Over the last 10 years, Cundall has gained a reputation as a leading global sustainable design consultancy, winning international awards for their projects and their business. To take this further and help to define what “sustainability” means to the business, they adopted the One Planet framework in 2011. In 2012, Cundall prepared a detailed action plan with targets against each of the 10 principles, which was then endorsed by BioRegional. Each year, Cundall will report their progress which is independently audited by BioRegional.

Cundall Partner David Clark explains: “We liked the One Planet approach. It is not about abandoning civilisation but about using our share of the world’s resources more fairly. This means setting some tough targets appropriate to our business, and creating a culture to deliver these.”

“Cundall was already proactively reducing its business’s impact on the environment, however, becoming a One Planet Company is pushing us to the next level” continues David. “BioRegional reviewed our initial targets and challenged us in some areas to aim higher. The endorsement was tough to get which is exactly why we pursued it. We didn’t want an easy green label that rewards business as usual.”

The approach is flexible enough to allow each of Cundall’s 20 offices across the globe to undertake actions appropriate to them whilst contributing towards achieving the ambitious targets for 2015 and 2025.

“One Planet Company is not a rating tool with rigid definitions,” explains David. “We cannot ask our Newcastle office to implement the same strategy as our Dubai office; they are different sizes, in a different climate, have different challenges and different impacts. We have set up office green teams comprising staff volunteers and they use the 10 principles to guide activities relevant to their office. Ideas are regularly shared around the practice to assist or inspire others.”

Hayley Baines Buffery, Head of Sustainable Business at BioRegional, explains the significance of Cundall’s endorsement: “With a strong heritage of sustainability, Cundall is well placed to take on the exciting challenge of becoming a One Planet Company. This will see One Planet Living reach an unprecedented number of international offices, providing valuable insights into how different environments and cultures embed sustainability into their business operations and services”.

So are the targets achievable?

“Honestly, we do not know,” admits David. “By 2025, we are aiming to be Zero Carbon. This is a tough commitment that we will strive towards, by breaking down into interim targets and taking steps to achieve these. Other targets such as creating native habitats for birds and insects, will be easier in some offices than others. As we rent all of our office space, engaging with our landlords will be crucial to achieving our goals. By encouraging them to make changes with us, we hope that this will have a beneficial knock on effect for their other tenants and buildings.”

Cundall has made their One Planet Company commitment public, with a summary of the action plan included in its ‘Sustainability Roadmap’, which can be downloaded from the company website. Yearly audits will also be published on their website, so there is nowhere to hide if they are not reaching their targets.

David Dryden, Managing Partner, explains what it means for the business: “Cundall has a clear objective to maintain its position as a leader in sustainability in the built environment, with core commitments to reducing our impact as a business as well as reducing the environmental and social impact of the buildings we design.”

David concludes, “We need to practice what we preach. We cannot ask our clients to strive to build and operate buildings more sustainably unless we are running our own business responsibly. Cundall have been pushing boundaries in sustainability for a number of years and believe as an industry we can push much harder.”

BedZED was developed as a partnership between BioRegional, Peabody and BDa ZEDfactory. Residents at BedZED can reduce the carbon emissions of their whole lifestyle by nearly 50%, including energy use in the home, transport and embodied carbon in food and consumer goods. Provided that government and business reduce carbon emissions from services and products, BedZED and the other featured case studies demonstrate that the 80-90% carbon reductions needed in Europe can be achieved cost effectively.

Carbon emissions from energy use in the home are reduced by 72% compared to similar homes built in 2002, photovoltaics supply 20% of electricity, and a new biomass energy plant and off site renewable energy will mean zero carbon emissions from energy use in the home in the near future.

Research among BedZED residents shows:

• a higher reported quality of life, with a strong sense of community,
• significantly lower use of energy for heating
• (77% lower than local average), and electricity usage (45% lower than local average),
• reduced water consumption – 58% lower than local average,
• a lower rate of car ownership and annual mileage reduced by half compared to local average,
• further lifestyle changes driven by a strong community, including high recycling rates (60%) and sustainable food choices.

More information

BedZED on BioRegional’s website
BedZED on One Planet Communities website

B&Q has already made impressive progress: Based on reporting in 2010, B&Q has made an absolute saving of 20% CO2 compared to its emissions in 2006. This was achieved even with an increase in turnover and without any offsetting or green energy tariffs. Other achievements include an 80% recycling rate, up from a 2006 baseline of 29%, and 3,500 One Planet Home® products accredited by BioRegional to help customers reduce the impacts of their homes.

Using the One Planet Living principles, sustainability is embedded into B&Q’s governance structure. Sustainability is one of seven key business plans and progress is reported to the Board of Directors while managers across the company have specific sustainability targets.

More information

One Planet Home on BioRegional’s website
One Planet Home on B&Q’s website

Part of FEMSA, Imbera has production facilities in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil along with several offices across the continent. Imbera manufactures more than 300,000 coolers each year and employs more than 3,000 people.

