Design

Sustainable design considers all the relevant elements that go into the location, orientation, structure, systems, construction, use and eventual demolition of the buildings and infrastructure and demonstrates how each decision at every stage affects the extent to which assets are sustainable on a whole life basis. Sustainable design offers an exceptional opportunity to reduce the long-term impacts of business and society.

We recognise that to help improve the sustainability of our projects we need to adopt the principles of sustainability from the beginning of the design process.

What we are doing:

-	Recommending sustainable materials wherever possible
-	Designing for Safety and value in construction and operation
-	Prioritising energy efficiency and measuring the carbon footprint of our designs
-	Considering decommissioning issues from the outset
-	Incorporating biodiversity into landscaping
-	Developing a set of Designing for Sustainability guides, detailing topics such as energy assessments and materials option appraisals, which take life cycle into account
-	Sustainability workshops to identify project-specific sustainability issues and develop a Sustainability Action Plan, which is continually reviewed through the project
-	Using our in-house Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) Assessors to apply BREEAM requirements consistently.

Sustainable design process

In 2007, we continued to strengthen our design processes and procedures, embedding sustainability considerations into risk management, design integrity, design management, design layout and specification. Facilities management and operational teams are now involved from the inception of our projects.

We also began to measure the sustainability performance of our design consultants, monitoring the identification and mitigation of environmental, legal and social risk, and the use of materials to achieve more cost effective, sustainable solutions by design.

We are committed to incorporating the principles of sustainable design and energy efficiency into all our projects.