Submission by Perkins&Will.
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.
We are embedding long-term thinking into both our culture and design methodology, recognising that the decisions we make today must remain resilient, adaptable and beneficial for future generations. We see design not as the delivery of a fixed outcome, but as the stewardship of evolving places, systems and communities.
Across all projects and design stages, we apply evaluative frameworks that consider carbon, water, biodiversity, social impact and long-term operational resilience. This enables us to move beyond compliance-driven solutions towards regenerative and future-focused outcomes.
We are also shifting internal mindsets through foresight and future-casting workshops that explore emerging trends, climate risks and societal change. These sessions help teams and clients anticipate future needs and embed adaptability from the outset.
Rather than focusing solely on practical completion, we act as custodians of long-term value, designing buildings and places that can evolve alongside changing environmental and community needs.
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.
We actively reshape traditional hierarchical models by fostering a culture of generous thinking, ensuring a broad range of voices contribute to the evolution of the practice, our design processes and project outcomes. We recognise that long-term resilience depends on shared ownership, inclusive leadership and the development of future generations within the practice.
To support this, we have introduced more open and democratic review processes, including silent reviews where anonymous feedback can be submitted and discussed openly. This encourages participation across all levels of the organisation and removes barriers often associated with hierarchy or seniority.
We also create opportunities for emerging talent to lead and influence practice-wide conversations. Junior team members are regularly invited to chair internal reviews and take on champion roles across areas such as digital innovation, compliance and Living Design. This distributed leadership approach helps protect institutional knowledge while empowering future leaders to shape the practice’s ongoing legacy.
3. Do you share research and knowledge for the benefit of society and the wider world?
Over the last year, we have published two major research documents that are freely available online, supporting wider industry knowledge-sharing and more regenerative design practices.
Our Circular Design Primer for Interiors addresses the short lifecycle of corporate interiors, exploring the environmental impacts of carbon, materials and procurement processes. The publication provides practical tools and strategies to help designers adopt more circular approaches and reduce waste across fit-out projects.
Our Bio-based and Natural Materials research explores the classification, application and performance of lower-impact materials derived from natural sources. It highlights innovative material solutions and emerging industries that support healthier, lower-carbon design outcomes and materials that can safely return to the earth at the end of their useful life.
Together, these publications aim to advance industry-wide conversations around systems thinking, circularity and regenerative design, while providing accessible guidance for architects and designers seeking to reduce environmental impact.
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?
Most clients now recognise projects as long-term material and resource investments. Even in corporate fit-outs, we work with clients to explore broader definitions of value, including economic residual value alongside social and environmental risk over time.
We challenge briefs through material flow analysis and whole-life thinking, examining how resources enter, perform within, and exit a building system over its lifespan. This includes testing robustness and adaptability, and structuring proposals using Stewart Brand’s layers of change to ensure elements are not prematurely discarded or compromised before the end of their useful life.
We also interrogate every design feature to understand whether it delivers regenerative, neutral or degenerative impact, pushing teams to justify design decisions beyond “doing nothing”. Early design reviews are framed around a question: what does regenerative performance look like for this element, system or space? This establishes a clear direction towards long-term environmental and operational resilience from project inception.
2. Does your work take account of the future climate and the need for resilience?
All projects consider future climate scenarios and the need for long-term resilience as a core part of the design process. We assess the full lifespan of each project and evaluate potential environmental and social risks that may emerge over time.
Where significant risks are identified, these are consolidated into a resilience action plan that informs design decisions and helps mitigate future vulnerabilities. This approach is particularly important in long-term masterplanning, where building plots, infrastructure and landscape systems are strategically organised to remain adaptable under changing climate conditions.
At the other end of the scale, fit-out and interior projects focus more closely on social resilience, ensuring inclusivity, accessibility and frictionless movement are embedded into spatial design. Across all project types, resilience is treated as a fundamental design driver, ensuring spaces remain functional, equitable and adaptable in the face of future environmental and societal change.
