Creating a low carbon future, one office design at a time.

We’ve reduced our Scope 1, 2 and operational Scope 3 emissions by 74% since 2010 and our carbon intensity – carbon emitted per £m revenue - by 85%. However, we recognise that Scope 3 emissions make up over 99.61% of our carbon output which totalled 252,751 tCO₂e in 2022 so there is still work to do.

We are focussed on reducing our absolute carbon emissions; particularly our biggest impact carbon sources, including the embodied carbon of the materials we use on our project, and the carbon emitted from the use of our completed fit outs. To reduce our scope 3 emissions it requires collaboration across our whole value chain, including our supply chain, waste contractors, clients, architects and consultants. We have a long way to go to reduce our absolute emissions by 90% by 2045, including through increasing the use of reused and refurbished materials and products, designing and specifying spaces that are low in embodied carbon and by working with our clients to close the performance gap of the spaces we fit out.

We will offset any residual carbon transparently, through independently audited projects in the UK that we will help manage, such as the creation of nine woodlands on the Blenheim Estate in Oxfordshire, the restoration of wetlands at Lakenheath Fen and the restoration of peatlands in the Great North Bog in northern England.

Reducing the waste materials arising from our sites is critical in ensuring both that we are reducing our scope 3 emissions and also in embracing the circular economy. In 2022, we diverted 97% of waste from landfill, but we are focussed on looking for more circular options for materials on our projects. We are increasingly utilising manufacturer take back schemes that ensure materials from our sites are entering closed loop recycling schemes, and partnering with reuse networks and companies regularly to ensure, where possible, materials from our sites are able to be reused in their same form, either on site or off site, on a range of local and national initiatives.

We were the first UK construction company to voluntarily have our targets verified by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), aligned to preventing temperatures rising above those set out in the Paris Agreement. In 2022, we were given an ‘A’ by CDP for the third year running for our performance on climate change, one of just 283 companies to be A-listed out of nearly 15,000 scored. In early 2024, we will also look to have our full scope 3 report for our 20203 emissions third party checked and verified.

To measure and reduce the carbon impact of our projects we have developed CarboniCa, an embodied carbon and life cycle assessment tool that allows our project teams and clients to track and visualise the carbon footprint of a building throughout its entire lifecycle, including embodied and operational carbon. CarboniCa can suggest alternative materials to reduce carbon emissions during the design and construction phase.