Sustainability Beyond Earth Month

As climate change accelerates, it’s never been more important to recognise that the health of our planet is intrinsically linked to human wellbeing.

It was inspiring to see the range of activity and conversation that happened around Earth Month. HLW’s in-house sustainability team, BEYOND, hosted weekly events throughout April with fantastic guest speakers on topics such as:

• Decarbonisation and the life cycle stages of products in design
• Healthy materials – the do’s and don’ts of specifying for wellbeing and safety
• Circular economy best practices from ANEW, a women-led nonprofit making real impact by keeping office surplus in use and out of landfill
• Internal waste audit to assess the firm’s recycling practices across offices

To keep our projects and practices truly sustainable though, we must employ this thinking year-round and not just during Earth Month. Kirsty Angerer, HLW’s Development Director – Specialty Studios, recently attended the Sustainable Design Forum coordinated by SDC – Sustainable Design Collective. She had the opportunity to learn from passionate speakers and innovative suppliers on advancing circularity and carbon reduction within the real estate and workplace sectors.

Some powerful stats from the Sustainable Design Forum:

• Buildings are responsible for 40% of global climate emissions
• Around half of that is from embodied carbon
• Furniture alone accounts for 30% of embodied carbon
• Waste to landfill is forecasted to rise from 2.1B tonnes (2023) to 3.8B tonnes by 2050
• 80%+ of FTSE 100 companies say they’re committed to Net Zero by 2050… yet only 5% have credible plans under UK Government guidelines

We’re especially proud of a recent project where our BEYOND team created a bespoke sustainability charter, tailored to our client’s carbon-reduction goals. In the early analysis, BEYOND discovered that just the raised access floor and floor finishes accounted for 75% of the project’s embodied carbon. Through close collaboration and smart design choices, they achieved a 78% reduction in embodied carbon — that’s 521 tonnes of CO2 avoided!

If you’re exploring ways to reduce your project’s environmental impact, we’d love to share more about how the team did it — and how they could help you too. Reach out today!

Written by Kirsty Angerer

Kirsty Angerer has spent over 10 years working internationally in the Workplace and Real Estate sectors. Her experience lies in measuring and analysing the experience of employees in their places of work. She is a Certified Professional Ergonomist, a Fitwel Ambassador, and an active member in the WELL and CoreNet communities, demonstrating her commitment to enhancing people’s health and optimising their performance through evidence-based design and policy interventions. As Development Director, Kirsty will support our leadership in shaping the strategic direction and driving growth across all HLW’s Specialty Studios.