3. Does the majority of your work go beyond mitigating negatives and towards optimising positives?
Yes, although the depth of optimisation varies across projects. Within our Living Design framework, performance across systemic outcomes is not uniform; some aspects resonate more strongly with clients than others. A clear baseline is established for all projects, with opportunities for optimisation identified early through client engagement and project-specific analysis.
Robust site and context analysis is critical in shifting projects beyond mitigation. It enables more informed discussions around how buildings are procured, constructed, used and ultimately deconstructed, embedding whole-life thinking from the outset. Early-stage questioning also helps define acceptable levels of risk in areas such as workforce wellbeing, social impact and environmental change.
We embed workshops, site investigations and existing building analysis into design reviews to ensure these conversations happen as early as possible. Supported by ISO14001 processes, this approach ensures actions are tracked and evidenced, helping move projects from compliance towards more intentional positive outcomes where opportunities are identified.
Co-evolving with nature
Practice
1. Do you use biophilia within your premises and/or do you regularly gather in natural settings?
Biophilia is embedded in how we use our workplace, particularly through our terrace at 150 Holborn.
The roof terrace is designed as a biodiverse planted landscape rather than a conventional amenity space. It supports a range of species that attract pollinators and introduce seasonal change, integrating natural cycles into the everyday experience of the studio. It is regularly used for informal meetings, collaborative working and design reviews, enabling teams to step outside and think differently in a more open, natural setting.
Access to daylight, fresh air, vegetation and changing weather conditions has a measurable impact on wellbeing, focus and creativity, reinforcing our belief that the built environment should actively support both people and nature. In addition, we encourage walking meetings and the use of external natural environments as part of our working culture, ensuring engagement with nature is embedded in daily practice rather than treated as an occasional benefit.
2. Can you share examples of where you have considered nature in decision making?
On the Gare Ospedale Pietra Ligure hospital project in Italy, nature is a primary driver of design decision-making.
The scheme is shaped by its coastal and hillside context, with landscape, topography and microclimate directly informing massing, orientation and spatial organisation. Buildings are positioned to capture natural breezes, optimise shade and create sheltered external environments that support recovery, comfort and wellbeing.
Landscape is integrated as part of the therapeutic environment, with planted courtyards, terraces and “grottos” providing continuous access to daylight, fresh air and nature throughout the patient journey. Circulation is designed as a sequence of indoor–outdoor experiences, strengthening orientation while improving the quality of movement through the hospital.
Material selection and passive environmental strategies are also informed by local ecological conditions, ensuring the building works with its environment rather than against it. This approach embeds nature within clinical, spatial and operational decisions, supporting both patient outcomes and long-term environmental performance.
3. Are you supporting nature locally and nationally?
Supporting nature is embedded within our design approach and workplace culture. Across projects, we create ecological systems that are resilient, connected and rooted in place, rather than treating nature as an aesthetic addition.
For example, at our London studio at 150 Holborn, the roof garden was designed as a biodiverse landscape to support pollinators and urban wildlife through carefully selected planting strategies. This reflects our wider belief that natural systems should be designed for long-term ecological value and resilience.
Our landscape strategies strengthen and support ecological networks through habitat creation, biodiversity enhancement and naturalistic, climate responsive planting, that is of the place. Rather than focusing on biodiversity net gain, our aim is to establish systems that are self-sustaining, and therefore contribute to environmental resilience.
Within our interior projects, we create opportunities for interaction with nature through terraces, balconies and outdoor spaces that reconnect occupants with seasonal change and natural environments.
Project
1. Can you demonstrate work that strives to match the performance of a mature ecosystem?
The Cognizant Immersive Learning Campus is an example of a project designed to function like a mature ecosystem. Its masterplan treats the landscape as working infrastructure, embedding climate resilience, water management, and biodiversity enhancement as core design drivers. Open space, shaded courtyards, wetlands, rain gardens, green roofs, and tree canopy work together to regulate temperature, support habitat, and manage stormwater.
