It seems that most western consumers and clients have come to the realisation that sustainability is now a necessity. Nearly everyone is against burning of rainforests and global warming etc. but, at the same time, we all feel powerless to affect these issues on a global scale. We know something has to be done but it is hard to know where to start.

We believe in starting with ourselves. For many years now we have been strong advocates of recycling and energy management. Our offices are largely naturally lit, ventilated and cooled. This is a win/win situation as we like the natural light and fresh air along with the energy savings. We recycle paper and other waste materials and most of our drawings and communications are now delivered electronically.

When advocating sustainability to our clients we take a practical approach. We know that most of our clients can’t afford to immediately implement cutting-edge environmental policies and that compliance with many environmental regulations imposes financial burdens on them, at least in the short term.

We aim to help our clients understand and implement sustainability initiatives in practical ways. This ranges from us only specifying sustainably harvested timbers to featuring recycled materials and those with low embodied energy where possible. Through our extensive lighting design work, we seek to reduce energy consumption not only in what is used by the lighting itself but also in reducing the energy used to remove the heat generated by electric lighting. We operate at the cutting edge of modern lighting technology and can help our clients recognise true fact from hype with these new technologies. For example where so-called “green” technologies hide their lack of recyclability, high carbon footprint and embodiment of heavy metals and other poisons.

We see sustainability not as a burden but as an opportunity for our clients and ourselves to save energy, minimise waste and provide a better environment in which to work or live but also to make our contribution (even a small one) to global sustainability.