Submission by Elliott Wood.
Being a good ancestor
Practice
1. Does the practice have a clearly stated purpose aligned with the planetary emergency? We are looking for a bold ambition here, and a practice culture which recognises the need for long-term thinking. For example, a strong mission, a theory of change, or a sustainability roadmap.
Five years ago, we created a Manifesto called ETHICS. We asked some big questions on prevalent issues around Education, Technology, Health, Infrastructure, Culture and Sustainability. We presented insights from fellow thinkers, doers and communities. We didn’t have all the answers, but we recognised the urgency. But five years later, despite an uprising of sustainable intent, the industry continues to be just less bad – we haven’t moved the dial enough – and it’s taking too long. In awareness that not enough had been done in 2024, we launched ETHICS 2.0. ETHICS 2.0 is a call to action for our community. We can’t Engineer a Better Society alone and, while we still don’t have all the answers, but we are optimistic that we can make a difference.
We are driven to make a difference in our team, our community, and our industry. Our community led co-working space The Society Building enables a platform for our industry to connect and collaborate, working together to have a positive impact in the Built Environment.
Our B-Corp certification is an acknowledgment of the impactful initiatives and work we’ve delivered and the way we operate as a business. We have co-chaired the Structural Engineers Declare movement for the last three years to demonstrate leadership within the structural engineering community.
We have launched new services to further support a regenerative approach, including innovation, heritage and conservation and digital services.
2. Does the practice have a clear succession plan, which passes on ownership and protects the values and legacy of those who built and contributed to the practice? For example is the practice an employee owned trust.
Elliott Wood has evolved from a Partnership into a LLP and today in its incorporated form. The last iteration gave ownership access across the business with 30 senior staff (20%) becoming shareholders. In 2024 Elliott Wood reached 30 years of business, a milestone celebrated, and work continues to develop the next cohort of leaders to retain the values and ethos that have stood strong and continue to help drive positive impact across the business and within the industry. As part of the commitment to B Corp is about seeing people, planet and profit in equal measure.
3. Does the practice share research and knowledge for the benefit of society and the wider world? For example, you regularly carry out post occupancy evaluation and share information with others.
We researched, wrote and published a design tool for assessing embodied carbon, Structural Carbon Tool. This was donated to the IStructE for free, which has now been downloaded by businesses and individuals over 10,000 times and adopted for use in other countries. Revisions of this tool continued to be developed and shared with the industry. A member of staff was the lead author of the Circular Economy and reuse guide for the IStructE. We have contributed significant staff time to the UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard initiative. We are also currently leading a consortium of technical and design experts, insurance experts and most of the UK’s largest commercial developers to produce a technical guidebook that fosters cross-sector industry alignment and ensures the widespread adoption of large-scale mass timber offices.
Elliott Wood have also developed a building information sharing platform, The Building Archives, that is an open to all resource for detailed information on existing buildings, this now holds 3 different archive collections and is continuing to grow to enable a central platform for the industry to use.
Project
1. Does the practice advocate for long-term thinking at the outset of projects? Do you initiate projects with long-term thinking and challenge the client on design life? Also, can the practice demonstrate that this approach has worked – with a shorter or longer design life, or an innovative approach to financing or payback period?
Elliott Wood recognises the direct impact engineering decisions have on carbon emissions, both embodied and operational. Long term solution finding is at the heart of all decision making. Facilitating this a combination of curiosity and wisdom from the senior team and specialists that work across the Engineering Teams Industry habits are changing with clients much more aware and happy to reassess column grids with reduced spans. More recently we are starting to think about how we can do both at the same time, e.g. reduce grids now but allow extra capacity in columns for vertical extension or local removal and strengthening of slabs if needed. Similarly for foundations where better understanding of ground conditions can facilitate spare capacity without necessarily resorting to significant more material.
2. Do your projects take account of the future climate and the need for resilience? For example, do the projects demonstrate flexibility, design for adaptation, design for disassembly, non-deterministic solutions, or demountable structures.
Our focus is primarily on emissions reductions now due to the climate emergency. Our work with a large developers of logistics buildings enables more practical application of design for disassembly approaches and we have also explored these in a recent community project with IF_DO Architects – The Hithe, Rotherhithe.
Our development infrastructure team develop strategies and practices to mitigate the potential for flooding and effectively control surface water run-off and has designed award winning SUDs schemes, including Guildford Crematorium.
