Halcrow Group Ltd - a CH2M HILL company

Halcrow delivers planning, design and management services for developing infrastructure and buildings worldwide. We contribute to the construction, operation and maintenance of the built environment, and the protection, enhancement and maintenance of the natural environment.

We take on the big issues that affect us all – water, transportation, energy, and creating places to live and work.

Our work is guided by our ethos, comprising our values, our code of conduct and our purpose: to sustain and improve the quality of people's lives.

We aim to make sure that the people who work with us – our employees, clients, partners and the wider communities we serve – see the evidence of our commitment to that ethos, in our day-to-day work and more broadly as a business.

On 10 November 2011, Halcrow was acquired by CH2M HILL, the global full-service consulting, design, construction, and operations firm. With almost 30,000 employees, our combined firms strengthen our leadership in water, environmental, transportation, and other markets.

At the heart of our business lies our purpose – to sustain and improve the quality of people’s lives. You’ll see our commitment to this reflected in the type of work we do and the way we behave towards our employees and the communities we live in.

We take a broad view of corporate responsibility and embrace a range of activities, from small, one-off events inspired by individual employees to large, sustained activities, such as those run by the Halcrow Foundation.

We aim to develop a programme which goes beyond individual projects and acts of giving to longer-term involvement with communities. We feel that depth of relationship has more substance and meaning for everyone concerned and ultimately leads to greater benefit.

You can learn about some of the things we’ve done in Vox and in our sustainability report.

Now we’re together, we can deliver you more. We’re stronger than ever and better placed to play our part in solving the world’s most complex and challenging problems.

Geography
Our key markets – the Middle East, South America, India, Australia, the UK and the USA – are all set to benefit from our enhanced portfolio: a greater depth of local knowledge and project experience, and a combined expertise to rival that of any of our competitors.

Leadership
Bigger is often better, but our real aspiration is to be the most respected company in our industry, leading the way with the highest standards in quality, safety and ethics.

Culture
Our two values-based cultures have knitted together naturally, combining industry-wide recognition of achievements in health and safety, meeting client needs and being a respected employer. Our common principles of honesty, integrity and respect remain at the heart of our business.

People
Technical talent and best-in-class project and programme management are what our people bring to each of our clients’ greatest challenges. We’ll continue to deliver game-changing solutions for projects around the world and rewarding careers for all of our people.

From disabled orphans in Romania and slum residents in Delhi to the disenfranchised in New York and the terminally ill in the UK, the Halcrow Foundation works to relieve suffering around the world.

We’re a UK registered charity (no. 1115729) established since 2005, initially in response to the Indian Ocean tsunami. We work in partnership with local non-governmental organisations, non profit making organisations and other charities across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

Our projects alleviate poverty and suffering caused by natural disaster or as a result of people’s social and economic conditions. This is achieved through the development of education, health and social services, the improvement of transport infrastructure, water supplies and other communal facilities and the promotion of self help activities.

Halcrow donates 1 per cent of its annual profits to the foundation, as well as making a significant contribution in terms of people’s time and its resources. Halcrow’s employees also raise funds through a range of sponsored activities and donate money through payroll giving. As of 2010, the value of all this help – in terms of cash and in kind support – exceeds £1.1 million. The general public are welcome to make a donation to support the foundation’s work.

Despite the support Halcrow extends to the foundation, the charity remains entirely independent of the company – Halcrow exerts absolutely no influence over the way the charity conducts its work.

Halcrow is a global company – maintaining consistent health and safety standards is a 24-hour priority for us. The health and safety of all employees and those affected by, or involved with our work, is a core part of Halcrow's ethical business approach and is embedded in all our decision-making processes.

There are four core values at the heart of all our initiatives. These are:

• To value people who put safety at the centre of what they do
• To look after our employees
• To build safety into our work
• To raise and improve upon health and safety standards globally

Halcrow’s 7,000 or so employees work across over 70 countries, each with its own local safety legislation. Safety standards can vary widely. Providing consistent safety standards across all our locations is a challenge that we meet through a global health and safety framework.

This framework is built around a set of baselines. In addition to local legislation, these provide a minimum standard of good health and safety practice for working in the office and on site, and are a requirement of all Halcrow offices worldwide.

