Submission by JTP.
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.
JTP has a clearly stated purpose to create regenerative places, responding directly to the planetary emergency through long-term, measurable action. Midway through our 2019–2030 sustainability journey, we reviewed and strengthened our ambitions around four guiding principles that shape our culture and decision-making.
Tread Lightly commits us to practice what we preach through the World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Buildings Commitment — all owned assets are currently net zero carbon in operation, with a clear pathway to minimise offsetting by 2030.
Grow Collaboratively fosters continuous learning across our studios, enabling knowledge-sharing with clients and communities.
Think Regeneratively pushes beyond minimising harm, embedding biodiversity recovery, low-carbon living and climate resilience into every masterplan and place strategy.
Speak Loudly ensures we share evidence, challenge industry norms and advocate for systemic change, using our platform to influence clients, collaborators and the wider built environment sector toward a regenerative future.
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.
Succession planning is central to our long-term vision, and we have developed a structured 10-year plan that is built on the investment in people and that creates a clear pathway for the next generation of leaders, while preserving the values and culture that define JTP.
A key milestone was the introduction of a new leadership tier in 2024, with the promotion of JTP’s first Associate Directors – creating a formal structure through which the next generation can take ownership of our practice’s strategic direction. Alongside this, Associate Portfolios give Associates greater agency and visibility, establishing a clearer progression route towards partnership.
We remain committed to the growth of our current Associate Directors and Associates, as well as nurturing emerging talent across the practice, supported by personal mentorship and bespoke external coaching focussed on leadership and personal growth.
3. Do you share research and knowledge for the benefit of society and the wider world?
In recent years, JTP has published three research papers advancing knowledge across the sector.
Our most recent, Future of Place, produced to mark our 30th anniversary, explores how to better engage younger and more diverse audiences in shaping neighbourhoods. Drawing on workshops and interviews with participants aged 16–30 — including sessions at Alconbury Weald and The Green Quarter — it showcases co-design methodologies through work at Chrisp Street and Squires Lane.
Our Creating Healthy Communities research revisits two long-term case studies — Graylingwell Park and Cholsey Meadows — more than a decade after delivery. Speaking with residents and local stakeholders, we explored whether early visions for thriving community spaces had been realised, and what lessons emerge once projects move beyond design and 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?
Long-term thinking is fundamental to JTP’s masterplanning approach. We challenge clients from the outset to embed stewardship, sustainability and future adaptability into places, ensuring decisions made today deliver lasting value.
This is demonstrated through our contribution to the UK Government’s National Model Design Code research programme, where Weyside Urban Village in Guildford was selected as a testing pilot. Through this work, JTP helped explore how design coding can deliver high-quality, sustainable places while embedding long-term resilience and stewardship principles into delivery.
Alongside this, JTP co-created a Sustainability Design Code with Expedition Engineering, establishing measurable principles applied across masterplans and developments. The code embeds low-carbon living, biodiversity enhancement, climate resilience and adaptability from the outset. Together, these initiatives demonstrate how JTP combines policy leadership, research and practical delivery to influence national standards and long-term project outcomes.
2. Does your work take account of the future climate and the need for resilience?
JTP’s work is grounded in the understanding that resilient places must respond to future climate while supporting healthier ecosystems and communities. Climate resilience is embedded from the outset through landscape-led masterplanning, sustainable movement networks and regenerative approaches to water management and biodiversity.
Our work at Bailrigg Garden Village exemplifies this: the masterplan integrates food production, soil health and ecological enhancement as fundamental components of long-term resilience. Working alongside the Soils Taskforce, the project explored how healthy soils support carbon sequestration, biodiversity, sustainable drainage and productive landscapes. Community growing spaces, sustainable land management strategies and connected green infrastructure strengthen local food systems while improving environmental performance and community wellbeing.
By embedding environmental stewardship into the structure of new communities, JTP’s work goes beyond compliance to create adaptable, climate-resilient places that actively restore natural systems.
3. Does the majority of your work go beyond mitigating negatives and towards optimising positives?
The majority of JTP’s work focuses on creating measurable positive outcomes for people, place and nature, rather than simply mitigating negatives. Our masterplans are underpinned by a healthy placemaking matrix that prioritises wellbeing, walkability, social connection, access to nature and long-term stewardship from the outset.
Importantly, we revisit our projects to understand how communities mature over time. Through our Creating Healthy Communities research, we returned to Graylingwell Park to evaluate whether the original vision for healthy community life had been realised — demonstrating how community stewardship, adaptable facilities and strong social infrastructure foster lasting wellbeing and resilience.