On a current theatre project an inherited design whilst precise for todays theatre layout had no flexibility for change. Relatively small changes to structure facilitated a better theatre for today and huge scope for future use.
3. Do the majority of your projects go beyond mitigating negatives and towards optimising positives? For example, are they meeting or exceeding the RIBA 2030 Challenge.
We have been involved in several industry leading projects that move the dial in terms of circular economy and low carbon materials. This includes the largest steel re-use project in the UK, the largest commercial timber building in London, several highly technical retention projects, and most recently jacking up floors to enable building retention.
Elliott Wood designed and built their Wimbledon office alongside Max Fordham to test innovative passive cooling system.
In 2025 we are launching a regenerative design competition across our business, taking a case study project and showing how we can implement regenerative design principles. This will include key speakers across a one month programme with a competition to pick the best design.
Co-evolving with nature
Practice
1. Does the practice use biophilia within the office or regularly host meetings and retreats in natural settings? For example do you have extensive planting within the office or rely on natural patterns and imagery for stress relief or quiet areas.
We have a wide range of plants throughout of offices, these are maintained and add a relaxed and calming feel to the environment. We have a ‘greenhouse’ lounge space, where lots of mixed height plants surround a few tables giving the feel of being surrounded by plants. We grow our own herbs and vegetables in our office including Chillis, Sage, Bay Leaves, Thyme.
Many projects now have immersion workshops in locations that relate to the project. This has included a historic chestnut woodland in Sussex, a 4 day immersion in the Catskill Mountains Upstate New York. They also include grittier urban brownfield locations where lost landscapes become part of the design and masterplan, Sunderland Riverside and Meridian Waters.
We encourage meetings to not be constrained to a meeting room, encourage 1-2-1’s to be held as a walking meeting or as an outdoor meeting.
Our 2025 summer social we are choosing to be amongst nature at a nature reserve, a move to make all socials more aligned to helping restore clean rivers and beaches, litter picking, surveying wildlife or repairing dry stone walls.
2. Can the practice share examples where it has considered nature in decision making? For example by having a nature proxy to encourage eco-centric decision making, using natural systems as inspiration for the company structure, recognising the seasonal nature of people’s capacity and workload or celebrating equinoxes and solstices together.
A series of woodland based interventions were developed with an architect from his sweet chestnut woodland in Sussex. Delicate flora predominated across the woodland floor in particular English bluebells and Cep. Construction materials were harvested from woodland, with the new cabins were designed using coppiced overgrown stems of chestnut with split lathes for cladding. The buildings were constructed using local craftsmen with traditional methods. The buildings were located to avoid areas of bluebells and Cep that grow extensively through the wood. Screw piles for foundations were placed after the bluebell season!
A special timber building was designed for a practicing shaman that had specific material requirements specifically having to avoid the use of foams and plastics. The construction included specific timings and ceremonies to suit the clients spirituality.
A project at RSPB Titchwell, needs to have careful consideration of nature, a wetlands habitat, ensuring that the habitat is protected for the species that benefit is key.
3. Is the practice supporting nature locally and nationally? For example, does the practice support local gardens, gardeners, planting programmes, rewilding programmes or advocate for changes in legislation to protect nature.
Creating a culture where all employees are thinking more about the impact they make not just as engineers of great importance. Though our ESG programme we ensure that nature is a continual theme, though our supply chain and ensuring that we use locally sourced and ethical suppliers, where all catering is vegetarian and vegan with awareness of provenance critical and food being seasonally sourced.
Throughout the business and within The Society Building we engage with staff and members on how they can contribute, we hold a Sustainable Living Series which focuses on topics such as reducing plastic waste to eating with the seasons. Additionally, we support a range of relevant charities through our partnership with B1G1.
Elliott Wood also supports the UK woodland fund as part of our carbon offsetting.
Project
1. Can the practice demonstrate projects which strive to match the performance of a mature ecosystem? As a minimum this would mean achieving biodiversity net gain.
No.
2. Is the practice working on material stewardship? For example, evidence could be shown through repeated use of low carbon materials, extensive material libraries and research or publications supporting responsible use of materials and elimination of waste.
We have contributed to a working group on material passports and are implementing these on two of our current projects. We have shown leadership in establishing the use of mass timber in the commercial sector and have other projects trialling less intensive materials such as rammed earth and bamboo.
