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INSIGHTS
Space Group was recently awarded B Corp certification in recognition of their social and environmental impact. “The certification aligned with a lot of the things we were already doing as a business,” explains Rob. “The award has been a great way for staff and clients alike to see how important issues relating to the impact on the planet are to us as an organisation.” Employee engagement specialist firm Best Companies have also awarded Space Group a two star accreditation because of their ‘outstanding’ commitment to workplace engagement.
Identifying projects In its early days in the 60s, the practice began with commissions in the social housing and civic buildings sectors. Over the years Space has diversified – in addition to working on a number of theatre refurbishments, the practice has identified one of its key strengths as working with schools and universities.
A couple of stand-out examples include the Farrell Centre Project for Newcastle University, where the practice reimagined a listed former department store as an ‘urban room’ – a cross between an art gallery, workspace and lecture room for the community to learn about their built environment. Driven by a £1m donation from acclaimed architect-planner Sir Terry Farrell, the centre is dedicated to “debating the future of architecture and cities.” With additional funding from the university, this new venue has been created on a key gateway into the city. At Sunderland University, Space Architects is doing a lot of work across multiple sites to help them rationalise their estate; “They’re doing a lot of work in their medical school,” adds Rob, with one project, the Cadaveric Centre for anatomical research, having just been completed by the practice.
The practice also does a lot of work within the public sector, particularly refurbishment and listed buildings. They have a number of regular clients – including a national retailer – and provide technical advice to a couple of national housebuilders. Rob is keen to stress that as an architectural practice however they are “keen on serving their local communities.” Approximately 80% of Space’s work comes from existing clients, with the remaining 20% given over to new work that particularly interests them. “We’re very focused on doing projects we enjoy and that inspire our team. We have got some great clients that we’ve worked with for years, and they’ve become friends; so they’re our priority,” comments Rob. In recent years, Space’s design ‘signature’ has evolved to increasingly focus around “creative reuse,” an approach which embodies their commitment to the planet; “if you’re trying to minimise carbon then the best building for our clients is the one they’ve already got,” comments Rob. The practice is also proud of its “design optimisation approach,” meaning buildings can be standardised, making the process more efficient and “removing a lot of the waste,” says Rob. This is particularly applicable to working on school projects, he says, as the Department of Education (DfE) “know exactly what they want.”
Towards net zero
The business as a whole has set itself a target of being carbon neutral by the end of 2023 and zero carbon by 2030. Having tried to reduce their carbon use for many years, the new goal of being carbon neutral has been relatively easy; “you just spend more money on carbon credits,” explains Rob. However they have tried
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to do it properly without cutting corners; “we’ve tried to keep our carbon usage down, as well as offsetting.” Although the business is keen to support local new forest growth in the UK, Space Group admits this is a long-term aim which will take years to have any impact on the environment, so cannot be counted as a true ‘carbon credit.’ Instead, it supports the Ugandan forestry approach – which has an “immediate impact,” as much of the funding is used for sustaining the existing trees.
Getting the practice to zero carbon by 2030 “is where it gets really tough,” comments Rob. “Ultimately, for us that’ll mean generating raw electricity; but the tough area is working with our supply chain to deliver ‘scope three’ reductions, in which we use science-based targets to measure our carbon usage,” Rob continues. Rob outlines some of the sustainability challenges that the practice has faced in projects, as well as the solutions it has identified. He explains that they are trying to use more timber in their projects. “Reducing concrete and steel has a massive impact on your embodied carbon footprint.” The practice’s Twinview platform has identified that approximately “29% of energy use is carbon in operation,” he asserts. Rob admits that designers (themselves included) are often guilty of not fully understanding the impact that their designs have on day to day energy usage, and the organisation is investing in research into this area.
As part of being a socially responsible organisation, Space Group also hosts an annual conference called _shift, for clients, partners and design teams wanting to address the building sector’s role in reducing emissions and combating climate change.
Future goals
The practice as a whole will continue to focus its energies on mitigating the results of global warming, with the big focus around reducing embodied carbon within the business itself. It harnesses the potential of Twinview to help clients find ways to reuse the built resources they have.
As constructing a building from scratch is resource-heavy, Rob reiterates the resulting – and challenging – proposition for architects to offer their clients: “Is there really a need for a new building?” Only once this has been interrogated and retrofitting an existing building isn’t an option, should building new be pursued, says Space Group. And that should be a building that is as sustainable as possible, to help futureproof the planet. g
ADF JULY/AUGUST 2023
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