Community Impact
We are committed to corporate social responsibility and environmental sustainability in all the buildings we design and conserve. With our holistic approach to sustainable architecture, we create and protect buildings that last and can adapt over many generations.
In order to do this, we need to successfully balance the interests of our various stakeholders through the quality of the judgements that we make. An open and effective relationship with our stakeholders, based on mutual trust, is fundamental to our day-to-day business success, and to protecting and enhancing its value into the future so that we can deliver our overall practice aims.
Our responsibility reaches far beyond the boundary of a site or building. We see every project as an opportunity to make lasting experiences for everyone, adapting and updating buildings to improve accessibility and expand relevance for our more inclusive society. Our highly collaborative and contextual approach to architecture, heritage consultancy and masterplanning reflect our commitment to creating a positive social, economic and environmental impact for every project.
We often work in a heritage context, which can provide a natural anchor to the past. The fabric of older buildings can be a touchstone for local history, geography and geology, defined by interesting architectural materials specific to the location with quirks and details that make a place interesting, unique and special. Such qualities in buildings and places can have beneficial effects on mental health and wellbeing; at the very least, they are the ingredients for more liveable and joyful places. Yet these buildings can also present significant sustainability and accessibility challenges. We are frequently at the frontier of finding the least intrusive solutions. In complex environments, this means navigating a path between intervention, conservation, preservation, planetary survival and accessibility.
Our primary goal is always to find the right response for each unique project, creating places that serve society today whilst respecting the past and understanding our deep responsibilities as guardians of the planet, doing all we can to leave the world in a better place for those will take it on from us next.
People
Our people are integral to our success. We are committed to their continuous improvement to ensure that we always make the most of what they have to offer and ultimately, that they feel happy, safe and engaged.
As a professional services business, our work can only be as good as the combined knowledge and skills of our staff and hence the continued enhancement of these skills is essential. Our practices in this respect include continuing professional development and on-going assessment and skills planning for all employees.
Community
We are continuously finding ways to support and give back to the communities in which we work.
National representation through local architecture and design studios is a core element of our strategy for providing our services. We believe that our clients’ needs are best served through having a network of smaller sized local offices with the resultant benefits of employment and skills creation in each location. Most aspects of our work have some element of community involvement: the buildings that we work on have their place in the community and involvement in local consultations is often an element of such work.