Decarbonising our projects

We recognise that the work we do as engineers and consultants has long lasting implications for the ability of our clients to meet their own net zero goals and to realise long term value from their assets. Change is not only necessary, but possible.

What are our project goals? 

Our aim is to help our clients make strategic decisions and turn commitments into action through a combination of consultancy and design. Our approach to net zero carbon includes creating clear pathways, developing strategies for masterplans and campuses, and innovative designs for new builds, refurbishment and infrastructure projects. 

In 2019 we set two strategic aims for our portfolio of design projects: 

Design all new build projects to be net zero carbon in operation by 2030 

Reduce embodied carbon intensity of all new buildings, major retrofits and infrastructure projects by 2030. 

What are we doing to achieve our project goals? 

Through its work with the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, our sustainability team plays a critical role in supporting some of the world’s leading cities to reduce their carbon footprint. 

We have also been producing portfolio-wide decarbonisation strategies and plans for some of the world’s largest institutional investors and real estate funds, as well as major owner-occupiers such as universities and corporations. 

Through practice-wide engagement, we are in the process of creating a routemap to net zero, identifying strategies and actions to achieve our 2030 design project goals. This covers three interlocking themes and builds on current or planned short-term actions in each of these areas. These include: 

CLIENTS AND COLLABORATORS	Advocating for industry wide solutions	– UKGBC Advancing Net Zero Programme partnership  – Climate Group Concrete Zero founding member  – AIA/EGBC/DGNB
	Engaging clients in strategic conversations	– Exploring the future of sustainable cities through our Urban C:lab programme  – Developing long-term, multi-year partnerships with key clients  – Developing net zero carbon strategies and pathways across portfolios and masterplans
DESIGN AND CONSULTANCY	Collecting data and examples from current portfolio	– Created central climate emergency knowledge hub  – Collecting data on predicted and measured-in use operational energy and embodied carbon for our projects
	Setting project targets and measuring performance against industry benchmarks for sector/region/typology	– Contributed to establishing industry benchmarks through Green Building Councils, LETI, CIBSE, RIBA, AIA, IStructE and other industry groups around the world   – Setting ambitious performance targets for many of our projects and agreeing those with our clients
BUSINESS PROCESS	Tracking progress through Project Environmental Checklist and Building Performance Dashboard	– Capturing qualitative and quantitative data on project alignment with our net zero goals  – Dashboards built and available to all staff to assist with transparency across our portfolio
	Embedding accountability at all levels in the organisation	– Global strategy driven through Global Leadership Team  – Responsibility on each regional board
	Empowering our people	– In FY 21/22 all UK partners and directors had a sustainability/climate CPO objective and globally, 37% technical staff (490 people, 42 disciplines) had a sustainability or equity CPO objective – Learning and development supported through multiple resources including climate emergency hub

What have we achieved so far on projects?  

We have built the infrastructure to measure alignment of our projects through qualitative and quantitative data and are tracking this on a regular basis. We have collected qualitative data from 430 projects at concept design stage and 296 projects at scheme design stage. 

For the applicable projects: 

75% of project teams reported that there will be, or already is, a project-specific sustainability policy that sets clear objectives for the project team around the climate and biodiversity emergencies 

71% of project teams reported that the client’s ambitions align with the principles and targets set out in the Global Sustainability Report, including net zero in operation by 2030 and 50% reduction in embodied carbon by 2030. 

We are planning for the number of applicable projects to increase each year. We have also started to collect quantitative data on predicted and measured energy use intensity (EUI) and embodied carbon intensity of our projects. This will enable us to better understand our existing project portfolio, compare against industry best practice benchmarks and inform the development of new benchmarks for building typologies and regions where these do not currently exist.

Next steps 

We recognise internal and external processes and conversations must change, and that the nature and scale of the decarbonisation transition means we cannot do this on our own. We need to act jointly with clients, collaborators, contractors and our supply chain to achieve our goals. At the same time, we need to ensure that our business model remains sound, which in turn enables us to have the appropriate levels of impact. 

We will continue to contribute to region and sector-specific industry roadmaps that reflect the roles of different actors necessary to achieve net zero, work with our current and future clients to articulate the sustainability benefits case and seek to set appropriate targets and scopes to deliver these goals. 

Through the remainder of FY 2022/2023, our clear intent is to build on the work done so far to create an appropriately funded and resourced implementation plan to execute a routemap to net zero. This will define design project goals and develop a mechanism to regularly share progress and updates internally and externally. 

This work includes sharing best practice examples and carrying out more detailed modelling of pathways to 2030. In parallel, we are developing our implementation plan to define clear roles and responsibilities, appropriate funding commitments, prioritised actions and smart objectives. 

Further detail will be published before the end of the financial year.