We believe design has a responsibility to create lasting value while minimising waste.

For decades, Austin-Smith:Lord has championed thoughtful, sustainable design, helping clients unlock the potential of existing buildings, embrace circular thinking and create places that work beautifully for people and communities.

That is why we are proud to announce that Austin-Smith:Lord is now a Certified B Corporation.

B Corp certification is awarded to businesses that meet high standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency. The assessment considers a company’s impact across governance, workers, community, environment and customers, providing an independent measure of how organisations balance purpose with performance.

 

For Austin-Smith:Lord, certification is not a new direction. Rather, it is an affirmation of values that have guided the practice since its founding in 1949.

Our mission is simple: to enhance life and environments by design.

Whether we are helping to revitalise a town centre, retrofit a historic building, create inspiring places for learning, or shape healthier and more sustainable communities, we are driven by the belief that design should leave the world better than we found it.

CEO Graham Ross said:

“We are very proud to have secured B Corp certification. It follows a very rigorous and holistic assessment process. It’s been a great team effort and collective learning exercise.

Certification demonstrates our positive real-world impacts as a business across B Corp’s five pillars considering our governance, workers, community, environment and customers. As a purpose-driven design practice we are looking forward to being part of the B Corp community so we can exchange knowledge and learn from others. This will help us continue to have increasingly positive impacts for our colleagues, clients and communities.”

 

 

The certification process challenged us to examine every aspect of how we work. It encouraged us to reflect on our responsibilities, celebrate areas of strength, and identify opportunities to improve further.

That spirit of continual learning has always been part of who we are.

As a multi-disciplinary practice spanning architecture, landscape architecture, conservation, planning and interior design, we understand that the best outcomes emerge when different perspectives come together around a shared purpose. We believe thoughtful design can support people to prosper, communities to belong, and the environment to thrive.

Becoming a Certified B Corporation strengthens our commitment to that purpose.

 

 

It reinforces our focus on creating long-term value, championing circular and low-carbon approaches, sharing knowledge generously, and designing places that work beautifully for generations.

Most importantly, it connects us with a global community of organisations who believe that business can be a force for positive change.

Certification is an important milestone, but it is not the destination.

We look forward to learning from others, sharing our own experiences, and continuing to find better ways to enhance life and environments by design.