Responsible project delivery begins with protecting the people delivering it. Health, safety and wellbeing remain our number one priority, covering our employees, subcontractors, suppliers, clients and everyone who may interact with our sites and workshop. 

Health and safety responsibilities form part of our induction process and extend throughout our supply chain. On site we conduct regular Toolbox Talks, provide dedicated health and safety information and undertake inspections to reinforce safe working practices. At Bramling Workshops, regular health and safety walks include weekly inspections involving directors. 

Our teams also have access to training and policies through the Atlas platform, enabling managers to assign relevant modules and monitor participation and progress. The principle is straightforward: exceptional interiors should never come at the expense of the people responsible for creating them.

Responsibility also means considering the long-term health of our industry. DBSJ has grown from strong trade and apprenticeship foundations, and developing the next generation of design, build and manufacturing talent remains important to us. 

We support apprenticeships, training and career development while actively engaging with young people to demonstrate the breadth of careers available within the interiors and construction industries. Our schools outreach activity, including work with the East Kent Business Partnership, has given students opportunities to meet members of our team, understand different professions and explore possible routes into design and build. 

We want our growth to create opportunities for people to learn, progress and build meaningful careers, while helping our sector maintain the skills it needs for the future.

Every project exists within a wider community. Where possible, we look for opportunities for our investment and activity to create benefits beyond the completed interior itself, from supporting local employment and developing new skills to working with responsible suppliers and contributing to the communities in which we operate. 

That philosophy also influences how we treat our supply-chain partners. For example, DBSJ introduced a zero-retention policy following practical completion for supply-chain partners consistently exceeding their key performance indicators, helping reduce the financial burden placed on valued trades and smaller businesses within our community. 

Responsible business is ultimately about relationships. We want our growth to benefit the clients, people, partners and communities who contribute to our success.

Increasingly, clients come to us with their own environmental and social objectives. These may be corporate ESG targets, responsible procurement policies, landlord requirements, internal carbon reduction programmes or ambitions to achieve environmental building certifications. 

Our role is not simply to acknowledge those requirements, but to help translate them into practical project decisions. That can include material selection and certification, waste targets, supply-chain requirements, environmental reporting, responsible sourcing, reuse strategies, indoor environmental considerations and the evidence required to demonstrate compliance. 

DBSJ’s integrated structure provides an important advantage here. With design, build, shopfit and bespoke joinery capabilities working together, we have greater opportunity to consider these requirements earlier, coordinate decisions across disciplines and retain visibility from specification through manufacture and installation. Responsible delivery becomes part of the project conversation from the outset.

One of the principles we value most about B Corp Certification is accountability. Making commitments is important. Measuring whether they are being delivered is more important. 

We are continuing to develop the systems through which environmental and social performance is recorded across our business and projects, bringing together information around procurement, materials, waste, energy, water, supply-chain performance, training and other relevant measures. Project inspections, internal audits, materials databases, waste monitoring and our established ISO management systems all contribute to this evidence base. 

For our clients, better information can provide greater transparency and help support their own reporting requirements. For us, it allows performance to be reviewed, weaknesses identified and future priorities established.