SUSTAINABILITY

Sustainable development within Concor encompasses the commitment of leadership, operating platforms and all employees.

Overview

Recognising the symbiotic relationship between business sustainability and the sustainable functioning of its social surroundings, Concor has a solid track record of corporate citizenship which has been embedded in the business over several decades.

Our primary purpose in society remains the delivery of infrastructure services that enables economic and social development, in a sustainable way. This dual focus helps to ensure a sustainable future for our business, while creating shared value for our clients, our employees and positively impacting the communities in which we operate. Sustainable development within Concor encompasses the commitment of leadership, business units and all employees.

Sustainable business practise is embodied in our attitude towards Health, Safety & Environment (HSE); Concor’s B-BBEE strategy and status is especially noteworthy, with the achievement a Level 1 B-BBEE in terms of the Amended Construction Sector Codes Gazetted 1 December 2017 and qualifies as a 51% black-owned and a 30% black women-owned business in terms of these Codes; Concor’s Integrated Management System ensures our divisions adopt the most stringent standards and compliance to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, in addition to compliance to ours client’s management plans and local and national legislation.

Quality Management

1000 Projects delivered in over 120 years

At its core, quality to Concor means meeting or exceeding each project’s scope of work to the satisfaction of our clients. To achieve this Concor early on in its projects:

Defines and share acceptance criteria by:

  • Complying with code standards,
  • Meeting all manufacturers’ specifications,
  • Conforming to our clients contract specifications and
  • Meeting each project-specific quality standards.

Creates planning for inspecting materials and processes from factory to site and in situ.

  • Our inspection process’s allows us to determine whether a specific task has been completed to specification.

Proactively identifies any possible deficiency and prevents reoccurrence by:  

  • Early and clearly identifying any issue, 
  • Taking responsibility and correcting any issue as well as
  • Documenting the correction.

In this manner, the highest levels of quality are achieved on all our projects. Our quality management system is certified against ISO 9001 for all areas of our operations with a dedicated team of quality personnel ensuring continuous compliance to this standard.

Concor has several patents registered for improving its activities:

  • ZA8405461B         Shuttering improvements
  • ZA8108855B         Min support sub uniting
  • ZA8007094B         Dumper vehicles and bodies
  • GB2013823A        Apparatus for burying pipelines, cables etc.
  • ZA7403626B         Structural elements
  • ZA7307135B         Flexible linings
  • ZA7004129B         Improvements in or relating to paving blocks
  • ZA7004128B         Improvements in paving blocks

Quality Management Track Record

Health, Safety & Environment

Construction and mining are high risk industries, where the potential for risk and injury are significantly higher than in other industries. Concor recognises that we have both a legal and ethical obligation to ensure that our operations do not result in negative impacts and to safeguard our employees. We also recognise that Occupational Health and Safety extends beyond our employees, therefore encompassing our obligation to other participants involved on our projects, communities and the environment as a whole.

Zero Harm drives our strategy and response to HSE initiatives, supported by strong leadership, continuous motivation, ongoing education and empowerment of our employees. The Concor HSE strategy is informed by the Group’s values and reinforced through a company-wide HSE awareness philosophy – Stop.Think.Act!

Safety

Visible Felt Leadership

Concor understands the role of management as change agents and facilitators of our safety culture. How we act, re-act and manage ourselves has a direct impact on how our people in Concor take decisions, prioritise and act. This felt leadership from management leads our people at all levels to understand and “feel” our leaders’ high standards, and accept their strong commitment to safety as non-negotiable.

Major Incident Prevention Programme

Concor recognises that focusing mainly on low injury rates does not necessarily equate to zero fatalities. In order to address known fatal risks, Concor has implemented its Major Incident Prevention (M.I.P.) Programme, which concentrates efforts on the verification of critical controls by supervisors in the field. M.I.P analyses pathways where fatalities might occur and where direct intervention can prevent a Major Incident Event (M.I.E.) from occurring. M.I.P is easily adapted to any project or work site and by capturing the lessons learnt back into M.I.P, it continuously locks future improvements.

Collaboration with stakeholders 

Concor is a proud and active member of Master Builders, the SACPCMP and the CIDB, all non-profit organisations aimed at improving, safety of all construction industry stakeholders through free exchange and sharing of information.

