At Simten, sustainability has always been part of how we work. Our projects are designed to be low-carbon, energy-efficient and built to last — we believe that designing buildings well, so they stand the test of time, is one of the most important forms of sustainability. Equally on projects we work with local communities to bring value, but often it’s been more ad hoc and opportunistic.
Around a year ago however, we began asking ourselves: what more can Simten do for people?
That conversation led to the creation of our Social and Environmental Sustainability Group — a small internal team tasked with defining what social impact means for us, and how we can make a meaningful contribution as a business. With many of us having come from larger organisations, we knew we needed to take a considered approach and find ways that worked for a small, focused team.
We started by identifying the areas that mattered most to us. Two themes came through clearly. As a business based in central London, we see the reality of street homelessness every day - an issue that resonated strongly across the team. We also found a shared enthusiasm for helping young people - particularly those growing up in the boroughs where we work - to discover and access the range of career opportunities that exist in our sector. We want to play a small part in helping the next generation of professionals better reflect the communities our projects serve.
We’ve also hosted three students for work experience through our community partners. We also made small, practical changes within the office — such as sourcing our coffee from a social enterprise.
The next step is to scale this thinking through our projects. We’ve already begun to test this approach, focusing on meanwhile uses such as providing space for Under One Sky, a homelessness charity, at two of our sites, and partnering with our demolition contractor on Museum Street to support Prima Materia, a social enterprise turning construction waste from our site into beautifully crafted interior pieces.
It’s early days, but we’re encouraged by the progress so far. The aim is not big gestures, but a steady, practical approach integrated into how we think and operate, so that as we shape the built environment, we also make a positive contribution to the people around us.