Sustainability is now a hot topic in construction. Yet historically there are few architecture practices that have been pushing the green agenda. JRA is one such practice. Having been at the forefront of the movement for twenty-seven years, it seemed like the right time to reflect. Over the course of an afternoon, Directors John Robertson, Festus Moffat, and David Magyar, put their heads together with their Head of Sustainability Dr Colin Beattie to consider the lessons they’ve learnt and the direction of environmentalism today. 

JRA has been pushing for sustainable design since the practice’s inception, and this comes through most clearly in its track record of refurbishment and reuse of London’s buildings. They joke that they were doing retrofit long before it was fashionable, turning serious to emphasise they have always believed that every building has potential for reuse. They work from the premise that there is nothing that can’t be salvaged. Robertson notes that if a building has good ‘bones,’ like a workable height and a solid structure, then there is a lot that can be done without knocking it down. An earlier project, One Southampton Street provides a good test in case. JRA refurbished the tired 1930s office building and through a series of carefully targeted improvements not only made it a successful contemporary workplace, but gained the highest ever BREEAM score for a development of its kind at the time. It is one of 21 built BREEAM ‘Excellent’ projects from the practice, part of an ever-growing list. Similarly, partial reuse has proven fruitful. At 33 King William Street, JRA re-used the original building’s piled foundations and reinforced concrete raft slab, introducing a new, larger building on these foundations. Refurbished buildings use approximately a third of the embodied carbon compared to new builds so environmentally, it makes sense. It is also often a more economical option so for JRA it feels like reuse is the obvious choice from all sides. Where new is needed, like at the soon to be completed oversite of Farringdon’s new Crossrail station, Bloom Clerkenwell, JRA designed in a plethora of features that has set it on a path for BREEAM’s highest rating – Outstanding, and WELL Platinum.

One thing they have certainly learned is to measure sustainability gains, something Moffat claims never happened in the early days. As a result, they can go beyond just doing what they thought was right, to having metrics for the whole life cycle of a building. This helps them, and clients, make good choices. Retaining the existing structure offers massive carbon savings and appropriate post PC monitoring of services will regularly identify opportunities for savings. Head of Sustainability, Beattie, who contributed to the LETI Embodied Carbon Primer, reflects how counter-intuitive it is for architects to pare down designs - but it’s often what you leave out that leads to some of the most significant savings an architect can make.

The team notes the change to corporate culture that has helped make these adjustments not just possible but desirable. They claim that there’s pressure on developers from shareholders and funds to meet sustainability requirements for investment. This has seen a lot of developers and other businesses setting targets for themselves to reach ‘Net Zero’ emissions by a specific date which means they will have to start putting pressure on their design teams to drive down the carbon footprint of their projects – if they don’t, the cost to reach net zero could become very expensive indeed. Tenants and occupiers also have expectations about sustainability so there is a financial imperative in that sense. Overall there is more focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) – which goes beyond sustainability alone. Magyar states that having shared green spaces, cycle facilities, and support for active lifestyles and activities have become vital too. JRA has been incorporating a lot of these things into their buildings in the last five years – for instance, a biodiverse garden on the roof of 33 King William Street, a running track on top of Bracken House, and green walls at 51 Moorgate.  

At the moment, the JRA team is trying to beat current targets on climate change, for instance, already meeting RIBA’s 2030 Climate Challenge embodied carbon requirements at The Ludgate, and Northcliffe House, both City office refurbishments. JRA’s aim is to keep getting better and providing services like Life Cycle Assessments to direct and measure interventions. Looking to the future, they all agree that the climate emergency can’t be ignored, with each of them physically noticing the changes. Moffat claims that while it used to be that doing the least you could get away with ruled in sustainability practice, there’s thankfully now a turn towards going beyond the requirements. All note that there’s still a way to go though. Ongoing monitoring is currently years behind in the UK. The team stated that environmental certification schemes like NABERS, which require monitoring in use, as well as annual declarations are the way forward. They see other changes coming too. The appearance of buildings is inevitably going to alter. For a start, designers and M&E will have to collaborate from the beginning so that aesthetics and function become entwined, making sustainable measures, like mixed mode ventilation central to the concept. As the use and running of buildings also change, this too will affect their forms. The team concluded that the drive for net zero is evolving quickly in response to the climate emergency and is motivating new and exciting environmental solutions, based on design for performance. 

Dr Colin Beattie is Head of Sustainability at JRA. He has over 20 years’ experience as an Architect and a PhD focused on carbon emissions in the built environment.

Festus Moffat is a Director at JRA. He has expertise in construction techniques and market-leading sustainability performance, with an unrivalled knowledge of BREEAM benchmarking.

John Robertson is a Director at JRA. He is an expert on reuse and has been entrusted with some of the most sensitive restoration and retrofit projects in London.

David Magyar is a Director at JRA and the practice’s Design Champion, leading on high-profile new-build and heritage projects, as well as taking an active role teaching at universities.