Sustainability and Climate
Climate change is an issue that many of our engineers want to make a difference in, not only in their everyday lives but in the structures we design.
Meeting the needs of our society without breaching the earth’s ecological boundaries will demand a paradigm shift in our behaviour. In November 2019 we signed up to the Engineers Declare Climate and Biodiversity Emergency" Declaration from the IStructE.
For the designs of our buildings, we consider how low carbon and sustainable materials can be best utilised during construction, and how the building fabric and systems can be optimised to provide a sustainable performance over the building life cycle. Through our conservation experience, we prioritise the renovation and reuse of existing structures. Where this is not feasible the deconstruction phase is considered with the aim to recycle and reuse materials at their highest possible value.
As structural and civil engineers, our primary focus is on material selection and quantity optimisation. There is obvious merit in selecting sustainably sourced timber products that allow us to start from a positive position of having recovered CO2 locked within our design, but we also consider the impact of material transportation and installation. We are continually reviewing new innovative ways to reduce carbon emissions from other primary materials such as steel and concrete. On-site energy efficient measures and on-site zero-carbon technologies are prioritised and, at times, it may be appropriate to use off-site measures to improve the design offering. We adopt carbon measurement tools to log the carbon performance of our designs and to inform sustainable project decisions within the wider construction team.
Our team has specific experience in delivering projects to a range of sustainable design standards including BREEAM and The London Plan. Together with our clients, we commission and design buildings, cities and infrastructures as indivisible components of a larger, constantly regenerating and self-sustaining system in balance with the natural world.
We are working towards the Sustainable Development Goals by the United Nations and make social impact a priority for all. These 17 Goals look to transform our world and promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognise that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities, while tackling climate change and environmental protection.
