The Olympic Odos is an important national project of strategic importance for the development of the Peloponnese, Western Greece and Epirus. Olympia Odos S.A. was established in 2008 by six construction companies as a special purpose company to implement the Concession Contract of the Elefsina - Corinth - Patras - Patras - Pyrgos - Tsakona Motorway. As Concessionaire of the Project, it is responsible for the design, construction, financing, maintenance and operation of the motorway for a period of 30 years. The companies participating in the joint stock company have extensive experience in the design and implementation of similar large-scale projects, both in Greece and abroad. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Objective Action
Create an integrated, targeted and effective approach to manage Sustainable Development issues.
Target Audience
Internal and external stakeholders
Duration
Our strategy has no expiry date, but is regularly updated in accordance with internal procedures.
Description
In 2019, Olympia Odos published its first annual Sustainable Development Report for the year 2018. In the Report, Olympia Odos presented the framework of its Sustainable Development Strategy, which covers and focuses on all the important issues that concern and affect the company and its stakeholders and have a positive or negative impact. The strategy evidently has a long-term horizon and has been elaborated to substantially contribute to the joint effort for a better and sustainable future, but also to provide a platform for an active dialog with all stakeholders.
The strategy:
- Links in a coherent way the activities/issues that connect the motorway management with Sustainable Development;
- contributes to broadening and strengthening relations with stakeholders;
- contributes to capturing operational and management data, setting targets and improving performance;
- leads to a systematic communication to internal and external stakeholders;
- helps ensuring an integrated approach to initiatives focusing on the organization's role in Sustainable Development;
- drives the organization to focus on specific Sustainable Development axes.
The organization’s strategic approach is based on five (5) distinct axes/pylons: Road Safety, Travel Experience, Human Resources, Community and Environment. The focal point of the organization’s strategic approach and the reference point of its operation is the Corporate Governance & Structure.
1. Turns road safety issues into becoming the core of Sustainability and invests in innovation. Typical examples are the following:
The Smart Tunnel program to improve the maintenance of the Motorway, with a budget of €70,000 for its pilot phase;
The innovative Pavement Management Plan Tool based on an innovative software allowing to estimate the operational and structural condition of the pavement and to elaborate a technical interventions plan;
The MIRANDA settlement monitoring tool specializing in monitoring and recording “settlements” and other pavement defects, aiming to timely diagnose pavement defects and to their most efficient and quick management at the lowest impact on the infrastructure and the users;
The extensive inspections of structures;
The short response times in case of incidents along the motorway;
The Road Safety Awareness campaigns;
The company constantly invests, beyond its contractual obligations, in a series of extensive programs with significant and measurable results that contribute to the prevention of dangerous incidents and accidents and ensure road safety;
2. Focuses on staff health and safety issues by
Constantly organizing trainings about Health and Safety (458 hours in 2020, and 5,788 hours in 2019);
Invests in creating a healthy working environment and promoting a health and safety culture. In 2020, investments in health and safety amounted to €375,000 euros.
3. Identifies the importance of environmental footprint and develops innovative technologies to manage and reduce it; Implements initiatives such as
The production of “water from the air”,
LED lighting in tunnels which led to a 75% decrease of power consumption cuts at Patras Bypass; a 60% energy consumption cuts at Kakia Skala and a 60% reduction of the carbon footprint;
pumping energy equal to that produced by Renewable Energy Sources,
Innovative Motorist Service Stations marked by energy innovation. Psathopyrgos MSSs are the first sites along a motorway offering all types of fuels available on the market. Fast Electric Vehicle Chargers are available at Velo MSS;
Green Motorists Service Stations of energy performing design that entail specific positive results:
- Reduction of the carbon emissions by approximately 157 kilos of carbon dioxide equivalent per square meter per year, compared to the contractual MSS buildings;
- Reduction of the energy consumption at the service stations amounting to 54.2% compared to a conventional building, with total carbon emissions of 55 kilos of carbon dioxide equivalent per square meter per year;
- 27.5% energy consumption reduction in the restaurants with total emissions of 102 kilos of carbon dioxide equivalent per square meter per year
protection of the environment and the ecosystem by creating an artificial bat roost in the context of NATURA 2000;
environmental investments exceeding EUR 1.3 million in 2020 and EUR 12.5 million in the three-year period of 2018-2021
4. Goes beyond common approaches and focuses on travel experience and the role of modern motorways in the quality of life of the stakeholders, in accordance with modern trends for purpose-led organizations;
Introduces, for the first time in Greece, the distance-based tolling, thus responding to the long-standing request of users for proportional toll charges;
Offers the possibility for contactless transactions using POSs along the entire length of the Motorway;
Selects and evaluates suppliers and subcontractors based on specific criteria;
5. Creates social capital;
Informs the people about its values and its vision for a sustainable future;
Reshapes the corporate identity, services and products around sustainability and innovation based on its programs;
fosters trust between the company and all stakeholders, and adaptability in the context of sustainable development;
invests in the social product with the total social product amounting to EUR 118 million in 2020 and EUR 142 million in 2019;
focuses on road safety, culture, education and innovation, on the environment, sports and youth as pillars of social responsibility;
supports social causes in the regions where it operates
Initiative Location
Greece, in the key geographical areas covered by and crossed by the concession project.
Working with Organization
Our strategic approach has been elaborated in cooperation with the Sustainability Knowledge Group
Workers Participation
Employee involvement in shaping our strategy was decisive. From the beginning of the project, the organization invested time in raising awareness and ensuring a high level of understanding of the issues involved in Sustainable Development and its impact on the organization. The need for a holistic approach covering the organization's key impact areas, the potential for long-term value creation and the need for alignment with international initiatives was understood by everyone.
Olympia Odos’s business and social responsibility focuses on the following axes:
• Road safety as our top priority in view of our responsible business activity and our respect to human life;
• Confidence built in our social partners as our top priority for fair corporate governance, for our social responsibility, repute and sustainability;
• Innovation, knowhow and experience as key factors marking the quality of our services;
• Human-centered work environment as key factor of our business performance, our competitive advantage, collective responsibility and effective cooperation;
• Protection of the environment as key factor of the sustainable mobility we envision and protection of the environment as key factor of the identification and reduction of our environmental footprint;
• Social cohesion as top priority for the development of local communities
Through the adoption of the strategy, the organization has achieved the following:
measuring and improving its performance;
creating a unified picture of how it manages overall Sustainability issues as an organization rather than as individual departments;
establishing a competitive advantage over other infrastructure projects;
being recognized and awarded at national and European levels;
quickly identifying external threats through interaction with stakeholders;
ensuring a better and more comprehensive understanding of the maturity level, strengths and weaknesses of the organization;
-better communicating its vision and objectives;
creating a platform for meaningful dialog with the stakeholders
improving customers satisfaction;
seizing opportunities arising from environmental and social developments;
minimizing the negative environmental or social impact arising from the operation of the business;
reducing operating costs and enhancing efficiency.