Lost Time Incident Frequency Rate – FY12 to FY23

Occupational Health & Wellness

Concor values its employees and implements appropriate programmes which are designed to support and assist employees in balancing work-life demands. Through the Wellness@Work initiative, Concor offers both on and offsite support services to employees and their immediate families, including but not limited to:

  • Free, confidential support and trauma counselling services
  • Health and wellness screening
  • Health risk assessments
  • Medical surveillance
  • Executive medicals

Environment

Concor aspires to Zero Harm in all aspects of its business including the natural environment in which it operates. Concor has established practices to prevent and mitigate pollution emanating from our industrial processes and this knowledge is expanded on and spread to all projects.  We have developed critical environmental standards to ensure environmental performance against which risks and opportunities can be assessed and managed. In addition, we have developed several performance strategies to limit our use of or manage:

  • biodiversity
  • water
  • energy consumption
  • process waste and
  • prevention of pollution to water, air and land.

Climate Change

Concor acknowledges that climate change is a major threat facing us and we are committed to making a determined effort to operate in an ever more efficient and sustainable manner. 

Concor conducts an annual review on it’s carbon footprint, to focus on areas to minimize it’s impact, Concor is also able to advise it’s clients on opportunities to minimize carbon emissions in the construction and mining industries.

Green Buildings

Concor is a founding member of the Green Building Council of South Africa, having certified 3, 4 and 5 star buildings throughout Southern Africa according to Green Star, LEED and Edge certification schemes. Concor has also successfully made use of innovative materials which lowered the weight of internal walls, mitigated heat loss, or reduced building’s carbon footprint with geopolymer concretes.

Integrated Waste Management

Concor’s aspirant target with regards to its waste streams is “zero waste to landfill”, below is how we have been doing over the past three years.

Legal Compliance: 

Our clients EMPs and Environmental Authorisations are embedded in our daily processes to ensure our operations constantly understand their obligations to our legal commitments. In addition to this we also ensure our operations are legally assessed annually.

Environmental Management Track Record

B-BBEE & Transformation

Enterprise & Supplier Development

Skills Development

Investing in the Future

Socio-Economic Development

Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment & Transformation

Enterprise & Supplier Development

Concor understands that building a business entails challenges and levels of untold sacrifices, before reaping any benefits. With this in mind, we have developed an Enterprise and Supplier Development (ESD) programme that is designed to contribute significantly to the transformation of the construction industry, through the development and advancement of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs). Our mandate is operationalised through an integrated programme which seeks to support, develop and mentor SMMEs, thus providing a solid springboard from which they can enhance their capabilities, grow their businesses and successfully compete in the market. Established in 2010, the Concor ESD programme is implemented as a 5-year mentorship and training programme. The programme is self-funding and leverages time and resources of Concor employees and associated professionals to provide skills transfer and support as follows:

  • General mentorship and coaching
  • Specialised technical training
  • Financial management and human resources training
  • Access to office space, administrative support and transport
  • Subsidised leasing of plant and equipment

Concor does not provide financial assistance or loans to ESD beneficiaries, but assists by facilitating access to financial institutions, provides references for beneficiaries and provides surety around future work. Concor also facilitates access to networking opportunities, exposing ESD beneficiaries to potential clients and suppliers. Programme implementation is decentralised and relies on support from all business units. The mentorship programme is informed by the specific development needs of beneficiaries, and mentors are assigned if they have the requisite skills, areas of specialisation and based on their availability. Concor commits in excess of R70 million to the programme annually, which is calculated as a percentage of the mentor’s salary and the number of hours committed per month.

Skills Development

Concor, through its Employee Development initiatives, is committed to the development of the organisation as a whole. This is achieved through ongoing education, training and development of all employees, in line with business objectives and professional development needs. Skills development and training opportunities are also extended to selected beneficiaries in line with organisational demands, as well as legislative requirements and industry best practise. Concor offers professional development, managerial and leadership programmes in support of individual and/or operational business needs as follows.

