Q&A: How Seddon Uses PPN 06/21 to Win More Work

In the world of public sector construction, carbon reporting has shifted from a back-office exercise to a critical strategic differentiator.

As sustainability requirements reshape how projects are won and delivered, the ability to manage environmental data is now as vital as onsite expertise.

In this Q&A, we sit down with Louis Saunderson, Sustainability Analyst at Seddon, to discuss how the firm is navigating this transition.

Louis explains how Seddon is responding to PPN 06/21, embedding "carbon thinking" into the heart of their bids, and turning high-level data into practical onsite action.

Based in Bolton, Seddon is the UK’s largest privately owned, family-managed contractor, providing integrated property services across the North West and Midlands. Known for its collaborative approach, the business prides itself on deep-rooted supply chain relationships and a commitment to social value – from breaking down mental health stigmas to building future talent through apprenticeships.

We explore how Seddon is building a lower-carbon future for the industry.

For those who might not know, please give us a brief overview of PPN 006. 

PPN 006 – formerly known as PPN 06/21 – is an essential requirement for organisations bidding for central government contracts over £5m to publish a Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP). 

The simplest way to think about it is as a set of end-of-year accounts, but for emissions. You report your Scope 1 and 2 emissions in full, plus a defined subset of Scope 3, and confirm your commitment to achieving net zero by a specific target year. Although construction feels the impact quite directly because of its physical footprint, the policy applies across all sectors supplying goods, works or services to government.

Understanding the difference between Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions is key. Scope 1 and 2 emissions are generally referred to as your ‘organisational emissions’, because they are more controllable and directly attributable to your activities.

Scope 3 is supply chain and indirect emissions, which are far harder to control and directly attribute.

Scope 1 covers fuel burnt in company-owned assets, stationary combustion like boilers and generators, and mobile combustion such as company vehicles. Then Scope 2 is your purchased electricity. In both cases, these are areas where you can take relatively direct action, whether that’s reducing fuel usage or switching to a lower-carbon energy tariff.

Scope 3 is where it becomes more complex. For most businesses, it represents the vast majority of their footprint – often over 90%. This covers the wider value chain: everything that happens to the resources and materials you use before they reach you, and what happens to them after your organisation has carried out its work. This is why it’s both the largest and the most challenging area to influence and measure.

How has Seddon’s internal approach to bidding changed since its implementation?

The biggest shift is that carbon is no longer just a compliance line in a submission – it’s part of how we try to win work.

With changes to procurement weightings, quality and sustainability can now outweigh price. That means carbon performance has moved from something peripheral to something that can genuinely create competitive edge. Where prices tend to cluster, a stronger, better-evidenced sustainability submission can make the difference in terms of competing. 

Practically, it’s meant putting more emphasis than ever on data; the Carbon Reduction Plan has pushed improvements in data capture and governance, which means when we say we’re using less fuel, consolidating deliveries or reducing site emissions, we can evidence it and quantify it. It’s also helped embed carbon thinking into business-as-usual, with operations, commercial and bid teams all understanding where the data ends up and why it matters.

Beyond just having a Carbon Reduction Plan on paper, what metrics are clients scrutinising most closely?

It does differ by client, but in construction, perhaps the biggest overlap between what we report and what clients care about is fuel use. That’s often a proxy for overall efficiency – fewer deliveries, tighter logistics means less disruption, lower noise and reduced air pollution.

There’s also growing scrutiny of Scope 3, particularly embodied carbon. Under PPN 006, only five Scope 3 categories are mandatory, but some public bodies, such as the National Health Service, are moving toward requiring full Scope 3 disclosure across all 15 categories in the coming years.

That said, evaluations aren’t usually about comparing contractors to the decimal point. It’s less about who is 0.5 tonnes lower per £1m turnover and more about whether the disclosures give confidence that you’ll deliver a low-emission, well-managed project.

How is Seddon supporting smaller subcontractors on Scope 3 reporting?

Construction is a low-margin industry, and many SMEs simply don’t have the resource to produce corporate-level carbon inventories. Expecting that overnight would be unrealistic.

So, our approach is pragmatic. We’ve profiled key suppliers to understand their level of carbon maturity and what data they already collect. We provide clear guidance and simple templates, and we focus on proportionality – prioritising high-impact areas like materials, transport and plant rather than lower-impact admin emissions.

Where detailed data isn’t available, we’ll use spend-based or proxy approaches. It’s about capability building rather than policing. If subcontractors understand why the data is being asked for - and that multiple contractors will likely request similar information - it becomes less fragmented and more manageable.

Is the construction industry ready for the shift from ‘building new’ to deep retrofit?

It’s a big question. Technically, at the top end of the industry, yes, the skills and technologies exist. The bigger challenges are commercial and cultural. Retrofit carries more uncertainty than new build. You’re inheriting an existing asset, often without full visibility of what’s behind walls or above ceilings. That introduces risk, and construction is understandably sensitive to risk.

There’s also a need for earlier collaboration and better upfront intelligence about buildings. In sectors like healthcare, you’re often working in live environments, which adds further complexity.

The capability is absolutely there, but delivering retrofit at scale requires stronger integration between client and contractor, better access to data on existing estates and a commercial model that can tolerate the additional uncertainty.

Do you expect the £5m PPN 006 threshold to drop by 2030? How is Seddon preparing?

There’s a clear policy logic for widening the scope, but in practical terms it’s difficult to see the £5m threshold dropping significantly in the short term.

Lowering it would capture a much larger SME base, many of whom don’t yet have the infrastructure to produce compliant Carbon Reduction Plans. It would also risk increasing overheads in a sector already under cost pressure.

Our approach has been to treat carbon reporting as business-as-usual across the group, not just for projects above £5m. Data is managed centrally and covers all business units, which means if thresholds were to fall, it wouldn’t be a disruptive shift for us.

For much of the wider supply chain, however, a sudden reduction in the threshold would likely be challenging until maturity and support mechanisms develop further.