Delivering Sustainability
We are experts in how buildings are put together.
Working collaboratively with design teams, contractors and clients to maximise the potential of design in construction and translate ambitious design concepts into finished buildings which are beautiful, functional, durable and sustainable.
Delivering on targets
Our foremost objective is to meet or exceed the sustainability targets and ambitions set out by our clients and projects.
We are well-versed in a wide variety of international environmental assessment criteria including BREEAM, LEED, Passivehaus, WELL and NABERS, and use our delivery expertise to guide and advise on how best to achieve project targets.
Where necessary, we partner with specialist sustainability consultants to supplement our offer with additional expertise and resources. We consider this a positive opportunity for collaboration and knowledge exchange, promoting joined-up thinking and industry-wide solutions.
Operations
Our in-house Sustainability Group, drives our commitment, knowledge share and performance, benchmarking best practice in both projects and operations.
Our Environmental Management System (EMS) is aligned with ISO 14001 standards and serves as the baseline for how we manage sustainability in our office operations.
We regularly assess and monitor our use of energy and other resources and waste management to understand our baseline operational emissions before actively setting measurable targets to reduce our carbon footprint.
We are aligning our targets with SBTi methods, to include and absolute emissions reduction target of at least 4.2% annually, in line with a 1.5°C trajectory. We are setting near-term targets for 2030 and long-term net-zero targets for 2050 and will monitor and report on progress, targeting publishable results in late 2025.
Research and Materials
Innovation in materials in both new build and retrofit projects is critical to the industry’s ability to drive change and reduce negative environmental impact. At Veretec, we actively seek opportunities to specify materials that are sourced responsibly, recycled, or have high durability to minimise the carbon impact of both construction and long-term use.
Leading design teams, we trial innovative materials on a project-by-project basis.
We worked with Heatherwick Studio to combine material innovation with low carbon products, using CLT and glulam to deliver a unique structure which set new standards in both performance and aesthetics.
Project Apple
On existing buildings, we work closely with contractors, design team and developers, advising on adaptations and retrofits and the circular economy opportunities inherent in any given project for materials re-use.
We are also currently trialling a number of life-cycle analysis (LCA) tools and widely recognised third-party EPD databases to gauge which best fit with our workflow and delivery-focussed architectural needs.
Our sustainability and R&D groups are currently working together to assess the role of AI in navigating and supporting complex legislative compliance using Large Language Models (LLMs), and in optimising low-carbon material selection.
As a part of Built Cybernetics plc, we belong to a collaborative network of companies including The Torpedo Factory Group who are leading on smart building automation systems and occupant wellbeing.