Further health and safety guidance and initiatives are also in place, to cover any risks associated with specific work undertaken by individuals.

This means all Halcrow people are protected by a three-tired safety system:

• By the baselines of good practice
• By local health and safety legislation
• By task-specific rules that cover any risks associated with the work you are doing

Halcrow has a proactive organisational culture, founded on the robust risk management of health and safety issues. By embedding internal compliance deep within the business, we ensure Halcrow is well placed to tackle health and safety challenges around the world.

Ever since the Railway Age, Halcrow has applied its skills and ingenuity to all areas of civil engineering while guarding the integrity and objectivity of its independence.

Halcrow’s pedigree stretches back to 1868 when Thomas Meik, one of the most knowledgeable men of his time on docks and harbour works, set up in practice as a consulting engineer.

Thomas Meik retired in 1888 and left the company in the hands of his two sons, Patrick and Charles and the company became Thomas Meik and Sons and later P.W. and C.S. Meik. Under the brothers the company continued to make steady progress with docks, harbours and railway projects preeminent.

In 1921 William Halcrow was taken into the partnership which in 1923 became known as C.S. Meik and Halcrow and then W.T. Halcrow and Partners in 1941.

During the Second World War the company was busy on important war works such as Deep Level Shelters in London for the Home Office, Technical advice to the War Cabinet and the incredible Mulberry Harbour breakwaters for the invasion of Europe. Halcrow also worked closely with Barnes Wallis the inventor of the bouncing bomb. He had read William Halcrow's 1939 paper on the structure of the Möhne Dam and wanted to ensure his invention was sufficiently destructive. A dam in Wales was blown up to test the validity of his ideas.

In 1944 William Halcrow was knighted in recognition of his services to the country and in 1946 he was elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He retired in 1955 and died in 1958 after one of the most distinguished careers in British civil engineering history.

After the knighthood the company became Sir William Halcrow and Partners and in 1985, a private limited company bearing the same name was formed. In 1997 the various Halcrow businesses and departments came together under one name: Halcrow Group Limited.

In the 1980s and 90s Halcrow began expanding its skill base recruiting increasing numbers of experts who were not engineers, including chemists, ecologists, planners, designers, economists, hydrologists and many more.

Halcrow's first commissions outside of the UK were undertaken in the 1890s. By 2007, projects outside the UK accounted for around half the company's turnover.

The company played a major role in the development of the Gulf states and in the 1960s and 70s were the consulting engineers for major projects such as Port Rashid and Jebel Ali Port in Dubai and the Ports of Jeddah and Jubail in Saudi Arabia.

The environment is an important consideration in all of our work and has become an inherent part of our culture.

As a business in the infrastructure sector, we understand that what we do has an impact on the environment, so our environment expertise is evident in a range of markets, from shaping and managing the built environment to recycling, waste treatment, remediation of polluted areas and minimising noise.

We aim to minimise that impact by seeking out innovative ways to deliver our clients’ projects. Often these go hand in hand with cost and resources savings, bringing our clients additional value.

We also practise what we preach, using our skills to make Halcrow a more environmentally friendly company, from recycling paper to introducing video conferencing to reduce travel.

To help us deliver environmentally sound projects and to give us a strong, recognised framework within which to work, we have invested time and money in achieving external accreditation.

Our purpose is to sustain and improve the quality of people’s lives.

We believe our greatest contribution to sustainability is through the long-term environmental outcomes of the projects undertaken for our clients.

In delivering these projects, we recognise the contribution to be made through our own operational efficiency, which is the subject of a separate corporate responsibility policy.

We have a reputation for honesty, integrity and delivering on our commitments. It is essential that we build on and enhance this reputation if we are to continue to deliver our purpose.

How we will deliver
High standards of sustainable development and environmental performance are fundamental to our purpose, and are an integral part of our business strategy. They require us to be profitable; to deliver projects and services to the best ethical and the most appropriate technical standards; to respect people and the environment; to listen to people both inside and outside the group; and to be transparent in what we are doing and how we are doing it. Our business success is founded upon recognising these imperatives