Identifying Best Practices on Becoming More Sustainable
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Improving the sustainability of project-oriented organisations Making the activities of Rijkswaterstaat more sustainable Master thesis report Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management T.S. Fongers 1172565 October 10, 2010 Improving the sustainability of project-oriented organisations Making the activities of Rijkswaterstaat more sustainable Author: T.S. (Tijmen) Fongers – Student number 1172565 Graduation Chair: Prof. mr. dr. E.F. (Ernst) ten Heuvelhof TU Delft, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Policy Analysis section First Supervisor: Dr. W.W. (Wijnand) Veeneman TU Delft, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Policy Analysis section Second Supervisor: Dr. Ir. Z. (Zofia) Lukszo TU Delft, Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Energy and Industry section External Supervisor: Ing. H.P. (Harry) de Boer Rijkswaterstaat, Regional Department of Zuid-Holland, RCI Department External Supervisor: Dr. Ir. P.T.G.A. (Pieter) Jacobs Rijkswaterstaat, Regional Department of Zuid-Holland, ARA Department Course: SPM5910 Master Thesis Project October 10, 2010 “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today” Abraham Lincoln Abstract This research is performed by order of Rijkswaterstaat, more specifically the Regional Department of Zuid-Holland. Rijkswaterstaat is an executive agency of the Dutch Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Rijkswaterstaat is responsible for management and maintenance of the Dutch network of roads, waterways and water systems. It also has a policy advisory task. Rijkswaterstaat organises its construction and maintenance tasks in projects. Rijkswaterstaat is trying to become more sustainable. To this end the organisation has constructed ambitious sustainability goals: • A reduction of 30% in of emission of greenhouse gasses, primarily CO2, by 2020 in reference to the emissions in 1990 • Double the pace of the reduction of energy demand from 1% to 2% annually • Increase the share of sustainably generated energy from the current 2% to 20% in 2020. To realise these goals the core activities of Rijkswaterstaat (construction and maintenance projects) have to be made more sustainable. The main research question was therefore: How could Rijkswaterstaat improve the sustainability of its core activities? Rijkswaterstaat had a strong desire to learn from other organisations. Besides analysing the current and past way of implementing sustainability in project this research should identify best practices on making a project-oriented organisation more sustainable. Therefore this research had the following goal: To advise Rijkswaterstaat how to incorporate sustainability into future projects and maintenance works based on what other organisations are doing in this field and thereby providing knowledge on how RWS and other project-oriented organisations can deal with sustainability when “being sustainable” is not one of their core activities. A case study research was set up with the following cases: • MaasVlakte2 • Scheveningen Boulevard • The Highways Agency • Schiphol A comparison was made between the working methods of Rijkswaterstaat and the working methods encountered in the cases. This comparison has led to the identification of 6 deficiencies and 2 plus-points of the working methods of Rijkswaterstaat. The 6 deficiencies are: i 1. The sustainability goals that are currently used by Rijkswaterstaat are taken from national policy and they are not based upon the characteristics of the premises of Rijkswaterstaat. 2. Employees are involved into the theme on a voluntary basis, as opposed to their function. This causes knowledge to be decentralised and sustainability to be an easy victim of busy schedules. 3. Rijkswaterstaat is not actively sharing success stories on sustainability. This results in diminishing commitment of employees who are not directly involved into the theme. 4. There is very little coherence between the various sustainability efforts. Rijkswaterstaat is missing coordination of the sustainability efforts in projects and between projects. There is no imperative approach towards sustainability and as a consequence sustainability rises autonomously from the projects. 5. Rijkswaterstaat provides insufficient freedom to contractors on the realisation of sustainability goals. The expertise from these contractors as well as a constructor’s perspective on the sustainability of a project are not fully utilised. 6. Rijkswaterstaat is not adequately naming all sustainability efforts. The lack of central overview on all sustainability efforts means that measuring the effectiveness of these efforts is very hard. The 2 identified plus-points are: 1. RWS uses sustainability goals that are formulated in a limitative manner. The case study research pointed out that this way of formulating goals has a strong motivating effect on employees because there is a fixed end-point. 