Blog: Reflecting on our Journey to Reduce our Carbon Footprint
In her latest blog, April Marsden has reflected on our journey to reduce our carbon footprint over the past few years.
At Bowman Riley, we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint. We engaged with Positive Planet, a company specialising in measuring carbon emissions and gathering data on energy consumption, commuting, purchased goods, and financial services from across our business. We decided to measure the full scope of our operations, including areas where we have less control, such as our supply chain and downstream areas, to enable Positive Planet to guide us more fully in decision-making across our business.
So, what have we done?
We have made small but meaningful changes to our operations, including our business policies and travel plan, and we’ve made conscious decisions about where and how we buy our energy and supplies.
Most importantly, we’ve given time to have open and frank discussions about our long-term plan!
Sustainability is integral to our project work
Local authorities, contractors, clients, and end users all demand buildings that use less energy and have lower embodied carbon.
Our sustainability expertise has grown, our passive house designers are inundated with projects to consider, and many of our team have undertaken formal, sustainability-related training.
The knowledge our team has gained from undertaking energy and retrofit assessor courses adds extra depth to our day-to-day architecture and surveying roles and, of course, our capacity to help provide clients with deeper knowledge and services to improve their physical assets.
Continued learning
For us, sustainability is purposeful; it motivates and engages our colleagues, and, hopefully, by introducing broader opportunities for learning and developing expertise, we will encourage greater inclusion and diversity.
Finally, expanding opportunities for our colleagues helps support our growth mindset culture, helping people develop expertise in an area they are passionate about.
We’ve still got a long way to go!
Our sustainability plan has the capacity to flex and evolve in accordance with new technology and best practice.
We would love to hear how your journey is going. What’s been your biggest lesson on your Carbon journey? How have you involved your people? Who have you collaborated with?
About the author
April Marsden is an architect and Director at Bowman Riley with more than 20 years’ experience. She leads across architecture, sustainability, management and business development, and is an active industry advocate focused on inclusive leadership, education and mentoring.