Sustainability
As architects we have an ethical responsibility to design for the health of people and our planet. In many ways, they’re inextricably intertwined. That’s why our approach to sustainable design considers the environmental, social and economic factors to be part of a single, interconnected solution.
Make’s six principles of sustainability – Carbon, Environment, Community, Wellbeing, Connectivity and Green economy – are guided by the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge, the LETI Climate Emergency Design Guide, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Together with clients, we’re targeting net zero whole life carbon design by 2030, with a particular emphasis on embodied carbon.
We’re signatories to the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment (NZCBC), the UN’s Race to Zero, and the UK’s Architects Declare. Our in-house sustainability taskforce, Make Neutral, has a mission to deliver our net zero carbon vision for both projects and the practice. This involves educating Makers, clients and collaborators, strengthening our design process, emphasising post-occupancy evaluation, and minimising carbon within our own studios.
In line with the NZCBC, we operate all three of our studios as carbon neutral, recording and offsetting all emissions under scopes 1, 2 and 3 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. These include direct emissions from heating and cooling, indirect emissions from electricity consumption, and those associated with business travel and the embodied carbon of our studio spaces.
Architecture should improve people’s lives in meaningful ways and help the natural world recuperate and flourish. At Make we’re working with partners and experts across sectors and geographies to develop design solutions that deliver a healthy, long-lasting future for all.
We review our sustainability policy annually, and disclose our yearly scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions – as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol – along with the actions we’ve taken to mitigate these. See our 2021 footprint above. Learn more about these figures and how we’re offsetting our footprint here.