This approach is reinforced through post-occupancy evaluation, including work by the Quality of Life Foundation at Alconbury in 2021 and 2024, showing improved scores in health, wellbeing and community connectedness.
Co-evolving with nature
Practice
1. Do you use biophilia within your premises and/or do you regularly gather in natural settings?
The design of our self-designed JTP London studio encourages health, sustainability and wellbeing. We made the conscious decision to incorporate large-scale planting and biophilia into the design of studio, where plants and greenery are integrated throughout the workspace. Placing these in key locations across our studio, we made sure staff could easily see or be close to greenery. The inclusion of plants within our studio provides air purification, improves productivity and cognition and creates spaces for our staff to have areas for quiet contemplation and focus.
Beyond the studio, we also make a conscious effort to gather in natural settings. Our 2026 Business Retreat was hosted at the London Wildlife Trust’s Camley Park – a deliberate choice that reflects our belief in the restorative power of nature, and our commitment to practising the principles we advocate for in our work.
2. Can you share examples of where you have considered nature in decision making?
Nature is embedded in JTP’s decision-making at every scale, from strategic visioning to detailed masterplanning. We advocate for development that actively supports nature recovery, recognising that healthy ecosystems are fundamental to resilient communities and long-term climate adaptation.
This approach is demonstrated through our collaboration with The Wildlife Trusts, together, we identified principles for large-scale nature recovery, placing ecological networks, biodiversity enhancement and access to nature at the heart of spatial planning. Rather than treating nature as leftover space, the vision proposed a “bigger, better and joined-up” landscape where habitats are protected, restored and connected across the region.
These principles now inform our wider placemaking approach, helping clients and communities create places where people and nature can thrive together over the long term.
3. Are you supporting nature locally and nationally?
JTP is wholly committed to supporting nature’s recovery. We have, for many years, been working with the Wildlife Trusts on projects across the UK to create places that support and encourage nature, biodiversity net gain and urban greening from design outset – to ensure that the design creates the right habitats for people and wildlife.
We seek to support local initiatives including Swedenborg Gardens and E1 Community Gardeners; local volunteer organisations who seek to improve the green space in the community. We have provided volunteering time and professional support for funding applications.
Our Managing Partner has also participated in several tree planting initiatives over the past 3 years and is a member of the London Wildlife Trust Board of Trustees, championing the delivery of ecologically rich places and supporting nature recovery.
Project
1. Can you demonstrate work that strives to match the performance of a mature ecosystem?
JTP has championed biodiversity net gain on all projects for over a decade, long before it became a legislative requirement, seeking to restore and strengthen ecological systems through nature-led placemaking.
A key example is our collaboration with The Wildlife Trusts to develop 100 Miles Wilder, an alternative vision for the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Arc. Faced with proposals for one million new homes and major infrastructure, the vision places nature recovery and human wellbeing at the heart of future growth.
The strategy identifies opportunities to protect and enhance valuable habitats, reconnect ecological networks, increase natural capital and improve access to nature for communities. Combined with strategic environmental assessment and sustainable travel analysis, it demonstrates how development can work in harmony with living systems. The principles established through this work provide a scalable model for resilient, ecosystem-led planning across the UK.
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?
Within JTP’s EDI Policy, we seek to promote and support diversity and to create an inclusive environment where everyone feels able to participate and achieve their potential.
Our EDI Group was established in 2020 to represent employees and work with the HR team and Managing Partner to ensure the aims of our EDI Charter and Action plan are met. The EDI Charter is a public statement, signed by the Management Board, that sets out the practices’ commitment to create an inclusive workplace and our ambitions to positively influence and encourage diversity in the wider architectural industry and in the projects that we create.
Within our EDI calendar, we celebrate relevant diversity events including LGBT+ History Month, Pride, Lunar New Year and Mental Health Awareness Week.
A particular success of which we are immensely proud is the increase in diversity across the Practice in respect of gender balance and ethnicity.
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 are committed to fostering a healthy, fair and transparent working culture at every level of the practice.
To protect work-life balance, we operate a board-led initiative to reduce out-of-hours emails and safeguard lunchbreaks. We are proud to pay the London Living Wage as a minimum to all London-based employees, and the Living Wage to those in our Bristol studio. Pay bands by grade are in place, with an annual assessment of responsibilities ensuring fairness and consistency.
