--- title: Sustainability - Whole Life Carbon Graduate canonical: https://csrjobs.club/jobs/laing-orourke-sustainability-whole-life-carbon-graduate-kyln locale: en description: laing-orourke is hiring a Sustainability - Whole Life Carbon Graduate on CSR Jobs. Discover this in-house sustainability role and apply today. updated: 2026-10-08 company: Laing O'Rourke country: United Kingdom contract: Full time seniority: Entry-level missions: ESG reporting, Stakeholders engagement job_type: ESG/Sustainability Reporting Manager posted: 2026-10-08 valid_through: 2026-12-08 apply: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4476202327 source: CSR Jobs --- # Sustainability - Whole Life Carbon Graduate As a graduate **carbon specialist** in Laing O'Rourke's Sustainability Function, you'll sit with the Carbon Solutions Team, measuring and validating emissions on live construction projects and turning that data into insight that helps design and delivery teams cut whole life carbon. Expect to work in One Click LCA, review EPDs and supplier data, and share practical reduction options. Construction is where a huge share of embodied carbon is locked in, so this role sits close to the decisions that actually move the needle, material choices, design assumptions and procurement calls, not just reporting. Your benchmarks and case studies could shape how one of the UK's largest contractors builds hospitals, water infrastructure and defence facilities. This suits someone who… has a STEM, engineering, architecture or geography background, is comfortable with data and spreadsheets, and wants their first graduate job to be hands-on decarbonisation rather than policy or paperwork, with the flexibility to travel to project sites across the UK. ## Job FAQs ### What are the main missions and responsibilities of this role? The core mission of this graduate position is to strengthen how Laing O'Rourke measures and manages carbon across its projects, so that embodied and operational emissions become a visible, managed variable rather than an afterthought. Day to day, that means supporting the roll-out of carbon management processes and project requirements across design and delivery, and running assessments in tools such as **One Click LCA** to generate benchmarks and reduction options. A large part of the work is really about **data quality and assurance**: reviewing environmental product declarations and supplier information, validating figures against approved datasets and assumptions, and flagging where the numbers are weak. You would then analyse project carbon data to spot trends, capture lessons learned and translate them into practical opportunities that project teams can act on. Beyond the analytical side, the role has a strong knowledge-sharing dimension. Producing case studies, guidance and communications, and supporting training and engagement with designers, suppliers and consultants, is how the Carbon Solutions Team scales good practice across the business and supports work winning, so much so that this role sits at the intersection of technical analysis and internal advocacy. ### Key learning opportunities for this job Few graduate roles offer this much direct exposure to whole life carbon in practice. You would likely build genuine fluency in **carbon accounting methodologies and standards**, learning how assessments are scoped, what assumptions sit behind them, and how results hold up under scrutiny. Hands-on use of One Click LCA, combined with internal systems and datasets, would give you a toolset that is in rising demand across construction and infrastructure. Because the role spans pre-construction and delivery, you would also absorb how **design, procurement and package management decisions affect emissions**, the connective tissue between a specification choice and a final carbon figure. Reviewing EPDs and supplier data builds a practical literacy in sustainable materials that is hard to acquire any other way. The programme itself is designed to help you work towards professional accreditation, with the posting flagging routes such as **Chartered Environmentalist with IES** or Chartered Engineer status. Structured graduate development, networking across disciplines, and exposure to a variety of projects across the UK suggest you would also sharpen communication and stakeholder engagement skills well beyond the technical core. ### How does the ideal candidate look like (experience, skills)? The formal entry point is a degree in engineering, architecture, a STEM subject, environmental and sustainability studies, or geography, but the deeper fit is an aptitude for numbers and structure. Carbon work lives or dies on data quality, so comfort with spreadsheets, datasets and analytical tools matters more than any single module. Any prior exposure to carbon assessment, LCA tools or sustainability reporting would be a meaningful advantage, though the programme clearly assumes a graduate starting point. On the softer side, this is a role for someone who can explain technical findings to non-technical audiences. You would be influencing designers, procurement staff and package managers who are not carbon specialists, so **clear communication and quiet persistence** are likely as valuable as analytical rigour. Curiosity about how things are actually built also helps, because the reduction opportunities that matter are usually the practical ones. Finally, the posting is explicit that projects are national and that flexibility (travel, time away from home, or relocation near a site) is part of the deal. A candidate who sees that mobility as a chance to see many different project types, rather than a burden, is probably closer to the profile the team has in mind. ### Advice to stand out and make a successful application Because applications may close early once enough are received, **applying promptly** is itself a differentiator here, the stated closing date is not a reliable deadline. Beyond timing, the strongest applications will connect your degree directly to carbon: a dissertation, module or project involving embodied carbon, LCA, environmental data or sustainable materials is worth foregrounding and framing quantitatively, not just thematically. If you have any exposure to tools such as One Click LCA, or even to reading EPDs or supplier environmental data, say so explicitly, because the role names them. Failing that, show evidence of handling messy data and drawing conclusions from it, any analysis project, internship or student society budget will do, as long as you describe what you found and what you recommended. For interview preparation, look at Laing O'Rourke's **modern methods of construction** model and think about how offsite manufacturing changes the carbon profile of a project. Being