DBSJ achieves B Corp™ Certification: Building a stronger, more responsible business
By Laurence Hill, Managing Director.
I am proud to say how achieving B Corp™ Certification marks an important milestone for DBSJ. Above all, for me this recognises the progress we have made in recent years while strengthening our accountability for how we operate and grow.
It comes at a key point for the business. Over recent years, we have continued to develop and invest in DBSJ, from setting targets to achieve major industry awards, delivering ambitious projects to exceptional standards and investing substantially in our ESG commitments and strengthening the systems and processes that underpin the business.
I am also proud of what the team has achieved in a relatively short period of time. But for me, the importance of B Corp™ Certification goes beyond recognition – it gives us a shared framework for responsible growth and, importantly, a structure that challenges us to keep improving.
Of course, today, as a business operating across design, build, shopfit and joinery, we have a responsibility to understand the impact of the work we deliver and the decisions we make. That means looking beyond the finished project and considering how we support our people, work with our clients and partners, contribute to our communities and manage our environmental impact.
Materials need to be produced and transported. Projects consume resources. Construction creates waste. And, as anyone working in our industry knows, there are often difficult decisions to make between performance, cost, availability, programme and environmental considerations.
Those realities aren’t going to disappear, however as a transparent partner what we can do is acknowledge them, understand the impact of our decisions and keep looking for better answers.
That is where I see the real value of B Corp Certification. It gives us a framework for asking better questions and being more accountable for the answers.
For DBSJ, that increasingly influences how we procure, design, manufacture, manage our supply chain and deliver projects.
For our clients, that means environmental, social and governance considerations should increasingly form part of how a project is planned and delivered, rather than being treated as something separate from the process.
We need to understand where materials come from, how suppliers operate, how efficiently resources are used, what happens to waste and how the people involved in delivering a project are supported and protected.
It also means tracking and reporting performance, so decisions are based on evidence rather than intention alone.
Our objective is to help clients deliver exceptional interiors while making better-informed decisions about their wider impact.
While we are immensely proud to have achieved B Corp Certification, we do not see it as the end of a journey or as a claim that we have solved every environmental and social challenge associated with our industry.
There is still much more work to do and we are passionate about continuing to improve how we support our people, serve our clients and partners, contribute to our communities and reduce our environmental impact.
B Corp™ adds another dimension, bringing the social, environmental and governance considerations of the business into a broader picture of how we operate and make decisions.
For me, that is the most important part of achieving certification. It is not simply something for us to communicate. It is a commitment to continue measuring, challenging and improving the way DBSJ does business.
We have made significant progress. Now we need to build on it.
