Global: How does Chapman Taylor implement Sustainability?

In breaking news this week the Architect’s Journal UK said ‘nearly 50 per cent of the profession have said that zero carbon standards on all buildings should be made compulsory’.  Architecture is an essential arena for sustainable innovation.  With buildings being responsible for much of the world’s energy use and carbon emissions, there is a huge responsibility for those of us involved in the built environment to do our bit to ‘save the planet’ and not to inhibit opportunities for future generations.

At Chapman Taylor we pride ourselves on being both creative and sustainability-conscious designers, and a world leader in sustainable architecture.  Our underlying objective is to efficiently maximise the potential of any scheme, whilst striving to minimise its impact on the environment.  So, how do we implement this?

In 2004 we formed a dedicated in-house Chapman Taylor Sustainability Group tasked with building awareness and knowledge of effective and affordable sustainable design, as well as promoting innovative and practical methods of construction.  The Chapman Taylor Sustainability Group is a dynamic group of employees, including directors and associate directors, who meet every month to agree Chapman Taylor Sustainability policy, discuss current thinking in environmental, social and economic sustainability, prepare educational programmes and disseminate information to the rest of the practice.

Fundamentally, as a world leading practice, we believe that the best approach to low carbon solutions involves improving the insulation of our buildings to ensure optimum performance in summer and winter reducing the requirement for excessive heating, cooling and mechanical ventilation.  In assessing which forms of renewable energy to include the selection is made by determining the most appropriate solution to each individual project.   In the forefront of this is the selection of materials – we seek, where possible and appropriate, to choose materials from green products which have a number of health and environmental attributes.

Chapman Taylor’s commitment to Sustainability can also be seen through our thirst to further our knowledge and understanding of the topic in our industry.  Several of our senior management regularly attend conferences, and not long ago one of our directors was a panellist in the Green Rethink conference organized by the Architect’s Journal UK.   We have also established strong and successful working relationships with some of the world's best international environmental consultants.

And proof of our Sustainability commitment is in our work.  Our knowledge and understanding of sustainability has led to the achievement of 'very successful' BREEAM, LEED and other energy performance codes on many of our projects.  MediaCityUK, for example, was the first development in the world to obtain BREEAM Sustainable Community status, testiment to our world-leading credentials in this area and sustainable architecture in general.

If you would like more information on this topic please contact Nick Thursby, who leads Chapman Taylor's in-house Sustainability Group.