Sustainability in Enterprise - Leonard Design

We spoke to Leonard Design’s Facilities Manager, Susan Hayes and HR Manager, Estelle Morris to find out how they and the practice have benefited from the support on offer.

Estelle explained: “We joined the programme to educate ourselves, so we could improve on what we’re already doing through our Leonard GREEN initiative. One of the main things we wanted to do was develop a sustainability strategy and plan for the business as a whole, to bring our various sustainability initiatives together. We had a lot of big goals but we knew it was important not to run before we could walk. Working with students and academics from NBS helped bring us back to basics.”

Susan agrees: “We’re great when it comes to championing sustainable design and green building projects, but we knew we needed to look at ourselves as a business and see where we could reduce our own carbon footprint.

“In their role as sustainability consultants, a small team of NBS students came into the office to find out more about us and explain what information they needed from us to assess our carbon impact, including details of our energy consumption. They were all doing a sustainability and carbon management module as part of their studies, so they were able to give me lots of guidance. They were really engaged when it came to learning about what we do and asked the team here loads of questions.”

The student consultants used the resource data Leonard Design had provided to calculate their carbon emissions impact with support from academic tutors. They then created a presentation to share their findings with Leonard Design.

Susan continued: “This was our first carbon footprint so we weren’t quite sure what to expect. The student consultants presented to us at NTU and it was very impactful. Subsequently, we asked them to come and present to the whole company, including our senior management team. Their presentation brought our carbon impact to life, and gave us recommendations for what we could do to reduce it, in a way that we can all engage with.

“The students found that 87% of our energy consumption in 2021 came from our computer usage, and 7% from lighting. Seeing that visually was really powerful and has kickstarted us into another level of action.”

Susan said: “As well as looking at our energy use, we’re starting to look at other areas of the business. From choosing more sustainable office products and local suppliers, to introducing a flexible green pension scheme which will go live in July, and a cycle scheme as part of our staff benefits package.

“It’s a constant learning curve, but the more we educate ourselves on sustainability, the more we can educate our clients. As part of that, we’re building sustainability into all our design specifications and giving our clients more sustainable options. For example, by retrofitting and reusing existing buildings.”

Estelle continues: “We’re bringing sustainability into more of our HR initiatives, such as offering to buy our colleagues air cleaning plants when they win one of our staff-nominated ‘above and beyond’ awards. The idea has really taken off and we’ve invited Urban Planters, one of our suppliers, to lead a staff workshop on air cleaning plants. It’s good to learn from the sustainable design practices we share with our clients, such as creating community-led green spaces, and bring that back into the business.”

The student consultants found that Leonard Design’s 50 computers were costing the practice over £8,000 a year in energy costs. Investing in software to avoid computers being left on standby would save approximately 66% in energy costs.

In addition, the student consultants found that switching to LED light bulbs would reduce Leonard Design’s lighting energy consumption by between 50%-70% making a significant contribution to carbon emissions reduction.

Overall, students’ proposed recommendations could help the company save 8.8 tCO_2e of carbon emissions a year, reducing Leonard Design’s carbon footprint by almost 50%.

As well as significantly reducing their energy use, Susan believes working with NBS has made Leonard Green much more aware of what they need to do to reduce their carbon footprint.

“Going back to the drawing board and developing our sustainability strategy and plan will give us a manageable approach to sustainability. Little steps done right are better than doing too much too soon, and will soon lead onto bigger things. We recently held a workshop to see what we achieved last year, and we’ve come further than we thought. When we design a sustainable building we can see it take form, whereas improving our sustainability as a company is more intangible. The workshop helped our progress to take form, which was really inspiring.

“A lot of our clients are asking us to report on our carbon impact and the support we’ve had from NTU has given us a great starting point to work from. As a company, we’re very open to ideas and are always looking at how to better ourselves. The Sustainability in Enterprise project has helped enable that.”

Helen concludes: “From a student perspective, giving final-year Nottingham Business School students an opportunity to learn about carbon management and sustainability at a time when it’s critical to businesses is key. Businesses need the skills, expertise and knowledge to take them to net zero, especially SMEs. Working with businesses like Leonard Design also gives students soft skills for employability and to manage the complexities of sustainability – critical thinking, resilience, emotional intelligence and problem solving. If students have some expertise they’re going to be valuable – no matter what their role or level in a business.

“For businesses, the project gives them free consultancy from students and tutors, alongside a carbon footprint and recommendations to save money and carbon, helping them contribute to local and national net zero goals by building their knowledge and experience.”