Quattro Design Architects have set a high benchmark by being involved with green issues for 25 years. But they are not content to rest on their laurels and continue to strive to do even better.
In the last 12 months they have improved their information systems for clients and design staff to show just how environmentally friendly new buildings can be and they have drawn up a range of ambitious targets including reducing the company's carbon footprint and water consumption.
Some businesses have only recently begun to take their environmental responsibilities seriously. For them, big improvements can be made by taking some simple steps.
But what if you have been at the forefront of sustainability for a quarter of a century ? How can a model company continue to improve its performance ?
That's the challenge for Quattro Design Architects, a practice, which Environmental Management System Director Hugh Nettelfield says, has the green agenda in its DNA.
As a student, he was passionate about protecting the environment and improving energy efficiency long before it was widely supported and he was careful to ensure that enthusiasm was carried into his working life. Now, even though they have already set the bar high, Hugh believes it is possible for them to raise their game still further.
"We have done a whole series of things to improve our environmental performance but I think that over the last 12 months the single most important factor has been the steps we have taken to improve the quality of information available both to clients and our staff," he said.
Quattro have produced their own suite of documents, green briefing sheets which help people to fully understand the issues and the options available to them.
"Our approach is to listen carefully to what the client wants from a building and not to impose our views. However, we do get them to think about the project as a whole, considering such things as the position of the building, which way it faces and its thermal capacity, calculating how long it will take to heat up or cool down. The fact is that buildings can be designed in such a way that they don't
need heating or air conditioning systems, just think about the energy saved over the whole lifetime of the building!" said Hugh.
Sustainability workshops are also provided for clients, providing a chance to discuss environmental issues outside the parameters of their own project. It's also an opportunity to talk about the pressures they are under and a chance for Hugh and his team to feed in what they think is the important information to provide, including looking at the wider consequences of a particular course of action.
Ensuring information is properly understood is a vital element in the design process but the issue of cost also plays a big part in making decisions which have long term consequences, sometimes a cause of frustration.
"Clients often talk about wanting their buildings to be as green as possible but then we are not able to go anywhere near as far as we could for a number of reasons."
"Over the lifetime of a building, there will be an enormous energy cost. If you spent a modest amount at the outset you will see substantial savings over time and radically reduce the carbon footprint. However, in the public sector there is often a separation between capital and revenue budgets - the holders of the former seek to minimise their expenditure even though by doing that they commit the holders of the latter to long term additional costs and damage the environment into the bargain. More joined up thinking would make a big difference," explained Hugh.
Quattro have set themselves a variety of challenging targets for the future, for example striving to reduce CO2 emissions by 5% per year, maintaining a green travel plan, appointing efficiency champions in each department, reducing water usage, recycling a minimum of 75% from all waste generated and ensuring their purchasing policy reflects the environmental policy of the practice.
Despite all this activity, Hugh senses that some of the successes of the business have actually had retrograde environmental effects.
"I remember that when we started about 25 years ago, we were able to cycle to all our sites, now we work much further afield. We reduce some of the effects of that by using video conferencing, but it is still important to visit sites to properly understand the area and the people who live around it. I think it would be no bad thing if we worked towards a future where we all worked more locally and could travel by bike to the office and to building sites" said Hugh.