able to discuss one or two real tensions in construction decarbonisation (for example, low-carbon concrete versus programme constraints) would demonstrate exactly the practical, project-facing mindset the Carbon Solutions Team needs. ### What aspects of the company's sustainability is this role likely to focus on? This role zeroes in on one of the most material parts of a construction group's footprint: **whole life carbon**, meaning both the embodied emissions locked into materials and construction, and the emissions tied to a building's operation. The Carbon Solutions Team supports projects from pre-construction through delivery, so the work touches early-stage option appraisal, material and specification decisions, and the validation of carbon claims once a project is underway. The emphasis on EPDs, supplier data and approved datasets points to a strong **data assurance and governance** agenda, which increasingly underpins how contractors respond to client requirements, tenders and regulatory expectations around embodied carbon. Case studies, guidance and work-winning support imply that the sustainability function is also commercial-facing, helping Laing O'Rourke differentiate its offer to clients who want demonstrable decarbonisation. The social dimension of the company's portfolio (hospitals, clean water infrastructure, defence facilities and connected cities) adds a broader context. Reducing carbon on a hospital or a water treatment plant is not an abstract exercise; it is about the long-term cost and resilience of public infrastructure, which is a compelling frame for a graduate joining the team. ### What are the main challenges someone in this role might face? The most immediate challenge is likely **data quality**. Suppliers and subcontractors do not always provide reliable or comparable carbon information, and EPDs vary in coverage and rigour. A graduate in this position will have to make judgement calls, document assumptions, and push for better information without slowing projects down, a balance that takes time to learn. A second challenge is influence. The Carbon Solutions Team does not own design or procurement decisions, so convincing busy project teams to change a specification or an approach requires credibility and tact. When programme and cost pressures collide with carbon reduction options, the graduate may find that the best-argued option does not always win immediately, and will need patience and persistence. Finally, the practical conditions of the programme itself (national projects, travel, time away from home and periodic relocation) can be demanding, particularly for someone early in their career. The breadth of teams to work with, from logistics to design management and procurement, also means managing many relationships at once, which is a lot to absorb in a first role. ### How could a typical day look like for someone in this position? A typical day might begin with a review of carbon data coming in from a live project, checking product information, validating figures against the agreed assumptions, and updating an assessment in One Click LCA. From there, the graduate could join a pre-construction session with design management or a package manager to discuss how a particular element or material choice affects the carbon outcome, then follow up with procurement or a supplier to chase missing environmental data. Interactions are spread across the business: the immediate Carbon Solutions and wider Sustainability teams for guidance and benchmarking, designers for option appraisal, procurement and logistics for supply-chain carbon information, and occasionally external consultants. Meetings are likely to mix technical working sessions with knowledge-sharing, where findings are distilled into guidance notes or case studies. Variability comes with the project cycle. Weeks close to a reporting milestone or a tender submission may be intense and deadline-driven, while quieter periods allow deeper analysis of trends and lessons learned. Site visits and travel to regional projects would punctuate the routine, so no two weeks look exactly alike. ### What are the opportunities for professional growth and development in this role? Within the Graduate Development Programme, the stated aim is to help participants achieve **professional accreditation**, Chartered Environmentalist or Chartered Engineer, which is a durable, portable credential in this field. The breadth of exposure, spanning pre-construction and delivery across multiple project types, is also unusual for a first role and would accelerate technical maturity quickly. From there, natural progression could run deeper into carbon specialism, leading whole life carbon assessments on larger or more complex bids, or sideways into wider sustainability roles covering energy, water, waste or social value. The work-winning and case-study component of the role offers early visibility with business development and senior stakeholders, which often matters when promotion decisions are made. Longer term, the combination of a construction group's project environment and a decarbonisation specialism tends to open doors across consultancies, clients, infrastructure owners and regulators. The experience gained on **major UK projects** with quantified carbon outcomes is the kind of evidence base that carries weight when moving into more senior advisory or management positions. ### The main stakeholders you might be interacting with The closest relationships will be within the Sustainability Function and the Carbon Solutions Team, who set the methods, tools and standards the graduate works to, and provide day-to-day mentoring. Design Management is a critical partner, since decisions made in pre-construction usually determine the largest share of a project's carbon outcome, and the graduate will need to feed carbon insight into that process early and constructively. Procurement and Package Management are the route to supply-chain carbon data, chasing EPDs, validating supplier claims and, where possible, steering purchasing towards lower-carbon options. Logistics also enters the picture when construction-stage emissions, transport and site operations are being assessed. These interactions are often a mix of data requests and persuasion. Externally, the role touches consultants, designers and suppliers, not only as data sources but as audiences for guidance and good practice. Internally it may also reach into work-winning teams, where carbon evidence supports bids and client conversations. The spread of stakeholders means the graduate will quickly become a connector between technical carbon work and the people who make project decisions. --- Source: https://csrjobs.club/jobs/laing-orourke-sustainability-whole-life-carbon-graduate-kyln