BE Design is delighted to have achieved certification to The Planet Mark. Certification to The Planet Mark is based on the commitment to continuous improvement in sustainability within its business operations by measuring and reducing its carbon footprint and engaging its stakeholders.
Our total carbon footprint in 2019 was 34.3 tCO2e and the relative carbon footprint was 1.5 tCO2e per employee. This is our first year of business carbon footprint reporting and certification to The Planet Mark. We first calculated the carbon footprint for 2019 and set a target to reduce emissions by 5% annually.
This year’s footprint includes emissions from purchased electricity, transmission and distribution losses, waste, business travel and paper for our head office. Vehicle business travel accounts for 69% of total carbon emissions, electricity accounts for 26%.
Steve Malkin, founder and CEO of The Planet Mark, said: “I’m so pleased to see BE Design join us at The Planet Mark. The practice’s reputation in the industry speaks for itself; its team are the brains behind so many beautiful and sustainable places. But the team’s willingness to turn the focus of carbon emissions away from their designs and onto their own processes shows a dedication to genuine change. We need more pioneering practices like BE Design to take charge in the decade of climate action.”
Our associate director of sustainability and wellbeing, Charlotte Booth, said: “We wanted to start from within, to reduce our own carbon footprint and environmental impact, as well as that of our projects. Our passion as a business is to create a better world for us all, with sustainability at the heart of everything we do, so we are really pleased to have been awarded our certification from The Planet Mark.”
Our clients are also becoming increasingly conscious of their responsibility to rapidly reduce carbon emissions, and of the environmentally friendly design principles that can help achieve carbon targets. As architects and engineers, we stay ahead of the curve in order to respond to these changing demands. We achieve this by designing sustainable places and demonstrating our own sustainable credentials, presenting a robust sustainability offering.
We are passionate about sustainable placemaking and are committed to improving the human experience through our designs. We take a holistic approach, resulting in places to live, work, learn and play that have minimum environmental impact and maximum benefit to society. This is driven through our design philosophy of seven core sustainable principles. We are an industry leader in sustainable placemaking, reinforced by our involvement in industry groups such as the Constructing Excellence Sustainability and Innovation Group, CIBSE Homes for the Futures Group, London Energy Transformation Initiative and UK Green Building Council.