Submission by JTP.
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.
JTP is committed to the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge, Architect’s Declare commitments and World Green Building Council’s Net Zero Buildings Commitment. We work across the practice and all projects to deliver the ambitions of these plans. In 2019, we developed an ambitious 2030 practice route map setting out how we will deliver on these commitments across our projects and our studio. As part of this work, five themed Working Groups have been formed to further our knowledge, experience and understanding across the sustainability topics and to enable us to continually raise sustainability performance standards in line with our zero carbon ambitions. The Working Groups set out objectives within our annual Business Plan to ensure we remain accountable. In 2024, two of our staff were trained to Passive House Designer certification to champion design performance across the practice, with future aspirations to similarly upskill other staff.
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.
JTP is a second generation of Partners and the evolution of the next generation of leaders is well underway. In 2023, we created a new role focussing on the growth of future leaders and at the beginning of 2024 we announced the promotion of JTP’s first six Associate Directors providing a route map to progression and JTP’s succession.
We have implemented ‘Associate Portfolios’, nurturing Associate responsibility alongside Partners for client care with the aim of building long-term relationships and ensuring the guardianship of our values and commitments across our portfolios and projects. We encourage Associate-led initiatives including drafting of JTP’s annual Business Plan, research and upskilling in topic areas including carbon, biodiversity and young person networking and outreach.
We completed a full review of practice ownership structures in 2023 and having explored the EOT structure, we decided to retain our LLP status to remove personal financial outlay for new Partners.
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.
Our practice actively shares research for societal benefit:
- We conducted in-house research on the health benefits of well-designed, walkable neighbourhoods, embedding these principles into all our projects. Founding Partner Fred London’s book, released through RIBA Publishing, disseminates this research via six Healthy Placemaking principles.
- We collaborated with postgraduate students at Imperial College London, exploring the health benefits of good masterplanning at Alconbury Weald, examining the frequency of visits to green space and the percentage of children walking to school. This project featured as a pilot project in the Quality of Life Foundation’s recent report.
- We are members of the Soils Task Force in partnership with Lancaster University, promoting sustainable soil management during construction. This interdisciplinary effort involves academic researchers, councils, and professionals to safeguard and enhance soil resources, crucial for thriving communities and ecosystems.
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?
By nature, the scale of our projects require long-term thinking from the outset as they can take decades to be realised. In developing the phased approach to development, we have been exploring how we decarbonise infrastructure in early phases to support a placemaking-led, low-carbon approach to design. In one instance, we have championed the delivery of only two lanes of a four-lane road and have since been able to demonstrate the other two lanes are no longer necessary due to the uptake in active travel. This ‘Vision and Validate’ approach to highways design requires long-term thinking and a flexible approach to design and masterplanning.
At Weyside Urban Village, in partnership with Savills Earth, we championed a Passive House approach. Despite higher upfront costs we were able to demonstrate the longer-term benefits to residents. This approach was endorsed by our client and is now embedded in the planning consent.
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 masterplanning projects have been harnessing bioclimatic design principles for many years. This approach seeks to keep cool air moving through streets and spaces in warmer climates, using water bodies to cool air down before it passes through new neighbourhoods and providing carefully designed street sections that provide shade, whilst maximising daylight.
At the building scale we carefully consider how we design out overheating risk, particularly in higher density projects which may typically have large areas of glazing. Reducing areas of glazing without compromising daylight and sunlight, through the careful integration of solar shading and through maximising dual aspect typologies for cross ventilation, we have been able to ensure homes are resilient and adaptable to future climates.
Our two certified Passive House Designers champion passive design measures for building and masterplan performance at our weekly internal design and technical reviews ensuring measures are embedded early in the design process.
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.
No.
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.
During design and construction of our studio, a biophilia plan was considered and implemented. Plants and even trees are placed throughout the studio in key locations to enhance wellbeing of employees and visitors alike.
We try and host meetings and retreats in locations connected to nature and recognise the health and wellbeing benefits of doing so. As a group of Partners, we recently had an away day to the rewilding project in Knepp where we went on a guided walking safari, learning about rewilding projects and how to allow nature and biodiversity to flourish.
Liz, our Sustainability Lead helped arrange the Architecture Heads of Sustainability camping weekend away in June 2024 in Somerset, providing a forum for likeminded sustainably oriented practitioners to connect and share knowledge, with a series of workshops and talks embedded within nature.
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.
We have integrated nature and natural systems into a number of our practice initiatives including:
- We celebrate the diversity within our studios and raise awareness with an internal annual calendar of events and initiatives including Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year to name a few
- Around the time of the summer solstice, we have a summer party for all staff
- When we designed our studio, we incorporated an intelligent building management system which has enabled us to set scenes for the lighting to enable it to work with our circadian rhythm
- We consider how we can enhance the start of the day and energise employees, including having regular yoga and mediation sessions and providing healthy breakfast for all staff daily
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.
We are actively engaged with several local projects around our London studio including assisting the Swedenborg Partnership that helps steer and contribute to the improvement and use of the Swedenborg Gardens local to our studio.
Nationally, we have been offsetting our carbon emissions since 2019 through Trees for Cities where they will be managed for 100 years.
JTP’s Managing Partner, now sits on the London Wildlife Trust Board of Trustees, an ambassador to help to shape and oversee its strategic direction and actively advocating for nature recovery initiatives and champion the value of wildlife and nature in the city.
JTP Partner, Charles Campion, is part of The Soils Task Force at Lancaster University, made up of academic researchers and partners, set up to highlight the future management of soils during construction and protect and improve our soil resources, to provide crucial ecology services that support thriving places.
