Built to last: How Rhodar built in-house capability that wins new work.Â
From a stalled sustainability project and unanswered bid questions – to a board-owned strategy and in-house team to deliver it.
Introducing Rhodar Specialist Enabling Works
Rhodar is one of the UK’s leading specialists in asbestos removal, demolition, land remediation and fire protection. Since 1976, the business has grown to 500 people across 14 sites.
Their team supplies some of the country’s most sustainability-scrutinised supply chains: universities, NHS trusts, government department and the nuclear sector.
The challenge
Sustainability questions were blocking tenders — and getting harder to answer.
As Rhodar grew into larger contracts, scrutiny grew with it. Carbon scoring accounted for 10 to 15% of quality points across NHS, government, nuclear and university frameworks. Questions were more frequent, more technical, and procurement teams now wanted robust evidence.
The bid team couldn’t answer them in-house. The FD and ops director had too many competing priorities to understand which sustainability objectives would actually move the needle commercially. They knew something needed to change but couldn’t articulate where they stood against competitors, or what closing the gap would take.
They’d also been toying with hiring a sustainability lead — but couldn’t yet define the role or responsibilities.
They were looking for a strategic partner to establish a credible sustainability function within the business — and ultimately recruit and train the right in-house talent to own and deliver sustainability over the long term.
How Litmus helped
We started with an honest assessment of where they actually stood — a baseline review and gap analysis that mapped their current sustainability capability against competitors and what their market and clients now expected of them.
Four core workstreams followed:
A full carbon baseline |Â Scope 1, 2 and 3, rebuilt on activity data rather than assumptions, with SECR and ESOS compliance produced from the same process.
A Carbon Reduction Strategy | Underpinned by a Materiality Assessment to identify what actually mattered commercially to Rhodar and its clients. Five Strategic Priorities, each with OKRs, KPIs, a phased roadmap and named internal owners. Built with explicit competitor analysis against their market leaders.
Bespoke operational tools |Â Carbon calculators built specifically for Rhodar’s demolition methodology, and dashboards the bid team uses to back tender answers with live, signed-off data.
Ongoing bid support |Â Working alongside the bid team on sustainability questions when the technical complexity or deadline pressure requires it.
Direct consultant access throughout — no account managers, on-site when needed.
The outcomes
Rhodar’s bid team can now answer carbon questions with robust Scope 1, 2 and 3 data, a published Carbon Reduction Strategy, and project-level methodology behind every answer.
The questions that were slowing and blocking tenders are no longer a weak link.
Named owners across procurement, fleet, ops and the bid team are accountable for delivering against a structured carbon reduction plan with five Strategic Priorities, OKRs, KPIs and a phased roadmap.
Lizzy, Rhodar’s first Sustainability Officer, is now running the day-to-day function from inside the business. We’re mentoring her through the next 12 to 18 months as she takes full ownership.
Rhodar is working towards third-party certifications and is well on its way to becoming the sustainability leader in its sector!
If this sounds like your business,
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