Our Commitment

To reduce our environmental impact and inspire our community and clients to adopt a more responsible approach to business and the built environment.

The rapid pace of climate change requires urgent action from each of us and we are committed to driving change through a collaborative multidisciplinary approach to the design and development of the built environment.

STW Carbon Action Plan

Scott Tallon Walker has begun the process of becoming a net zero carbon company by 2030. This is part of our commitment to the UK Carbon Reduction Plan (CRP) requirement for all suppliers to confirm their commitment to achieving net zero by 2050 publicy.

As a company, we have a social responsibility to achieve these goals operationally and through the buildings we design. We are signatories to the Irish Green Building Council and strive with each project to deliver buildings with the lowest possible impact on our environment. We are committed to targeting net zero carbon emissions and to becoming a planet and people conscious business.

How Can We Drive Change

Scott Tallon Walker are now working with our clients to set project targets for net zero whole life carbon and integrated circular economy material and construction methodologies. We strongly recommend that each project also sets project targets for embodied carbon reductions that are in line with industry best practice and Government Guidelines in the relevant jurisdiction.

We are committed to conducting complete life cycle carbon assessments for all our projects, and other environmental impact studies on each part of the building’s lifecycle as per EU standard EN15978. All building designs must account of the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, the National Carbon Action Plan, and the proposed IGBC circular economy and embodied carbon roadmap.

Our net zero declaration is a companywide commitment. We must achieve significant reductions in our underlying emissions, continuously improve the energy performance of our own offices and building designs, broadening the scope of our emissions boundary in the coming years.

There are many different Sustainability Rating Systems and approaches that we work with including nZEB/ TGD Part L, LEED, BREEAM, Passive House, WELL, Living Building, Zero Carbon Certification – Circular Ecology. Implementation of MMC/DfMA to lower embodied carbon through the reduction in material used and the minimisation of site waste. Designing assemblies for manufacture with higher tolerances and accuracy leading to increased thermal performance and air tightness. Designing projects for disassembly from project inception to promote a circular economy.

How We Can Add Value

Scott Tallon Walker advise that their clients adhere to the RIAI and/or RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge. Additionally, we recommend that projects adhere to the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) Climate Emergency Design Guide and promote either the LEED Zero or the Living Future Institute’ Zero Carbon certification and the more common LEED or BREEAM certification.

We can provide a fully integrated sustainability consultant service using our inhouse LEED, WELL and BREEAM accredited professionals, and certified Passive House designers, thermal modelers, and carbon assessors.

Our designers promote a “fabric first” approach, that maximises the energy performance of the building envelope at the outset, followed by the consideration of renewables. This leads to low impact, cost effective and adaptable building solutions for our clients.

About 25% of a buildings final energy use is decided in the Concept Stage, with a further 35% in the Developed Design stage. This means that 60% of a buildings final energy usage is ‘locked in’ before planning drawings are submitted.

In response to the growing energy performance and carbon emissions demands on new buildings, STW have developed an integrated and iterative design process for all new projects. This is achieved employing BIM in early concept design and the early integration of the core value adding principals listed below:

Our 2021 Carbon Footprint

Scott Tallon Walker Architects’ 2021 carbon footprint report indicates, that across our four offices we have emitted an estimated total of 240 tonnes CO₂e. We aim to reduce our carbon footprint by reducing the energy consumption of our offices, by reducing the number of flights and unnecessary travel and facilitating our employees to use more public transport and/or commute by bicycle. This will be a difficult challenge as about a third of our employees already cycle to work and both our Dublin and London offices are historically protected structures which limits our ability to undertake energy improvements. This is, however, a challenge we are uniquely equipped to overcome.

Our full carbon footprint report can be found here.

Meet Patrycja Kochaniuk – Head of Sustainability at STW