The goal goes beyond mitigation toward ecosystem performance: the site actively regulates heat, filters and slows water, supports biodiversity, and enhances wellbeing. Native planting, permeable surfaces, bioretention systems, and ecological ponds restore natural processes and strengthen long-term resilience.
A parallel project in India applies similar thinking, using analysis of historic flooding and water table conditions to manage monsoon extremes. Retention ponds and adaptive planting strategies were introduced, while elevated circulation ensures accessibility during flood events. Water is treated through natural and engineered cycles, improving discharge quality beyond incoming rainwater standards.
2. Are you working on material stewardship?
Material stewardship is central to how we design and deliver projects. We apply circular economy principles by prioritising reuse, retaining existing structures where possible, and designing for disassembly to support future material recovery.
Our Net-Zero Now commitment targets net-zero embodied carbon and circular projects by 2030. Material selection is guided by research-led tools such as the Precautionary List and Switch List, supporting teams to specify low-carbon, non-toxic, responsibly sourced materials.
Across projects, we focus on using less, using better, and extending the life of existing structures, interiors and furniture, reframing materials as long-term assets rather than consumables.
We are also advancing material passporting within commercial projects, including digital twins for fixed elements and QR-coded tracking for loose items integrated into operations and maintenance manuals. Early project returns using this system have enabled rapid material auditing and reuse strategies, with some projects achieving over 80% carbon savings through reuse and reclamation.
3. Does the majority of your work demonstrate the use of biologically-inspired approaches such as Bioregionalism, Biophilia or Biomimicry?
The use of biologically inspired approaches varies by project scale, but is embedded across our work rather than applied superficially. In smaller corporate interiors, we begin with an understanding of organisational culture, history and site context to determine an appropriate level of biophilic integration. This goes beyond visual access to planting and instead uses biophilia to inform spatial quality, wellbeing and user experience in a more meaningful and embedded way.
On larger projects, biomimicry is used as a problem-solving approach, particularly in relation to water, energy and environmental systems. Natural cycles are studied to inform low-impact, resource-efficient strategies that avoid unnecessary technological complexity where nature-based systems can perform more effectively.
Bioregional principles are also applied during material selection, prioritising locally sourced and contextually appropriate materials to reduce supply chain distance, improve transparency and reduce risk. This strengthens environmental performance while also creating stronger connections between buildings, place and material provenance.
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 clear EDI policy setting out our commitments, procedures and routes for escalation, ensuring a safe and transparent framework for all staff. This is supported by a workplace culture that actively celebrates diversity and fosters inclusion across multiple dimensions of identity and experience.
This is reflected through initiatives such as Pride events, cultural gatherings where staff share food from their heritage, and a cultural map within the studio where staff can share their backgrounds.
We also recognise that inclusion must extend beyond celebration into how we work. Under our theme of “generous design”, we are actively addressing barriers to participation in design decision-making. This includes introducing silent reviews to ensure all voices can contribute equally, particularly those less confident in verbal settings.
In addition, junior staff are actively supported through opportunities to chair design reviews, building leadership skills and ensuring a broader range of perspectives shapes project outcomes.
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 maintain a strong commitment to a healthy, balanced working culture, supported by clear expectations around working hours and the avoidance of routine overtime. Where additional hours are required, these are recognised through either paid overtime or time off in lieu.
We are an accredited Living Wage employer and undertake annual salary reviews to ensure pay remains fair, consistent and aligned across roles. This is supported by regular external benchmarking to maintain competitiveness and equity within the industry.
Through our Thrive process, performance and development discussions take place throughout the year, providing structured opportunities for feedback, progression and transparent conversations around promotion and remuneration.
Our organisational structure and role frameworks provide clarity on job levels, responsibilities and associated salary bands, supporting fairness and consistency across the practice.
3. Do you support charities, community groups, social enterprises, action groups and others through pro-bono work, charitable giving or in-kind donations?
We commit 5% of profit to charitable and pro bono work, supporting community benefit alongside our design practice. In 2025, we completed a planning application for Over The Wall, a charity providing camps for children with serious health conditions. We have also supported local tenant organisations, contributed to education through teaching in schools, and participated in community-led events in previous years.
