Our Responsibility

We are fully aware of the climate change issues we face and recognise our responsibility in contributing towards the solution. We have a duty to reduce our direct and indirect carbon footprint with the aim of working towards a more sustainable future. We have signed the 'Civil Engineers Declare' [1] declaration and the 'Structural Engineers Declare' [2] to demonstrate our commitment to both strengthen our working practices and create complete engineering outcomes that have more positive impacts on the world around us. 

[1] - https://www.civilengineersdeclare.com/

[2] - https://www.structuralengineersdeclare.com/

The physical and mental health of our employees is of fundamental importance to us and we aim to promote a healthy working environment in a sustainable way. Our policies which we offer to our employees to promote wellbeing are: 

• Cycle to work scheme – we are enrolled with a cycle to work scheme and offer all of our employees the option to lease a bike and equipment through the salary sacrifice scheme.
• Remote working – we are fully equipped for remote working, with each employee provided with a laptop and additional screens and equipment to set up a comfortable home office.
• Flexible working hours – we recognise that employees need to be flexible in their working week due to various external factors such as childcare and appointments. We do not have ‘core’ hours where employees need to be working and instead adopt a flexible working approach which allows our employees to restructure their week to best suit their home and lifestyle needs.

Our day-to-day business operations directly contribute to carbon emissions, and it is our aim to minimise this as much as practically possible. We have a number of actions which we aim to implement in order to achieve this.  

• Business travel - We encourage the use of public transport for site visits and day to day meetings.
• Carbon offsetting - Any business trips which have no other option than using a car, we offset the mileage. 
• Commuting - We encourage our employees to commute by public transport, walking, cycling or running. Our remote working practices also significantly reduces the number of commuting trips required each week.
• Paperless - We operate a paperless office.
• Waste – Waste which is generated by the business is recycled. E.g. computer equipment, phones.
• Electric car salary sacrifice – All employees have the option to purchase an electric car through the salary sacrifice scheme. 

We are conscious that the decisions we make in our role as designers and specifiers have a fundamental impact on our surrounding environment. The building and construction industry accounts for up to 39% of worldwide carbon emissions [1]. We aim to minimise our environmental impact through a number of key company measures.

1. Knowledge base We hold an internal library of products, ideas and methods which we use on projects to benefit the environment and reduce carbon impact 
2. Regular CPD sessions are arranged with a focus on sustainability, to ensure we remain at the forefront of developments in a fast-changing industry. 
3. Efficient design to ensure we 'Use less stuff'.
4. Careful specification to control the impact of building materials.
5. Monthly sustainability meetings to review and discuss current projects, Legislation and national standard developments, along with any new products 
6. Ensuring awareness of clients and contractors of options which may be available for a particular scheme that could improve the environmental impact / result in a lower overall carbon footprint.  

We are committed to reducing our carbon emissions and achieving net zero status by 2050 in line with the UKs net zero strategy [3]. We are one of 206 companies who have made the public 'Pledge to Net Zero' which showcases our leadership in supporting the transition to a Net Zero carbon economy [4]. 

1. As part of our 'Pledge to Net Zero' we are in the process of evaluating our 1.5°C aligned      science-based target, and will soon publish our first annual report including our carbon footprint and progress against our target. We are committed to publicly reporting greenhouse gas emissions and progress against this target each year moving forward.
2. For our indirect environmental impact, we will continually develop our working practices in line with new sustainable products, methods and technologies which are constantly being developed, to ensure that we are able to specify and implement the most sustainable construction materials and practises on all projects.
3. We are working towards obtaining ISO 14001.
4. We will continue to review and update our sustainability policy, where necessary on an annual basis.

[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/net-zero-strategy

[4] https://www.pledgetonetzero.org/signatories