Case Study

Buying Force – Improving sustainability standards throughout the supply chain

Buying Force, a 50:50 joint venture agreement between PRUPIM and DTZ, has been helping around 50 high quality preferred suppliers across the UK to improve their sustainability credentials.

In 2006, Buying Force established a set of procedures to monitor the sustainability standards of PRUPIM's suppliers. In April 2007, the monitoring system was put to the test as Buying Force conducted a survey of preferred suppliers to gauge the level of their sustainability commitment. The results indicate that 32% of companies surveyed have a sustainability policy, are at least ISO 14001 certified, and have a sustainability score of over 100 out of 350. 

Buying Force engages with the suppliers through regular review meetings, which address a range of matters, including sustainability issues. Buying Force’s preferred suppliers are now enthusiastically embracing the process and many are seeking ISO 14001 certification. For example, one supplier, Landmark (a landscape maintenance and exterior cleaning specialist) set themselves a goal to achieve the status of an approved supplier with Buying Force. In order to do so they embarked on ISO 9001 (Quality) and ISO 14001 (Environment) certification programmes:

“Buying Force’s initial audit contributed to our gap analysis and we found the audit report to be extremely useful and clear in identifying any perceived areas of weakness. Using our quality consultants, the gap analysis and the Buying Force Audit report, we were able to ensure that any gaps in our processes or procedures were addressed. Landmarks have subsequently been successful in achieving certification for both ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. We believe the significant improvements we have made to our quality and environmental processes, have ensured that Landmarks now have a proven and robust management system upon which we can continually improve, whilst also enabling us to easily demonstrate our capability in meeting and exceeding customer requirements.”

Julie Lawson, Managing Director
Landmarks (UK) Nationwide Ltd.