- Interview with Argent’s Nick Searl
- Leaving a mark
- Interview with Lendlease’s Natalie Slessor
- Balance
- Music and the workplace
- Wellbeing and the Workplace
- Interview with Lendlease’s Kevin Chapman
- Interview with Brookfield Properties’ Peter Clarke
- Combatting loneliness in the built environment
- The smart workplace
- The Architecture Drawing Prize – Not just another competition
- My time with the BCO
- The call of the wild
- Long live the office
- The art of an art historian
- Mary, queen of hotels
- Make models: Portsoken Pavilion
- The Make Charter
- Make models: LSQ London
- Disappearing Here – On perspective and other kinds of space
- Why Brexit will see a glass half-full emptied
- Drawing and thinking
- Make models: Grosvenor Waterside
- The Hollow Man: poetry of drawing
- Above and beyond
- Making shops exciting again: Lessons from the Nordics (part 1)
- Making shops exciting again: Lessons from the Nordics (part 2)
- Plein air in the digital age
- A “Plan in Impossible Perspective”
- Making shops exciting again: Lessons from the Nordics (part 3)
- The future of bespoke HQs
- World-class architecture
- Make models: The Luna
- Drawing architecture
- The future is bright but not the same
- Art Editor’s picks
- Employee ownership
- The tools of drawing
- Trecento re-enactment
- The Architecture Drawing Prize exhibition review
- Lessons on future office design from Asia Pacific
- The human office
- How drawing made architecture
- Advocating sustainable facade design
- Make models: FC Barcelona’s Nou Palau Blaugrana
- Drawing as an architect’s tool
- Are you VReady?
- Cycle design for the workplace
- Designing in Sydney
- The Architecture Drawing Prize
- Make models: an urban rail station
- Reporting from Berlin
- City-making and Sadiq
- Hand-drawing, the digital (and the archive)
- Ken Shuttleworth on drawing
- The green tiger
- Stefan Davidovici – green Mars architect
- When drawing becomes architecture
- Make models: Swindon Museum and Art Gallery
- The role of the concept sketch
- Make calls for a cultural shift in industry’s approach to fire safety
- 2036: A floor space odyssey
- Harold on tour
- London refocused
- Hotels by Make
- Full court press
- Digital Danube
- Don’t take a pop at POPS
- The future of architecture – Matthew Bugg
- The future of architecture – Jet Chu
- The future of architecture – Robert Lunn
- The future of architecture – David Patterson
- The future of architecture – Rebecca Woffenden
- The future of architecture – Katy Ghahremani
- Safer streets for all
- The importance of post-occupancy evaluation for our future built environment
- Put a lid on it
- Designing for a liveable city
- The future of architecture – Bill Webb
- Bricks – not just for house builders
- Designing in the City of Westminster
- Rolled gold
- How to make a fine suit
- Responsible sourcing starts with design
- Is off-site manufacture the answer?
- Developing a design for the facade of 7-10 Hanover Square
- Curious Sir Christopher Wren
- Responsible resourcing should be an integral part of every project
- The socio-economic value of people-focused cities
Earlier this year one of our architects, James Goodfellow, took part in a panel seminar at EcoBuild to discuss responsible sourcing, a topic which is quite rightly creeping up the agenda of many architects and is something we at Make are very focused on, especially for our 5 Broadgate project on behalf of British Land. (see James’ earlier blog post)
It requires the holistic examination of the product and the supply chain so that one is fully conscious of whether they meet environmental, social and economic requirements; from extraction, through processing and supply, right to the specification and ultimate re-use or disposal of the product.
There is no doubt that truly responsible sourcing can be a minefield. Essentially it requires the entire procurement process to be verifiable through independent sources, much like you find with FSC timber or fairtrade. The publication of the BES-6001 standard promotes responsible sourcing and provides clear guidance on the framework and governance that is required to ensure that the environmental and social aspects are addressed.
Likewise in the manufacturing process, the wellbeing of employees and the release of pollutants has to be considered. These issues are further compounded by long supply chains; the complexities for smaller enterprises in trying to meet assessment criteria and perhaps most importantly of all, creating standards that are internationally acknowledged.
A number of architects, suppliers and contractors are already leading the march on responsible sourcing, and there is increasing pressure from clients, the government and indeed the consumer public, for all of us to demand traceability and be more accountable for the products we supply, specify and use.
Responsible sourcing is something that should be embedded into the design process from the offset and the fact that BRE and British Standards have developed their own frameworks for governance can only be applauded. But we should continue to demand that more products, and their associated supply chains are evaluated to meet these standards, for as Sarah Cary, sustainable development executive at British Land, said at the EcoBuild responsible sourcing seminar: “There’s nothing like a horsemeat scandal to get us all interested in where things come from.” We all have a duty to be accountable for the product and its procurement to determine whether it is acceptable. Frankly it is time responsible sourcing became an integral part of every construction project and procurement process.
Originally posted on Ken Shuttleworth’s Building magazine column.
