Commitment to the Environment

We commit to working urgently to make the massive changes needed to end the built environment’s contribution to the climate and ecological emergency. This is integral to our wider purpose to create healthy environments for better connections between people, now and for the future.

“The construction industry, and associated legislation, have been slow to enact the changes that we need. We must drive each other forward together.”

- Jonathan Mann, Environmental Action Group Lead

Working Culture
We promote and maintain a culture of care and responsibility for the environment throughout our office and have been working alongside the Climate Resilience Company on our journey to becoming a net zero carbon business and support our process of attaining BCorp accreditation.

New Goals
We prioritise climate and biodiversity objectives and prepare ourselves for the necessary industry shift. Our Sustainable Design policy is informed by LETI, the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge and the UKGBC to help steer our projects towards a low carbon, low impact future.

Pioneering Design
Gort Scott has expertise in adapting complex existing buildings to extend their working lives and build rich, contextual environments. We strongly advocate prioritising retrofit and re-use as the most effective way to reduce Whole Life Carbon impact.

Design for Performance
We have expertise in achieving high-performing new buildings. We have achieved BREEAM Excellent or Outstanding accreditation on several new buildings, both on site and at planning stages. Our certified Passivhaus designers reinforce our internal team as we continue to develop low-energy buildings.

Advocate and collaborate
We are signatories and participants of Architects Declare, and Architects Climate Action Network. We advocate for faster industry change. We continuously develop and share our knowledge, tools and resources both within the practice and alongside a growing network of collaborating professionals, including London Practice Forum and London on.

Evaluate and Improve
Our Environmental Action Group is responsible for reviewing all projects against the RIBA Sustainable Outcomes. and our growing, wider research into best sustainable practice. The Group collaborates with each project team to develop a project-specific Environmental Action Plan for support through all work stages.