communication is key. But even more important is operating according to our core values – being caring, credible and entrepreneurial. This is why working with local communities is important to us and a material topic.
Informing and engaging our local communities
Because of the nature of our work, many of our impacts at project sites are highly visible to the local community. These impacts may include noise, vibration, visual impacts, traffic and travel disruption, earthworks and vegetation removal. All of these impacts are regulated by local authority permits, regulation and specific contract conditions. We assess all potential impacts and proactively engage with authorities and the local community to find ways to minimise or mitigate them. Where required or useful, we develop communication plans to inform and engage local communities and affected people.
Our engagement occurs prior to, during and after the completion of our projects. We acknowledge, that in some instances, finding solutions that are ideal for all parties is not possible or practical. In these situations, we maintain open dialogue and seek to understand all counter party perspectives, including communicating the low carbon and public transport benefits that our projects bring. We are open to learning and are continually updating our approach to how we work with our local communities.
Monitoring community feedback
A key measure of our impacts on local communities is the feedback we receive from them. In 2023, many of our projects had dedicated social media channels, where up to date information is provided to stakeholders and interactive feedback is managed. It has been positive to see how community interaction is developing through the use of such platforms, and we will continue to engage and build outreach using this approach.
We are also aware that many of our projects do not necessarily have such a high profile or level of community engagement because they occur in rural and less populated areas. At the same time, there are no doubt interested and affected stakeholders seeking information and ways to engage. We are committed to developing different approaches to community engagement which are fit for purpose and acknowledge this is a work in progress.
We assess all potential impacts and proactively engage with authorities and the local community to find ways to minimize or mitigate them.
Visit from UN Global Compact
“It is great to witness the operation of a construction site, that is so forward leaning on environment and sustainability, and which shows that you can operate in an environmentally friendly, but at the same time economically and financially sound way”
Sanda Ojiambo,
Assistant Secretary-General
of the UN Global CompactIn June, NRC Group Norway’s Managing director, Arild Moe, and Project manager, Tor Øyvind Andersen, had the pleasure of guiding Sanda Ojiambo, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations Global Compact, and her team around at Tryvann. Here we are building a water reservoir for Oslo Municipality. The main focus for the visit was our initiatives to reduce emissions and how we are taking care of nature and our surroundings while creating a positive impact for society.
Some of the environmental solutions chosen for the project include environmentally friendly concrete, emission-free machines, use of solar panels and reuse of excavated materials. According to Jukka Viitanen, Head of Sustainability at NRC group the Tryvann-project has saved 470 tons of CO2-emissions so far. This equates to 168 round-trip flights from Oslo to Bangkok or the equivalent of nearly 10 percent of all reported emissions from our Norwegian businesses.