Alongside formal commitments, we operate an employee-led charity programme that enables staff to propose and participate in fundraising activities. Approved initiatives receive organisational support, including time off for training or recovery where needed, and matched fundraising contributions from the company. This ensures employees have an active role in shaping the causes we support, rather than these being solely top-down decisions.
In some commissioned projects, additional charitable or social value work is also delivered as part of client agreements, further extending our contribution to community benefit beyond core project scope.
4. Do you use an ethical framework to assess opportunities and/or supply chain partners and is them team consulted on these decisions?
We use a structured ethical framework to assess opportunities and supply chain partners, ensuring alignment with our environmental and social values alongside technical competence.
Our appointment criteria require evidence of sustainable practice, including ISO 14001 certification, embodied carbon reduction strategies, waste minimisation and circular economy principles. For subcontractors, we apply a consistent set of due diligence questions covering materials selection, transport impacts and end-of-life disposal, supported by reference checks and verified performance history. This is embedded within our formal compliance process to ensure minimum environmental standards are met prior to appointment.
Material health is also a key consideration. Through our internal “Switch List”, we actively identify and promote healthier, lower-impact alternatives to commonly used materials, based on scientific and regulatory evidence. This resource is regularly updated and shared across project teams and supply chains to influence specification decisions and reduce harmful substances in the built environment.
Project
1. Does your work demonstrate deep engagement with local stakeholders and end users?
All our projects begin with a people-first approach grounded in meaningful engagement with local stakeholders and end users. We work closely with communities, clients, partners and cultural voices to understand lived experiences, local needs and future aspirations before design solutions are developed.
Through workshops, interviews, co-creation sessions and ongoing dialogue, we ensure that engagement is continuous, embedding human insight directly into the design process. This helps ensure that people and place remain central to decision-making across all stages of a project.
Our aim is not simply to design buildings or services, but to shape outcomes that people genuinely value and feel connected to. By translating lived experience into spatial, operational and environmental responses, we create places that are more inclusive, relevant and meaningful.
This approach strengthens long-term social value by ensuring that projects are shaped with, rather than for, the communities they serve, building trust, belonging and lasting positive impact.
2. Does your work create connected and resilient communities which positively contribute to neighbourhoods and allow equality of access?
At Newark Airport, our work was anchored in the vision of a “Journey of Surprises” – a passenger experience shaped by the culture, character and stories of New Jersey.
Through early research into local context and lived truths, we explored what is valued by communities and travellers, identifying New Jersey as a “State of Firsts”, with a legacy of innovation and cultural contribution. This narrative became a key driver of the design and commercial strategy, ensuring the airport experience reflects local identity rather than generic placemaking.
Localisation was embedded throughout the project, with local brands, makers and culturally relevant offerings integrated into the passenger journey. This strengthened economic opportunity for local businesses while creating a more authentic and meaningful connection between place and user experience.
By grounding design in local identity and supporting regional participation, the project contributes to a more connected, legible and inclusive environment that supports the surrounding community.
3. Does the majority of your work promote equity in society, and consider all people, not only building inhabitants
At Centre Balexert in Geneva, we worked with the client to reframe one of the city’s primary retail destinations as a more inclusive, human-centred civic asset that supports community life beyond commercial activity.
Our future vision strategy focused on evolving the centre from a retail-only destination into a neighbourhood anchor for culture, wellbeing, entertainment and social connection. This included exploring flexible, multi-generational spaces and programmes designed to broaden access and encourage use by a wider cross-section of society.
Given its origins in the late 1960s, the strategy also carefully balanced heritage and familiarity with future relevance, ensuring the centre remained meaningful to existing users while becoming more accessible to new audiences.
The project explicitly considered equity beyond building occupants, addressing the needs of surrounding communities as well as tenants. This included a focus on inclusivity, accessibility, social wellbeing and long-term civic value, positioning the centre as a shared public resource