Footprint

I met Richard Buckingham today who joined BDP from Arup eight months ago to head up sustainability. I was surprised to learn that he is neither an architect nor an engineer. He is a social scientist and believes that if we are going to progress the sustainability agenda, it’s behavior that has to change. ‘We know the low carbon solutions,’ says Buckingham. ‘Making them happen is another story.’ Buckingham heads a team of nine in London and six in Manchester.

Over 90 minutes we touched on a lot of topics. One new to me was PAS 2050, a green rating methodology for goods and services developed by the Carbon Trust, which BDP is using to develop a data base of green products for interior fitout. Another hot issue at the moment is the Carbon Reduction Commitment and how that will impact client decision making. Buckingham ‘guestimates’ that the majority of clients can make energy savings of roughly 30 per cent with ’soft’ wins: sensors for lighting and taps, a better regime of turning off IT equipment, adjustments to BMS, etc. Recruitment - when I asked where he would look to hire staff, Buckingham told me he has a penchant for geographers - they think holistically…

BDP is already into its third year of measuring its own carbon footprint. The green agenda is well-established (and promoted) though not all clients are on board. Buckingham is not starting from scratch and it will be interesting to see where he takes BDP next.

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Filed under: Green practice, People