Environmental & Carbon Lead

Costain Group PLC

London

JOB DESCRIPTION
HS2 is Great Britain’s new high-speed railway. Once operational, HS2’s British-built bullet trains will provide zero-carbon journeys between the UK’s two largest cities, Birmingham and London. 
Comprising 140-miles of track, four new state-of-the art stations, two depots, 32 miles of tunnel, and 130 bridges, HS2 will leave a legacy of environmentally responsible travel, economic regeneration and technological innovation for generations to come. 
HS2 Rail Systems Package 2 involves the design, supply, build, testing and commissioning of all tunnel and lineside M&E systems between London and Birmingham. Scope of works includes installation of tunnel ventilation, cable management, containment and earthing, fire suppression systems, LV distribution and tunnel lighting, cross passage doors, earthing & bonding, points heating, junction lighting and power installation. Costain will be prime contractor, delivering the works with the support of a design team and specialist supply chain partners.  
Reporting to the delivery director, The Environmental and Carbon Manager will ensure the successful delivery of the project in line with the Client, Parent companies and Legal requirements with regards to Environmental and Carbon management.
Responsibilities
RESPONSIBILITIES
Providing carbon-related expertise to the project teams to aid the development of the low-carbon design in line with HS2’s carbon minimisation policy, influencing best practice and innovation throughout the project
Quantifying of whole life cycle carbon emissions to identify carbon hotspots and inform carbon reduction strategies as well as necessary reporting on this
Responsible for identifying and manging any environmental Undertakings and Assurances and ensuring compliance.
Working with the delivery teams at each site to ensure good environmental management and compliance with the environmental management plan.
Works with the interfacing contractors in the lead up to Principal Contractor handovers.
Working with the wider project team to ensure that all carbon reduction, sustainable material requirements are appropriately accounted for within the programme and target cost
Understand the Client Carbon and Sustainability Policies and Processes and statutory requirements to develop the Costain processes to ensure the requirements are implemented on the project.
Assist and provide advice to Contract Management in the understanding of stakeholders (internal and external) aims, priorities and risks with regards to the Carbon.
Monitoring, analysis and reporting of environment, Carbon and sustainability performance. Utilise data to highlight areas of further consideration, evaluation and intervention.
Prepare and present environmental and sustainability training/briefings.
Understand the Client, Joint Venture Partners and supply chains Environment and Sustainability Policies, Processes and statutory requirements as they affect the contract's operations and ensure that the requirements, as applicable within their discipline, are implemented on the project.
Provide environmental specialist support to the commercial team for any scope changes, early warnings or other formal communications required with the client on environmental matters.
Provide operational and functional management advice to the design and construction team on the practical implementation of contract policies and processes. Provide assurance to senior management team, understanding and communicating all key risks and relevant information as necessary to ensure sound environmental management across the contract. 
Maintain the Environmental Management System, certified to ISO 14001:2015, ensuring it remains appropriate to all contract risks and legal compliance at a minimum (incl. the HS2 Act and associated Environmental Minimum requirements). Monitor and report performance against targets and drive innovation and continuous improvement throughout the contract team.
Development and implementation of the Environmental and Carbon Management plans in line with the Costain and HS2 requirements
Essential
Knowledge, Skills, and Experience
Minimum of three years’ relevant experience (within the last five years). Such experience must clearly demonstrate a practical understanding of life cycle assessment (LCA) and its methodology. This included familiarity and use of ISO 14040, ISO 14044 and use of carbon footprinting tools or other carbon LCA methodologies
Experience in undertaking assessments of the carbon and energy impact of construction projects
Knowledge and experience includes application of Type III environmental declarations in the construction context, specifically awareness of EN 15978:2011 and EN 15804:2012+A1: 2013
Excellent organisations, communication and time management skills
Demonstrates an unwavering passion for the Environment and Sustainability, driving innovation and an ability to positively influence and develop those around them.
Essential
QUALIFICATIONS
Degree level education
Chartered Environmentalist, Full Member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) or equivalent and registered Environmental Auditor (required but with extensive EMS and audit experience can be acquired once in post).
ABOUT US
Costain helps to improve people’s lives with integrated, leading edge, smart infrastructure solutions across the UK’s energy, water, transportation and defence markets. We help our clients improve their business performance by increasing capacity, improving customer service, safeguarding security, enhancing resilience, decarbonising and delivering increased efficiency. Our vision is to be the UK’s leading smart infrastructure solutions company. We will achieve this by focusing on blue chip clients whose major spending plans are underpinned by strategic national needs, regulatory commitments, legislation or essential performance requirements. We offer our clients leading edge solutions that are digitally optimised through the following five services which cover the whole lifecycle of their assets: future-shaping strategic consultancy; consultancy and advisory; digital technology solutions; asset optimisation and complex programme delivery. Our culture and values underpin everything we do.
Costain appreciate the time and effort taken when applying for one of our positions but, due to the high volume of responses, we are unable to provide individual feedback on candidates at application phase.
We do share individual feedback following an interview .
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that disclose they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.
It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.
For more details please go to the Disability Confident website:

Posted 2026-03-15

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