Submission by Cairn.
Being a good ancestor
Practice
1. Do you have a clearly stated purpose aligned with the planetary emergency? We’re looking for a bold ambition here, and a culture which recognises the need for long-term thinking.
Over recent years the practice’s ethos has changed from having low-carbon design as one of our interests, to this becoming the dominant driver to practice. We are particularly focused on reuse projects. Those that we have had the chance to realise thus far have been small scale residential projects although we have a strong ambition to increase this scale. We are committed to innovating with the use of materials and methods of assembly to reduce and repair damage to the living world.
We were awarded the Environmental Leadership prize by New London Architecture in the 2024 Don’t Move Improve awards. We are excited to now be working on a school and youth centre to develop our approach on education projects.
2. Do you have a clearly stated purpose aligned with the planetary emergency? We’re looking for a bold ambition here, and a culture which recognises the need for long-term thinking.
No.
3. Do you share research and knowledge for the benefit of society and the wider world?
We have spoken at events and published figures related to House Made by Many Hands (see below). Kieran teaches an environmentally focussed design unit at University of Edinburgh, which he sees as a form of activism.
Kieran has published his experience of working and thinking about building sustainably, including: https://drawingmatter.org/series/connor-street-made-by-many-hands/
and https://www.thedeveloperlive.co.uk/opinion/opinion/little-green-lies-we-need-to-talk-about-low-carbon- construction
Project
1. Do you advocate for long-term thinking at the outset of work? Do you initiate work with long-term thinking and challenge clients? Also, can the organisation demonstrate that this approach has worked?
House Made by Many Hands is the first building structure in the UK to specify low-carbon LC3 concrete, together with a hardwood frame in place of traditional steel, natural materials throughout and a rigorous policy of re-use and recycling for the interior. LC3 generates 30-40% less CO2 than Ordinary Portland Cement in production.
The project achieves a Lifetime Carbon figure 40% lower than if it had been built conventionally: 222 kgCO2e/sqm. This was achieved by minimising the use of steel, concrete and internal linings.
This home demonstrates how a Victorian house can be renovated and extended with a substantially reduced environmental impact, pioneering the use of low-carbon concrete and hardwood structure.
2. Does your work take account of the future climate and the need for resilience?
House Made by Many Hands has a timber frame with precise joints and minimal use of steel for connections allows the structure to be fully demounted and reused at the end of its life. This crisp carpentry is offset against raw strata of hempcrete cast by hand in the walls. https://cairnarchitects.com/work/house-made-by-many-hands/
Our nascent design for a school in central London have flexibility and resilience at their core.
3. Does the majority of your work go beyond mitigating negatives and towards optimising positives?
House Made by Many Hands has a timber frame with precise joints and minimal use of steel for connections allows the structure to be fully demounted and reused at the end of its life. This crisp carpentry is offset against raw strata of hempcrete cast by hand in the walls. https://cairnarchitects.com/work/house-made-by-many-hands/
Our nascent design for a school in central London have flexibility and resilience at their core.
Co-evolving with nature
Practice
1. Do you use biophilia within your premises and/or do you regularly gather in natural settings?
Yes – we have extensive planting in our office. We go for walks alongside Water of Leith (Edinburgh studio) and Regents Canal (Hackney studio) most days.
2. Can you share examples of where you have considered nature in decision making?
We are working on a new SEND garden for a central london school. The design is carefully considered to provide planting that offers shade, assistance with rainwater and opportunities for learning, as well as benefiting the existing trees on the site.
3. Are you supporting nature locally and nationally?
By designing wild spaces wherever the project will allow.
Project
1. Can you demonstrate work that strives to match the performance of a mature ecosystem?
No.
2. Are you working on material stewardship?
No.
3. Does the majority of your work demonstrate the use of biologically-inspired approaches such as Bioregionalism, Biophilia or Biomimicry?
No.
Creating a just space for people
Practice
1. Do you have a progressive EDI policy and can you evidence many forms of diversity, which are welcomed and acknowledged, within your company/organisation?
We have a progressive EDI policy in place.
We are currently only 2 members of staff in size, so diversity is limited. Both members of staff currently are male, and one identifies as LGBTQ.
2. Do you operate a no overtime culture, meet the living wage consistently, and stipulate a fair salary ratio between staff of all levels?
We do not work overtime. We pay over the published industry standards, (albeit only for 2 members of staff!)
3. Do you support charities, community groups, social enterprises, action groups and others through pro-bono work, charitable giving or in-kind donations?
We have carried out pro-bono work for St Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney, assisting with an estate strategy and conducting ideas-gathering sessions with residents. We have also carried out pro-bono site studies for CHOISS co-housing group in Edinburgh, as they try to find a site for their community to progress.
We have recently been working the YMCA Youth Groups in a socially disadvantaged area of Leith, run-in
workshops with children as part of the Community Structure project.
4. Do you use an ethical framework to assess opportunities and/or supply chain partners and is them team consulted on these decisions?
No.
Project
1. Does your work demonstrate deep engagement with local stakeholders and end users?
We engage closely with stakeholders and end users on all our projects. A recent example is our school renovation project in Camden, currently in design stage. We have facilitated three in-depth consultation events with different groups of pupils, staff and parents as we plan the alterations that will have the most benefit.
Our work with residents of Cables Wynd House social housing in Leith, in partnership wit our students from University of Edinburgh, involved a deep process of engagement to design and build a series of timber community structure in the grounds of the estate. This included resident workshops, running a stall at the estate summer fair and organising sessions with the children to paint the structures with their designs.
2. Does your work create connected and resilient communities which positively contribute to neighbourhoods and allow equality of access?
Our Leith Community Structure project was intended to help the community enjoy ground of their estate and make things just a little bit easier. These included sheltered places for elderly residents to wait for a pick-up and platforms designed for teenage girls to sit and talk and observe.
3. Does the majority of your work promote equity in society, and consider all people, not only building inhabitants
We have not had the opportunity to work on projects at a large scale. Our domestic projects always consider the contractors who will be working with the materials, leading to designs with timber and natural insulations. In the Made by Many Hands project we worked closely with the contractors as they learnt new skills with materials that created a far more pleasant site for them, with fewer irritants in the air. The client, architect and contractor joined in with hand-casting the hempcrete walls.