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.
We have required all our projects to achieve Biodiversity Net Gain for many years, prior to it becoming legislation, incorporating it into our business plan to ensure accountability. We have a working group dedicated to monitoring progress to understand the level achieved and determine principles to be implemented. We also have an in-house Building with Nature Assessor.
We are collaborating with the Wildlife Trusts, bringing true biodiversity net gains to schemes and creating natural landscapes for both people and wildlife. Through our work, we have developed a series of Designing for Wildlife Principles that we embed in the framework of our schemes.
One example is the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Arc – the area between Oxford and Cambridge which has been identified as the location for one and a half million new homes. Our alternative vision – 100 Miles Wilder – we believe, will ultimately lead to more sustainable growth.
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.
No.
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?
JTP’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Charter is a public statement that sets out the practice’s commitment to create an equal, diverse and inclusive workplace and our ambitions to positively influence and encourage diversity in the wider architectural industry and in the projects and places that we create.
The Charter supports JTP’s Equality Policy which sets out policies and procedures in relation to equality, diversity, and inclusion.
An Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan sets out how we will achieve our ambitions. JTP’s Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Group has been established to represent employees and work with our Managing Partner, Operations Partner and Practice Manager to ensure the aims of the Charter and Action Plan are met.
The Charter and Action Plan are reviewed on an annual basis and assessed to measure progress and to inform future strategies.
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?
In an attempt to combat and reduce overtime, JTP has introduced a number of initiatives to protect employee work/life balance. Board-led initiatives include:
- No out of hours/weekend email policy
- No out of hours/lunchtime meetings encouraged
- Encouraging employees to protect lunchbreaks
- Close monitoring of overtime at board meetings
- Monitoring individual’s annual leave to ensure rest and recuperation
- Introduction of “Managing Meeting Madness” policy
Although JTP does not fall under the regulations to undertake a Gender Pay Audit, we conduct an audit to ensure we are meeting our objectives of equal pay for equal grade and job responsibilities. We have undertaken these audits since 2019 to assess whether JTP’s pay and bonuses are fair and balanced. The results remain positive; particularly when compared with other organisations and ensures all male and female counterparts receive equal pay for the same role.
JTP is committed to paying the Living Wage in London and elsewhere.
3. Does the practice support charities, community groups, social enterprises, action groups and others through pro-bono work, charitable giving or in-kind donations?
Social Value is a cornerstone of JTP’s ethos. We give back through our projects and a range of initiatives local to our studios to make long-term investments in the people and communities we work alongside, through a combination of direct financial contributions, and commitments of time, experience and personal investment from our team. We have a strong evidence and messaging about what social value means to us in our practice activities including:
- Schools Outreach & Work Experience Fundraising
- Environmental Approaches
- Local Outreach
- Pro Bono work including hosting a community engagement event for the community in Crouch End
- One-off donations to relevant causes or communities
The JTP Social Value Working Group has been researching Social Value and considering how we can continue to develop our approach.
Jeevan Chahal was shortlisted for the AJ100 Mentor of the Year 2024, commended for his outreach work.
4. Does the practice publicly refuse to work with certain clients, suppliers or organisations on ethical grounds?
We are not afraid to publicly refuse to work with certain clients. We were recently named in the Architects Journal for our stance that we would neither work nor pursue opportunities in Saudi Arabia due to a myriad of concerns. In addition, all opportunities for new projects are discussed weekly at the management meeting for an open discussion on whether we are happy to proceed with both the project and the client. Our client base is reviewed annually for our Business Plan to understand those who align with our objectives and see if there are any we no longer align with.
We have a supplier code of conduct to ensure all our suppliers align with our own corporate responsibility towards people, communities, and environment.
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?
JTP has pioneered and honed participatory techniques and co-design processes for 30 years, with a dedicated Community Planning team, who successfully engage communities, stakeholders, and local authorities in our projects.
Throughout the years our engagement process has evolved and we use a range of qualitative and quantitative methods which utilise best practice principles, including IAP2 Seven Core Values for Public Participation, to bring the knowledge and creativity of local communities and stakeholders, including hard-to-reach groups, into the heart of the design process.
At JTP, we champion a multi-day Community Planning Weekend (CPW) or Charrette inviting local people to share their views on the design process. The events are open and inclusive, intensive and iterative, building on work already done with the community and moving the concepts forward through co-design to create a consensual vision. These events can be extremely adaptable and be programmed to suit different contexts.
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 carried out Post Occupancy Evaluation for Graylingwell, Chichester, a project where we engaged the community from the outset, developing a shared vision and helping secure the creation of the Chichester Community Development Trust (CCDT). We visited 10 years after initial occupation. Our study found it had developed into a thriving place to live with a wide range of opportunities for participating in community life. Delivering the shared vision has been the remit of the CCDT, a small, tight knit organisation under strong leadership that has proved resourceful and resilient in overcoming challenges which have been greater than originally envisaged.
The place serves as an early exemplar of Zero Carbon development and the benefits of embedding environmental responsiveness. It also demonstrates the contribution the arts can make to a community’s quality of life and the value of involving residents and stakeholders in shaping the future direction of the community.
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?
JTP is committed to ensuring that there are no instances of modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business. Our anti-slavery statement reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity throughout all aspects of our business including the provision of our services, recruitment, selection, and employment practices. We annually review all suppliers and as part of this assessment request and review their anti-slavery statements. We reserve the right to terminate business with those who are not able to demonstrate compliance with this policy statement.