A current research project “Hot Brick” is looking at brick as a construction material and options including stone bricks extracted from disused UK quarries and bricks from waste. This research includes a UK brick manufacturer and University of Westminster. Products from this will be exhibited in The Building Society to raise wider awareness.
3. Do the majority of projects demonstrate the use of biologically-inspired approaches such as Bioregionalism, Biophilia, Biomimicry, Ecomimicry (also referred to as Ecosystems Thinking, Industrial Ecology or Industrial Symbiosis) or BioTRIZ?
No.
Creating a just space for people
Practice
1. Does the practice have a progressive EDI policy and can you evidence many forms of diversity, which are welcomed and acknowledged, within the practice?
Elliott Wood promotes justice, equality, diversity and inclusion, which is also supported through our certification with B Corp. This includes protecting employees from any form of discrimination in the workplace, under the Equality Act 2010. Elliott Wood has an active JEDII committee which oversees our e justice, equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives within our business. This team meet on a quarterly basis to discuss plans. In 2024 Elliott Wood launched affinity groups to further breakdown the different groups to ensure each group was represented by staff members to ensure that we are a fully inclusive business. To support this, we continually run a ‘Speak out’ campaign to ensure any unethical or discriminatory behaviour is reported appropriately and steps are taken to educate people appropriately.
As part of our commitment to encouraging equality, diversity, and inclusion, we actively record the diversity that exists across our practice via a yearly diversity and inclusion survey.
2. Does the practice operate a no overtime culture, meet the living wage consistently, and stipulate a fair salary ratio between staff of all levels?
Elliott Wood discourages working overtime and with consultation of the business undertook a reduction in contractual hours from 40 to 37.5, to aid better work life balance. In addition, on a quarterly basis Me days can be awarded for meeting business targets, which are additional days off for people to spend for the benefit of themselves or for volunteering.
An equal pay to equal value and gender pay gap review is carried out on an annual basis to ensure that all salaries are fair and consistent and this also ensure that all employees are paid at least the London Living Wage.
3. Does the practice support charities, community groups, social enterprises, action groups and others through pro-bono work, charitable giving or in-kind donations?
We have partnered with a great purpose led charity partner B1G1, where we can provide donations direct to multiple charities, we have embedded this within the business so our employees and members can choose charities to support throughout the year and also to celebrate key milestones such as joining our company, work anniversary’s or achieving something worth celebrating.
We have raised year on year funds for The Soup Kitchen located opposite one of our offices which provides food and mental health services for the homeless. Elliott Wood provide both financial and direct contribution to Homegrown+ a charity that promotes diversity in Architecture by engaging with students from non traditional backgrounds.
We also encourage all employees to commit to at least one volunteering day a year through our ME day scheme and encourage further volunteering through teaching with schools, colleges and universities to share and coach the power of creativity through STEAM initiatives. We volunteer our space and time to great initiatives such as Build the Way or The People’s Pavilion where we help guide young people in a series of workshops.
Many projects for local authorities also expect part of our appointment to include pro-bono days with parts of their community.
4. Does the practice publicly refuse to work with certain clients, suppliers or organisations on ethical grounds?
Clients are the most important part of projects and Elliott Wood have a clear approach. Many of our clients are long standing with relationships based upon trust and shared values. When new opportunities are sought week specially seek clients whose values align with our own. Our B-Corp accreditation has created an ecosystem of fellow B-Corp’s and we are now actively looking for clients and projects.
When projects and opportunities arrive from new sources a careful process of assessing the clients and their values and reputations is undertaken.
With a clear purpose that we actively promote we also find that we are simply not approached by businesses whose values would fall short of our own.
It is almost impossible to publicly refuse projects and clients as NDA’s accompany almost all new enquiries.
Project
1. Do the projects demonstrate deep engagement with local stakeholders and end users? For example, is there evidence that your project engagement goes beyond consultation towards co-design?
No.
2. Do your projects create connected and resilient places which positively contribute to their neighbourhoods and allow equality of access? For example, do your projects create economic opportunity, retain value locally and generate social value?
We have several projects with very strong social value but have limited opportunity compared to architects for these last three questions, given our role predominantly as structural engineers.
3. Do the majority of your projects promote equity in society, and consider all people, not only the building inhabitants? For example, do your projects show due regard for workers within the supply chain and take active steps to avoid modern slavery?
No.