Helping KiwiRail to deliver social good

How Height helped

New to sustainability strategy, KiwiRail engaged Height to help.

Our initial focus was on educating KiwiRail around embedding social good. Beginning with a workshop on how to weave sustainable outcomes into their process - from RFP  through to delivery, we drilled down on KiwiRail’s focus areas: Environmental Stewardship, Social Sustainability, and Economy and Supply Chain.

Next, we helped the team redesign its RFP to ensure sustainable values beyond just economic success were baked into their contractor selection process.

Creating a Sustainability Management Plan, drawing on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, we established a purpose-led project process and reporting requirements for KiwiRail. Sustainable KPIs were designed for each focus area, such as 'the number of employees employed at living wage or above'. The development of a Sustainable Values Register helped them track the progress and final delivery of sustainable values for each project.

Results

With sustainability now embedded in its Northland Rail Upgrade project, KiwiRail can screen effectively for suppliers at the RFP stage–identifying those who will promote a broad range of sustainable outcomes.

What’s more, during project planning and delivery, KiwiRail can now draw on the Sustainability Management Plan and Sustainable Values Register to track sustainable outcome goals for different Procurement Packages. (The Register enables ongoing reporting to assess whether sustainable KPIs have been met.)

By aligning its business and impact ambitions, today KiwiRail is successfully embedding sustainability into its Northland Rail Upgrade project.

KEY BENEFITS

• Process adapts to multiple projects.
• Clear, simple guidance. 
• Easy-to-track sustainable delivery.
• Embeds sustainability from RFP to project delivery.