Rør System is Eco-Lighthouse certified

Rør System AS is now Eco-Lighthouse (Miljøfyrtårn) certified. The certification is not a goal in itself, but a framework that makes environmental management a permanent part of how we run the company and deliver our projects.

From ambition to documented practice

We have worked towards Eco-Lighthouse certification through much of the year, and it is now in place. For us this is above all about structure: goals we can be measured against, routines that are actually used out on site, and a system that lets us improve year by year rather than treating environmental concerns ad hoc.

The certification work has been led by Karine Tofsland, in close cooperation with Runar Sender, with contributions from across the organisation. The official Eco-Lighthouse diploma will be received at Oslo City Hall in September.

What Eco-Lighthouse actually requires

Eco-Lighthouse is Norway's most widely used environmental certification, and is recognised by the EU as documentation of environmental management. It requires the business to document and improve its practice across a number of areas:

• Working environment and HSE – systematic follow-up of routines and deviations
• Procurement – environmental requirements for suppliers and material choices
• Energy use – mapping and reduction in our own premises and on site
• Transport – logistics, driving patterns and choice of vehicles
• Waste handling – sorting, volumes and reduction of residual waste
• Emissions and chemical use – control over what is used and how

The certification is renewed every three years, and each year we submit a climate and environmental report with figures on actual consumption, waste volumes and progress against our own targets. It is the annual reporting that makes the scheme binding: last year's numbers always sit next to this year's.

What does this mean for you as a customer?

For developers, main contractors and facility operators there are three concrete consequences.

The documentation is ready when the tender asks for it

Environmental requirements are no longer limited to public procurement. More and more private developers require an environmental management system, a waste plan and documented sorting. We now have this documentation in place, and do not have to produce it from scratch in every single tender process.

Waste and material loss are planned for, not cleaned up afterwards

Piping projects generate offcuts, packaging and surplus materials. When sorting rates and waste volumes are something we measure and report on, they also become something we plan for – in the degree of prefabrication, in the cutting lists and in how materials are delivered to site. It is the same logic behind our investment in prefabrication: the more that is finished in the workshop, the less waste, noise and transport at the building.

Environmental choices become traceable

When you choose us as your piping contractor, you also get a system that can answer where the materials came from, how the waste was handled and what consumption actually was. That is useful both in the project accounts and in the developer's own environmental reporting.

The certification is the starting point

The most important work begins now. An environmental management system is worth little if it lives in a binder – the value lies in the routines being used in the field, the numbers actually being recorded, and the targets being tightened once they are met.

We have set targets for waste sorting, procurement and energy use, and we will report on them openly. If we do not improve from one year to the next, that is something we have to act on – not something we can document our way out of.

Read more about our environmental work, policy and reporting on our environmental profile.