Specialist Solutions

Sustainability, Carbon and Wellbeing

One of the biggest challenges facing our industry is how we build for the future, integrating wellbeing, economic and environmental impact into the built environment. Wider sustainability considerations, driven by regulation and stakeholder expectations, are transforming what we build, where we build and how we build it.

Our sustainability consultancy service is based on fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Our approach covers all aspects of the sustainability agenda – from carbon reduction, energy management, wellbeing and estate rationalisation, through to ethical, legislative and economic pressures. Our service is tailored around sustainable project delivery, with expert knowledge provided at every stage of the project lifecycle.

Our sustainability credentials are supported by our market leading position as a sustainability assessor (BREEAM, SKA, LEED, Well, FitWel), and our work promoting sustainable practices in the industry. We were a founding partner of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors on the development of SKA – an environmental assessment tool for fit-out and refurbishment projects, introduced as an additional industry benchmark for sustainability. We continue to upskill those in the construction industry to consider sustainable measures when building, and to design for a longer life.

We consider wellbeing to be an integral element of sustainability; improved wellbeing can provide a myriad of benefits ranging from reduced staff turnover to increased productivity making buildings more sustainable in the long term.

Wellbeing considers three facets; mental, physical and social – all of which are influenced by our working environment. Organisations need to be engaged with employees to understand working styles, and how future business strategy may impact the working environment. Fostering a positive culture will in turn lead to highly effective teams, stronger working relationships and increase in productivity and performance. We know that a successful wellbeing strategy relies not just on physical changes to the workplace, but also on organisational changes that are embedded within the behaviours of every employee.

Our team works collaboratively with clients and designers to fully understand evolving legislation, carbon reduction targets, business drivers and specific project needs with regards to sustainability. The need to build more sustainable and energy efficient assets has meant the ability to make holistic and informed decisions on the impact of design solutions at all stages of the project lifecycle is key to the successful delivery not only of a client’s built asset but also their wider business strategies.

Our approach is to identify key areas of sustainability improvements and implement bespoke solutions, considering client goals and industry best practice whilst placing solutions within the context of internal, market driven and legislative targets and requirements.

We have developed digital solutions which enable the quantification of both Embodied Energy/Carbon and operational carbon of a proposed design solution The output details the carbon created by components and allocates these across the built elements. Our team is able to undertake rapid comparison of materials, construction typologies and design solutions to support informed decision making to optimise design solutions to meet our clients project objectives.

Social Value

As a global construction consultancy, we have a commitment and responsibility to support the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the areas in which we work and the communities that we serve. Challenges and opportunities vary hugely from region to region, and from community to community, but the underlying principles remain the same. Implementing and measuring the impact of social value is fast becoming a fundamental part of procuring and delivering sustainable projects and we are supporting clients in meeting their social value aspirations and obligations.

We have developed a model which evaluates both the cost and the benefit of social value interactions. This can be applied at organisational level or at project level.

For organisations or businesses, we work with clients to identify and prioritise investment and activities which maximise opportunities for growth and improved social outcomes for staff and local communities. We develop a social value action plan for each client that meets their unique objectives and vision.

At programme or project level we use our model to identify the cost and value of each element of potential social value, drawing on our database of over 6,000 proxy values. This enables us to take into account regional and sector variables to produce a bespoke social value assessment which measures impact and calculates the monetary cost and value of the impact. This ensures the economic, social and wellbeing benefits of a project outlive the contract and can be felt in communities – and measured – over the long term. It’s an approach we advocate for clients, and one we use to measure the impact of our own business

Working with SPC, we provide robust analysis and meticulous planning. This helps our clients understand the social, economic and environmental impact of each project, and illustrates to stakeholders the value for people, communities, businesses and wider economies.

Health & Safety, Fire and PD/CDM services

We provide a comprehensive range of H&S consultancy services. Our team of H&S professionals give clients advice and assistance to help achieve compliance with their statutory duties under existing H&S legislation for construction projects, maintenance and repair works, occupation and operations.

Our service is designed to ensure 100% legislative compliance and provides added value through our specialist expertise in design development, construction safety and occupational and operational safety. Our service is quality assured, with corporate recognition from the Association of Project Safety, CHAS, Safety Systems in Procurement (SSIP) and Safe Contractor approved.

The areas of Principal Design and Construction Design and Management Services are included in our work. We were heavily involved in the drafting of the 2007 and 2015 CDM Regulations, so whether the role is principal designer, principal design advisor or independent client advisor, we provide professional advice, detailed recommendations and encourage co-ordinated solutions for successful implementation.