In the last 10 years Imbera has achieved a greater than 80% reduction in the energy consumption of its products, but Imbera wants to go “Beyond Cooling”. The company aims to lead the industry not only by offering the most efficient and environmentally friendly refrigeration systems, but by being one of the most sustainable companies overall. Its focus is to increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions within its facilities; ensure equality and fair trade in all operations, and promote sustainability among staff, investors, suppliers and clients.

More information

Imbera on BioRegional’s website
Imbera’s website

One Planet Sutton will have a major impact on this typical London commuter suburb with 80,000 homes and 186,000 residents. There will also be lessons that can be applied to other regions.

With BioRegional’s support, Sutton Council developed a One Planet Action Plan that sets targets for council operations and a series of interventions that will enable Sutton residents and businesses to achieve one planet living by 2025. The targets include for all council buildings to be zero carbon by 2017 and the whole borough enabled to be zero carbon by 2025.

Initial activities are focused on a 2,500 home pilot area, reducing energy demand through a retrofit programme and supplying renewable energy to make the area zero carbon. The project is tackling the key issue of behaviour change to demonstrate how a whole neighbourhood can live and work sustainably.

More information

One Planet Sutton on BioRegional’s website
Sutton Council’s website
One Planet Sutton website

The 81 hectare site, forty miles north of San Francisco will house 5,000 people in 1,900 homes. There will be some 50,000 m2 of office, retail and commercial space, providing 4,400 jobs.

Sonoma Mountain Village aims to emit zero carbon, produce zero waste, and use zero ground water. Codding Enterprises has already installed the largest privately owned solar array in Northern California – 2.3 megawatt PV array that will power around 1,900 homes. Its private/public financing has set a US precedent.

No resident will be more than a five minute walk from groceries, restaurants, day care and other amenities that will in turn offer local, sustainable and Fairtrade products and services.

Within the ten hectare business centre there are already 600 employees employed in 21 businesses, including AT&T, Comcast, and Codding Steel Frame Solutions. The non-profit Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster is 60% full, with over 25 sustainability-oriented technology start-up companies and social enterprises.

More information

BioRegional North America website
Sonoma Mountain Village on BioRegional’s website
Sonoma Mountain Village on One Planet Communities website
Sonoma Mountain Village official website
Codding website

One Planet Middlesbrough is an ambitious green economy initiative aiming to promote more sustainable lifestyles and council services within this UK borough. Middlesbrough aims to enable one planet living for its residents by 2025.

Middlesbrough’s sustainability action plan, written together with BioRegional, sets ambitious targets for the coming decades. The plan focuses on advancing all three pillars of the green economy: environmental, social and economic.

The Council aims to reduce emissions from its buildings such as schools and social housing by 90% and to significantly reduce the percentage of municipal and domestic waste by 2025. The Council is already on track to save thousands of pounds annually through water and energy efficiency measures. The borough is also working to green its public procurement policies, and its sustainable transport vision sets policies for walking and cycling to become the norm among residents.

The One Planet Middlesbrough initiative aims to demonstrate that a global green economy is based on thriving, sustainable local economies.

More information

Middlesbrough on BioRegional’s website
Middlesbrough Council website

One Planet Living was used as a framework for developing sustainable solutions for design, construction and lifestyles at One Brighton. Construction includes the greenest concrete frame in the UK, natural clay blocks and wood fibre insulation. An on-site biomass boiler and PV panels provide approximately 50% of energy requirements with the remainder purchased as guaranteed green electricity through One Brighton Energy Services company.

The first residents moved in during summer 2009, benefiting from green lifestyle features including roof top allotments, communal sky gardens, a car club and a green caretaker. By saving costs on expensive underground car parking, it was possible to build better quality greener buildings, enabling a profitable development without charging more to the customer. This is a real breakthrough, as it shows that building sustainable communities does not need to cost more.

More information

One Brighton on BioRegional’s website
One Brighton on One Planet Communities website
One Brighton official website
BioRegional Quintain website
Crest Nicholson website

The plan will build on work already carried out and identify where more effort is needed – particularly where there is the added benefit of cutting costs by reducing energy or water use, or the amount of waste produced.

New energy saving lighting at the Brighton Centre, for example, is expected to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 23.5 tonnes per year, and save at least £41,000 per year on electricity bills, and a project to reduce the amount of water being used in the centre’s toilets could save 13,000 litres per day, reducing water use by 96% and cutting water bills by an estimated £9,200 per year.

More information

Brighton and Hove City Council’s website

The Groupe Pacific redevelopment project, which straddles the municipalities of Cote-saint-Luc and Montréal/Lachine, plans to make a 70% ecological footprint reduction practical and convenient for its residents to achieve while improving their quality of life.

The project is currently in a design and consultation phase, and envisions a compact neighbourhood of family housing and multi-family buildings, with a thriving commercial/retail mixed-use district, farmers’ market and rail station.

More information

BioRegional North America website
Petite Rivière on One Planet Communities website
Petite Rivière official website
Groupe Pacific website