Our Commitment to Sustainability

Our Commitment to Sustainability

Our Commitment to Sustainability

At Furness Partnership, we recognise our responsibility as structural engineers to enhance sustainable practices in the built environment and within our workforce. Designing with the future in mind, it is our duty to ensure clients are able to mitigate the environmental impact of their projects while creating infrastructure that will serve generations to come.

Key Impact Areas

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Our Carbon Footprint
Our Carbon Footprint

As consulting engineers, our own operational emissions are minimal. However, we strive to continuously reduce our carbon footprint through improvements in our offices and ways of working. We actively support our staff to utilise low-carbon forms of transport and reduce unnecessary travel.

Sustainable Engineering
Sustainable Engineering

Paramount to our commitment to the Structural Engineers Declare a Climate and Biodiversity Emergency, we design in a way that minimises material use and its associated energy and resources. Providing structural solutions that do not compromise the natural environment or the ability of future generations to meet their own need, we enable clients to make informed decisions around the sustainability performance of their projects.

Social Impact
Social Impact

We aim to maximise the positive impact of our projects through the provision of community focussed facilities and maximum stakeholder engagement. We ensure transparency in our company’s structure and governance, embracing ethical practices at all levels, as well as accountability on responsible business practices.

Our Targets

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Educate clients on embodied carbon

Having incorporated embodied carbon calculations into our basic scope of work for all medium to large projects, we share our learnings with clients to allow informed decision-making towards effective carbon mitigation.

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Target 10% embodied carbon reduction YoY

We have calculated our average baseline carbon performance by project type to target year-on-year reduction until 2030. By achieving a consistent reduction of 10%, we will be in line with the industry’s 2030 targets in the roadmap to Net Zero.

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Target 5% Scope 2 emission reduction YoY

While our operational emissions are minimal, we empower our staff to make more environmentally friendly choices on a daily basis to contribute to reducing our Scope 2 and 3 emissions. Minimising energy use and travel emissions are our key target areas.

As structural engineers, the biggest impact we can have on the environmental performance of our projects is through the mitigation of embodied carbon (EC). The emissions produced through material production can be reduced through efficient design and responsible material sourcing.

Furness average structural carbon rating (CO2,e/m2 ) by building typology, 2015-2024

New Build

*Industry values used where in-house data is insufficient

Refurbishment

*Industry values used where in-house data is insufficient

We have applied the IStructE calculating carbon principles to a range of recent projects across varying typologies to understand our baseline performance and set targets for future improvement. We target a 10% YoY reduction in embodied carbon in all projects from these baseline values. This allows us to identify high environmental impact areas in our designs and advise clients on quantified mitigation measures. Our engineers are experts in refurbishment, structural retention and low carbon material design, and use these metrics to create optimum efficiency in their designs.

Commended for Sustainability

  • Watersedge

    Winner of the IstructE David Alsop Sustainability Award. It was designed as an exemplar project which embodied sustainability and environmental issues as a principal driver for design.

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  • Modern urban building with neon 'EVERYMAN' sign at night, pathway with lights, and trees.

    Teach Sprúis

    Winner of the 2024 Woods Awards Ireland - Small-scale Building Category. One of the first residential projects in Ireland to use mass timber for the entire superstructure.

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  • Indoor swimming pool with lane dividers and purple triangular flags hanging above.

    Perse School Sports Centre

    This project exceeded our 2025 carbon calculation targets, ahead of the industry standard.

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  • Wolverhampton Civic Hall

    Our expertise in restoring and renovating listed buildings across the country allowed for the ultimate vision, of turning the venue into a destination music and entertainment venue, to be realised.

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  • Dunraven Sports Hall

    Winner of the BCIA Small Building Award - 2009. Constructed from Recycled shipping containers, this impressive sports hall has all the facilities the school could ask for.

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