2. The System Based Contract Control Method that is being used by Rijkswaterstaat is perfectly suited to monitor the sustainability performance of projects. This monitoring method was the best monitoring method encountered in the case study research. Based on the case study research a set of recommendations was created that allows Rijkswaterstaat to overcome the identified deficiencies. Implementing these recommendations should improve the sustainability of the core activities of Rijkswaterstaat. First of all, Rijkswaterstaat should appoint a sustainability coordinator. He can bring coordination between the sustainability efforts in projects and between projects and by doing so he could realise synergy benefits. Due to his central position within the organisation he becomes the contact person for employees of Rijkswaterstaat as well as for external parties. The sustainability coordinator grants support to Project Teams on implementing sustainability into their projects. The second step should be a reconsideration of the sustainability goals. Analyses of the potential of the premises of Rijkswaterstaat on generating energy and reducing the energy consumption were being carried out at the time of writing this report. The results of these analyses should be ii compared with the goals that are set to ensure that the goals match the characteristics of the premises. The third step Rijkswaterstaat should take is matching the processing of sustainability measures in projects to other working methods. Rijkswaterstaat is giving contractors considerable freedom in projects, however not on sustainability. The expertise of contractors should be put to use. The fourth and final step Rijkswaterstaat should take is strengthening employee commitment. Success stories, from within Rijkswaterstaat as well as external stories, should be shared with employees. Employee commitment can be improved when success is demonstrated. Furthermore, employees who are working on the theme in projects and working groups should officially be awarded time to work on the subject. This set of recommendations primarily serves to create more coherence between sustainability efforts by creating a more imperative approach towards sustainability in projects, by centralising knowledge and by increasing employee commitment. Ensuring the appropriateness of the sustainability goals and using contractor expertise complete the improvements to the current method of implementing sustainability into the core activities of Rijkswaterstaat. iii Management samenvatting Dit onderzoek is uitgevoerd in opdracht van de Regionale Dienst Zuid-Holland van Rijkswaterstaat. Rijkswaterstaat is een agentschap van het Ministerie van Verkeer & Waterstaat en de organisatie is verantwoordelijk voor het managen en onderhouden van 3 belangrijke infrastructuren in Nederland: het netwerk van snelwegen, het netwerk van waterwegen en de watersystemen. Rijkswaterstaat heeft voor deze 3 netwerken ook een adviesgevende taak. Rijkswaterstaat voert constructie- en onderhoudswerk aan deze 3 netwerken uit in de vorm van projecten. Rijkswaterstaat wil verduurzamen. Om dit te bereiken zijn de volgende doelen opgesteld: • Een reductie van 30% in de emissie van broeikasgassen (voornamelijk CO2) vóór 2020, vergeleken met de emissies van 1990 • Het tempo van de reductie van energieconsumptie verdubbelen van 1% per jaar naar 2% per jaar • Het aandeel van duurzaam opgewekte energie moet vóór 2020 worden vergroot van 2% naar 20% Om deze doelen te bereiken moeten de kernactiviteiten van Rijkswaterstaat (de constructie- en onderhoudsprojecten) duurzamer worden gemaakt. De hoofdonderzoeksvraag was daarom: Hoe kan Rijkswaterstaat the duurzaamheid van zijn kernactiviteiten vergroten? Rijkswaterstaat had een sterk verlangen om te leren van andere organisaties. Dit onderzoek moest behalve een analyse van de huidige manier van omgaan met duurzaamheid in projecten ook een set ‘best practices’ op het gebied van het verduurzamen van projectorganisaties opleveren. Dit onderzoek had daarom als doel: Rijkswaterstaat adviseren hoe duurzaamheid in toekomstige constructie- en onderhoudsprojecten kan worden verwerkt, gebaseerd op wat andere organisaties hiermee doen. Zo moet inzicht worden verkregen in hoe projectorganisaties duurzamer kunnen worden wanneer “duurzaam zijn” niet tot de kerntaken behoort. Een case study onderzoek is opgezet waarbij de volgende cases zijn onderzocht: • MaasVlakte2 • De Scheveningse Boulevard • The Highways Agency • Schiphol iv De werkwijzen uit de cases zijn vergeleken met de werkwijze van Rijkswaterstaat. Deze vergelijking heeft geresulteerd in de identificatie van 6 tekortkomingen