We believe pay transparency is a matter of good practice and have voluntarily conducted an internal Gender Pay Gap Audit since 2019. Our results reflect consistent and meaningful progress: our mean gender pay gap has improved dramatically to 1.29% in 2026, a further improvement of 2.45% from the previous year. When benchmarked against larger practices in the built environment sector, JTP’s figures are extremely positive.
3. Do you support charities, community groups, social enterprises, action groups and others through pro-bono work, charitable giving or in-kind donations?
At JTP, our commitment to creating lasting, positive impact is embedded in every aspect of our practice and projects.
We participate in a number of outreach initiatives within our local community and the architectural profession including charitable fundraising/donations, volunteering and our extensive outreach programme. Some of our most recent activities include mentoring, access to software skills training and CV/portfolio workshops with partner organisations including Blueprint for All, the People’s Pavilion and Mulberry School for Girls, as well as other schools. Throughout 2025, JTP also hosted 12 work experience students, offering a total of 58 days of hands-on insight by our teams.
In addition to our practice outreach activities, project teams also contributed to outreach initiatives as part of their projects. Most notably the Make your Mark event at our project at Waterbeach and a series of events with Southgate and Barnet College which includes work experience placements.
4. Do you use an ethical framework to assess opportunities and/or supply chain partners and is them team consulted on these decisions?
We are selective about which opportunities we pursue to ensure they align with our practice. This assessment is undertaken for every new business pursuit by the relevant Project Partner, who evaluates each opportunity against JTP’s values, ethos and strategic priorities before a decision to proceed.
We have publicly withdrawn from projects globally when we have not been able to stand by a changing international position.
JTP is aware of the corporate responsibility towards people, communities and the environment wherein we and our suppliers conduct our business. The nature of JTP’s business means that our supply chains are relatively limited however, we expect those suppliers to follow our standards and values. Upon appointment, sub-consultants are required to submit a pre-qualification questionnaire which is re-submitted annually. We require them to provide their Environmental/Sustainability policy, good working practices and demonstrate a zero-tolerance approach to exploitation under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Project
1. Does your work demonstrate deep engagement with local stakeholders and end users?
JTP Engages, our in-house engagement team, delivers bespoke programmes of early, continuous engagement and co-design tailored to each place and community. Drawing on 30 years’ experience as architects, masterplanners and placemakers, we “hold the pencil” with local people, listening to their insights and co-designing with future users to build trust, transparency and shared ownership.
At Chrisp Street in Poplar, working with AND London for Telford Living, engagement directly shaped the emerging masterplan. Through workshops, drop-ins, dual-language materials, an interactive map and digital engagement, over 4,000 comments were logged and analysed using AI to create a measurable evidence base for decision-making. Community feedback informed key proposals including a supermarket, expanded play space, improved lighting, safer evening routes for women and girls, 80 new trees and affordable “Makers Yards”. Residents were not simply consulted but empowered to shape their district centre, with 88% supporting the regeneration proposals at the first report-back event.
2. Does your work create connected and resilient communities which positively contribute to neighbourhoods and allow equality of access?
Our work is rooted in creating connected, resilient communities that strengthen neighbourhood identity while ensuring equitable access for all. Through carefully curated engagement events and co-design processes, we bring residents, stakeholders and local organisations together early, building trust, participation and long-term social resilience.
At Finchley Lakeside, JTP led an exploratory co-design process to shape the future of Pentland Group’s former campus alongside local residents and partners. Community feedback highlighted the importance of improving walkability, opening access to the previously inaccessible site and creating spaces for connection. In response, the emerging masterplan introduces safe, direct walking and cycling links between Squires Lane and Finchley Central station, improving connectivity and encouraging active travel. Residents identified the lake as central to local identity, leading to enhanced ecological landscapes and a new Lakeside Trail. A flexible community hub and café support social interaction and everyday use, creating an inclusive, adaptable neighbourhood for future generations.
3. Does the majority of your work promote equity in society, and consider all people, not only building inhabitants
Equity is embedded throughout our work — from early engagement to long-term stewardship — ensuring projects benefit not only building users but the wider community.
Graylingwell Park in Chichester exemplifies this approach. Developed through a collaborative process involving more than 350 local people and stakeholders, the masterplan established one of the UK’s first net-zero neighbourhoods while prioritising long-term wellbeing. Alongside 750 homes, including 40% affordable housing, the project delivered community facilities, creative workspaces, green infrastructure and sustainable movement networks.
Crucially, the Chichester Community Development Trust was established from the outset to manage community assets and foster social connection long after construction. This stewardship model ensures the neighbourhood continues to evolve in response to community needs, creating a resilient, inclusive and environmentally responsible place with lasting social value.