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Practice 02 — Sustainability

Performance you can evidence.

Certification is the visible output. The value is the design decisions made early enough to change the outcome — and the evidence trail that stands up to an assessor, a lender and a tenant. We run this practice on our own software, so you pay for judgement rather than for arithmetic.

  • 8 hrs → <30 min

    Certification credit analysis, automated by ZERA

  • A–D

    LCA modules assessed to EN 15978

  • 3 schemes

    BREEAM, WiredScore, SmartScore

We are equally comfortable running a whole-building life cycle assessment and sitting in a design workshop arguing for the specification change that the LCA just justified. Where the work is mechanical — boundary tracing, site context analysis, transit lookups — ZERA does it in minutes, and a practising AP signs it off.

Capabilities

What we actually deliver

Life cycle assessment

Whole-building and product LCA to EN 15978 and EN 15804, used to drive specification, not just to report.

We quantify embodied carbon across modules A through D, test design options against each other while the design can still move, and produce results structured for the certification schemes and disclosure frameworks you are targeting.

Typical deliverables

  • Whole-building LCA to EN 15978
  • Embodied carbon benchmarking and target setting
  • Design-option and material comparison studies
  • EPD review and product-level assessment
  • Reduction roadmap with costed interventions

Green building consultancy

Energy, daylight, water and indoor air quality modelled early enough to change the design — not documented after it is fixed.

Certification records a building's performance; this is the work that creates it. We model energy and thermal behaviour, simulate daylight, budget water, and assess indoor air quality while the design is still moving — then put a number on what each intervention is worth, so the choices get made on evidence rather than instinct. It is also what makes a credible rating target realistic before anyone commits to one.

Typical deliverables

  • Energy modelling and ECM option appraisal
  • Thermal comfort and daylight simulation
  • Water budget and reduction strategy
  • Indoor air quality and ventilation review
  • Costed design recommendations tied to rating impact

BREEAM

Assessment strategy across New Construction, Refurbishment & Fit-Out and In-Use.

We manage the pre-assessment, coordinate the evidence across the design team, and keep the scorecard honest as the project changes — so the rating you targeted at stage 2 is still the rating you get at stage 6.

Typical deliverables

  • Pre-assessment and rating feasibility
  • Credit tracking through RIBA / project stages
  • Evidence coordination with the design team
  • Interim and final assessment submission support

WiredScore & SmartScore

Digital connectivity and smart-building certification for assets competing on tenant experience.

The certification that sits closest to our digital practice. We assess connectivity infrastructure, resilience and smart-building capability, then specify the interventions that move an asset up a rating band — usually alongside the digital twin scope.

Typical deliverables

  • Connectivity and resilience assessment
  • WiredScore / SmartScore rating strategy
  • Infrastructure specification and design review
  • Documentation and submission management

How an engagement runs

Three movements

  1. Target

    Feasibility against budget and programme. An honest view of the achievable rating before it is written into a contract.

  2. Design

    Assessment, option testing and design-team coordination while specification changes are still cheap.

  3. Certify

    Evidence assembly, submission, review responses and performance verification through to the issued certificate.

Work with us

Ready to make your next project measurably better?

Whether you are setting an information strategy, targeting a certification, or trying to work out which of the two you need first — we would like to hear about it.