Chester architects first to sign up to zero carbon pledge

A firm of Chester architects has become the first in the city to sign up to a nationwide pledge to become a net carbon business by 2050.

Base Architecture, which works on schemes across Cheshire, the North West and North Wales from its office in Christleton Road, is one of only a handful of organisations in Cheshire to have joined the Government’s SME Business Climate Hub.

The SME Climate Hub is a new ground breaking one-stop-shop climate action platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to curb carbon emissions, build business resilience and take the lead on climate change issues. 

Base has pledged to halve its carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. This aligns with its Base Cares policy — an overarching company-wide strategy to reduce its impact on the planet.

The SME Climate Hub is co-hosted by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Exponential Roadmap Initiative, the We Mean Business coalition and the United Nations Race to Zero campaign, and has received support from several supply chain leaders, including BT Group, Ericsson, IKEA, Telia and Unilever, as well as funding support from Amazon and Verizon. 

Managing Director Harry Reece said this commitment complemented the principles of the business and its Base Cares policy that launched earlier this year.

He said: “We had already recognised our responsibilities as architects and employers to ensure that the way we design projects and how we do business puts the environment at the forefront of our thinking.

“Signing up to the SME Business Climate Hub and publicly declaring our intentions to reach net carbon status was extremely important to us as an innovative design practice that wants to use its passion and belief in architecture to make lives better.”

Harry added: “As well as guiding the sustainable projects and design we already produce we hope it will encourage other businesses in Cheshire to follow our lead. 

“We have a strategic plan in place and have already started to implement simple changes such as the bike2work scheme, careful consideration towards travel, a reduction in paper consumption and our plant a tree scheme to reduce and offset our carbon use. This strategy will evolve and adapt and we look forward to seeing what a positive impact we can make in the coming years.”

Base, which also has offices in Shrewsbury and Conwy, North Wales, opened its Chester office in 2017 and has seen its workload has increased by 35 per cent in that time with an equal divide between residential and commercial projects.

About Base Architecture & Design

Base Architecture & Design is a multi award winning architectural practice with offices in Shrewsbury, Chester and Conwy but it works with clients across the UK.

Base offers a wide range of design and technical services in architecture, urban design and interior design. As well as developing new innovative and practical design solutions for domestic and commercial buildings, Base specialises in the creative adaptation of existing buildings for today and the future.

It has particular expertise with Paragraph 80 (formerly Paragraph 79 or 55) developments, catering for new homes being built in the open countryside, including the green belt.

For more information, go to:

www.basearchitecture.co.uk.

About the SME Climate Hub 

The SME Climate Hub is an initiative founded by the International Chamber of Commerce, the Exponential Roadmap Initiative, the We Mean Business coalition and the UNFCCC Race to Zero campaign, with the aim of supporting small and medium-sized businesses to build business resilience. The SME Climate Hub provides a one-stop-shop for SMEs to commit to climate action and access tools, incentives and other resources designed to make it easier than ever for small and medium-sized businesses to cut carbon emissions, bring innovative green solutions to market and build business resilience. For more information about the SME Climate Hub, visit: www.smeclimatehub.org

About the SME Climate Commitment

The SME Climate Hub provides any business with less than 500 employees with the opportunity to publicly demonstrate its commitment to climate action by signing the SME Climate Commitment. Making the commitment means that your business will start to take immediate climate action in order to: 1. Halve greenhouse gas emissions before 2030 2. Achieve net zero emissions before 2050 3. Disclose progress on a yearly basis For more information about the SME Climate Commitment, visit:

https://www.smeclimatehub.org/smeclimate-commitment

Pictured - Senior associate Joe Salt, architect Jake Boardman and architectural designer Yasmin Lokat mark the signing of the Base commitment to become net carbon by 2050.