Constructing Excellence Climate Action Group- January

Construction and the built environment have a huge role to play in tackling the climate crisis and delivering high quality sustainable buildings and infrastructure. It is a key concern for all built environment stakeholders and influences decision-making in all areas of the asset life cycle from design, procurement, construction and operation.

Join the Constructing Excellence Climate Action group for their next meeting on Wednesday 28th January, where we’ll be joined by 2 of the awards winners from the Constructing Excellence National Awards 2025; Rob Charlton, Chief Executive of Space Group, winners of the ESG category and Fiona Edwards, Head of Sustainability at JPA Workspaces, who won the Climate Action category.

Rob will set out how Space Architects has embedded environmental, social and governance principles into the way the business is run, not just into how buildings are designed (more about this below) whilst Fiona will share JPA Workspace’s Climate Action activities with the group.

This event provides Constructing Excellence National members with CPD in partnership with BRE Academy.

Space Architects – People, Planet, Place

This presentation will set out how Space Architects has embedded environmental, social and governance principles into the way the business is run, not just into how buildings are designed. Rather than treating ESG as a reporting or compliance exercise, Space has adopted a practical framework structured around People, Planet and Place. This framework is used to guide strategy, governance, investment decisions and day-to-day operations across the practice.

This talk will explain how this approach has been implemented in practice, including:

• Building a strong, long-term workplace culture and development structure (People)
• Setting and measuring real carbon and environmental performance targets, including a commitment to Net Zero by 2030 (Planet)
• Focusing on long-term social value, quality and impact in the places the practice works (Place)

It will also touch on how this approach is underpinned by B Corp certification, Best Companies accreditation and a strong focus on measurement, data and long-term performance, and why Space Architects believes ESG must be treated as a core business system rather than a separate initiative.

Bio: Rob Charlton

Rob Charlton is Chief Executive of Space Group, the Newcastle-based architecture and digital construction group that includes Space Architects, BIM Technologies, bimstore and Twinview. He has over 20 years’ experience as an architect focussing on digital delivery and practice leadership, and has led the transformation of Space into a purpose-led, sustainability- and data-driven organisation. Under his leadership, Space has achieved B Corp certification, 3 star Best Companies accreditation, a Carbon Neutral Business and committed to Net Zero by 2030.