Environmental Management Policy statement documenting our organisations commitment to the environment

Following on from outlining our general commitments to both social and environmental factors we have reviewed our SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT, our MATERIALITY ASSESSMENT MATRIX and KPI schedule and have drafted the below environmental commitment policy. This document should be read alongside the above as these will evolve with the Practice through improvement.

As a Practice we attach great importance to social and environmental sustainability and aim to be an exemplar organisation in the way we embrace social, environmental, and financial sustainability and meet our corporate social responsibility. As a business we are seeking B Corp certification to hold ourselves accountable to these principles, where profit, people and planet are equally important. The process has identified our biggest impacts and what we can do to mitigate the negative and celebrate the positive. Certification is just the beginning; it is an ongoing commitment to improve and continuously evaluate our processes.

We recognise that the construction of buildings and infrastructure are an indivisible component of our climate emergency. This is why we have committed to the RIBA 2030 Challenge, which sets out voluntary performance targets for operational energy use, water use and embodied carbon within buildings. The performance targets align with the future legislative horizon and set out a challenging but achievable trajectory to realise the significant reductions necessary by 2030 in order to have a realistic prospect of achieving net zero carbon for the whole UK building stock by 2050.

We understand that as Architects we can have a positive impact through our actions: our environmental impact, social impacts, team and customer impact. Our work is underpinned by designs to make architecture that contributes wellbeing to our society, not just on standards of aesthetics. Throughout the design process we have to ensure that up-to-date regulations and standards are met and as a practice we are pushing this to aim for a 10% improvement over the minimum performance regulations.

As a Practice, sustainability and the environment are at the forefront of all that we do. We take inspiration from our natural environment in all our projects and feel extremely lucky that we have such incredible landscapes to work with, from coastlines and rolling countryside, to unique and historic towns and cities. We are also surrounded by some of the most ecologically sensitive landscape in the UK, which gives us a very solid foundation of understanding our context.

In our work we always consider the environmental impact of each project and are ambitious with our approach to sustainability no matter the scale or budget of the project. All our projects aim for reducing carbon output. We tailor the sustainability targets to each project by including a short target list within our initial fee proposal setting out 3no. key sustainability targets for the project.

We see the next 5 years as a very exciting time for developers and designers, to embrace a new approach in the ambition to become carbon neutral. As a practice we are keen to be ahead of this curve and believe that low energy buildings have huge benefits beyond reducing carbon too – they make for much healthier better-quality structures, they make for more comfortable spaces to occupy, and they typically result in lower long-term running costs with an economic benefit too.

In order to monitor our project performance, we have initiated the process of recording completed building performance data, such as energy efficiency, airtightness, thermal efficiency, CO2 emissions. This information will enable us to set improvement targets and new goals against the regulation targets.

Our focus is not on the size or type of project but the responsibility to enrich and enhance the local environment. We believe that environmentally responsive buildings improve quality of life and hence we work with our clients to design site responsive solutions that make an efficient use of energy and natural resources resulting in simple buildings which are enjoyable to inhabit.

To assist in our process of continued evaluation we are including our evolving environmental targets and objectives within our annual IMPACT ASSESSMENT which is available via a link on our website.

As a practice we sponsor Trees for Life which is a registered charity working to rewild British forests by planting thousands of trees per year. We donate a percentage of our profit to this cause and set a minimum threshold to at the very least cover and offset the carbon footprint of the practice.

We also sponsor the Marine Conservation Society, helping to fund conservation to our coastline, and taking part in beach cleaning. The practice is named RX after the boat code of the area, and our strong connection to the Kent & Sussex coastline, protecting this is very important to us.

As part of our professional accreditation Architects are required to undertake continued professional development (CPD) which is a holistic approach towards the enhancement of personal skills and proficiency throughout a professional’s career. As a practice we ensure this covers updates on current legislation, sustainable products and innovative technologies.

We encourage all staff to take responsibility in their day-to-day activities to minimise their environmental impact ensuring that all resources are used efficiently with minimum wastage promptly, include recycling, switching off lights, computers, monitors, and equipment when not in use; helping to reduce paper waste by minimising printing/copying and reducing water usage; reporting faults and heating/cooling concerns promptly; and minimising travel and therefore pollution.

(This statement is effective from December 2023 and will be reviewed December 2024 to ensure on going up to date information and targets are covered. Reviewed and approved by Practice Directors Jan 2024)