Sustainability Policy

Buildings must be loved to be truly sustainable. If they are loved, they last. Our “Better by Design” philosophy, which drives all we do, results in buildings that are loved by those that own and use them.

We therefore define ‘sustainability’ holistically. It is about creating projects and relationships that last, that work, that meet our clients’ requirements, that are financially viable, that protect the environment and that bring benefits to the local community.

To turn this philosophy into reality, we continually develop a bank of knowledge and expertise in sustainability across all members of our team. We furthermore adopt a partnership approach with our clients because sometimes we find potential and actual conflicts between sustainability goals. This means that when we find conflicts, we work hard with our clients to reconcile them, according to their values and objectives as well as ours.

In practical terms you can see what our policy means in terms of:

The Way We Run Our Business;

• We build relevant expertise internally to offer advice to our clients as a Centre of Excellence, including having trained SAP and Code for Sustainable Homes Assessors.
• We engage with our local community, especially those in education to promote awareness of construction, the 'physical world' and creating positive sustainable working environments.
• We share our expertise with our local community by participating in relevant bodies and organisations that shape our physical environment to build sustainable communities, such as Expert Design Panels and Conservation Advisory panels for local authorities.
• We minimise waste in many of our internal processes by, for example, using electronic documents and drawings wherever possible; planning journeys to be efficient in the use of time and resources; sorting and recycling in our office with the aim to reach zero waste to landfill.

Our Approach to Projects;

• We work with our clients to agree sustainability objectives at the briefing stage of projects.
• We review sustainability at each key stage of a project and report on progress-to-date as well as identifying opportunities to increase project sustainability in line with initial objectives.
• We work to minimise waste through good design, in terms of materials used and methods of construction, and ensure our clients are fully aware of their legal obligations with regard to waste.
• We incorporate sustainability questions in formal client feedback on projects.

How We Develop our People and Pass On our Expertise to Others;

• We are extremely active in developing our own knowledge by attending courses; through our employee-led, CPD presentations; in internal forums and discussions; through reference documentation posted on our Extranet, where we are buildng an extensive knowledge base available to all our team.
• Sustainability is a key element in Personal Development Plans for all staff.
• We share expertise externally via Briefing Papers; through the seminar programme we run; and in client reviews, reports and advice.