Graduate Mentorship Programme

The Graduate Mentorship Programme (GMP) assists graduates with the transition from university to the working environment. The GMP is aimed at formalising and guiding the transfer of technical, leadership and management skills from mentors (experienced professionals within our business) to mentees (new graduates). The GMP includes an induction into the organisation, followed by 4 training blocks over a 24 month period. This programme also assists mentees to complete portfolios required for professional registration with relevant councils, upon completion of the GMP or during the course of their careers.

Management Development Programme

Management Development Programmes are geared towards Concor employees with potential to advance to management or existing managers requiring support or career advancement. Three programmes (Next Manager, Managing for Results and Managing Managers) are offered and implemented in partnership with the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).

Digital Learning Programmes (E-learning)

Concor also recently introduced digital learning programmes for senior staff. Digital learning programmes allows the company to offer world class training, without the disruption of travel time and extended periods away from work. Senior staff are enrolled with the Wits Digital Campus and courses include inter alia, Project Management and Financial Management of business operations.

Socio-Economic Development

Concor has a solid track record as a good corporate citizen. We engage in social upliftment activities aimed at alleviating poverty, redressing inequalities of the past and contributing towards the development of engineering and built environment professionals required to sustain infrastructure development and economic growth in the future. The Group has adopted a Socio-Economic Development (SED) policy which forms the basis for engagement with development stakeholders and guides implementation of appropriate programmes. In alignment with the Construction Sector Code, Concor’s SED programme has a dual focus, prioritising funding for both structured and community engagement programmes.

SED Strategy

Concor’s SED programme is geared towards providing holistic support and engagement across all phases of the education and training pipeline, while simultaneously addressing issues of poverty, unemployment and economic growth. The SED strategy prioritises education, skills development and support for communities with limited services. Concor has operationalised three core programmes to support programme implementation:

Funding is prioritised for both structured programmes and Communities Limited Services.

Structured programmes

Focused on fewer, structured programmes that are funded over longer periods. Concor has a bias towards education focusing specifically on literacy and numeracy development and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (“STEM”). Investment in STEM sparks interest in construction and the built environment; improves access to and success in this sector, creates a steady pipeline of future talent into our business and addresses critical skills shortages within our industry as a whole.

Communities with Limited Services

Due to Concor’s vast geographical footprint, we encounter numerous communities in need of support. With the support of community liaison officers, we are able to identify and establish relationships with key stakeholders, undertake needs assessments and partner with local suppliers and service providers to address community needs.

Corporate Social Investment

Discretionary Funding

Once-off donations assists in building relationships with key clients and stakeholder groups in communities, and goes a long way in safeguarding our employees and assets, and enhancing our visibility and reputation in these communities. Discretionary funding is allocated in support of smaller projects based on identified needs that are aligned to the overall strategy and focus areas.

 Sikhulisa Fund

Represents Concor’s flagship Employee Community Involvement (ECI) programme through which employees make voluntary contributions from their salaries in support of community development.. Funds raised through the Sikhulisa Fund are donated to charitable organisations that serve the needs and interest of vulnerable children across the country. Through the Sikhukisa Fund, Concor also enables employee volunteering opportunities in partnership with partner organisations.

SED Focus Areas

Structured Programmes

  • Early Childhood Development Numeracy & Literacy development; ECD Practitioner training; ECD resources
  • Primary & Secondary Education Educator training; Curriculum development and delivery; Systemic school improvement programmes; Learner tuition and mentoring in core subjects of Science, Technology, English and Mathematics; Learning and teaching resources.
  • Tertiary Education & Training Industry or education related academic research; Student engagement and site exposure.

Corporate Social Investment 

  • Community skills training
  • Capacity building
  • Educational resource
  • School or community nutrition programmes
  • Resources for orphans, vulnerable children or children at risk

 

Contact Us

Socio-Economic Development

Donique De Figueiredo sed.csi@concor.co.za

Quality – Construction Platform

David Akunnusi david.akinnusi@concor.co.za

Quality – Mining Services

Liz Diederichs lizzie.diederichs@concor.co.za

Health & Safety

Chris Botha chris.botha2@concor.co.za

Environment

Bruce Paul bruce.paul@concor.co.za

Enterprise & Supplier Development

Mohammed Rassack mohammed.rassack@concor.co.za