FOOTPRINT+ podcasts

38 Finsbury Square is a major retrofit delivering 52,000 sq ft of future-ready workspace in the heart of London. The project is defined by an ambitious and genuinely holistic sustainability brief, balancing environmental performance, social value and commercial viability. Alongside targeting BREEAM Outstanding, enabling WELL Platinum and progressing through the IDR process towards a NABERS target, the project is a pilot for the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard and adopts a comprehensive materials passport framework. L&G has also embedded clear social value requirements within contractor procurement.

In a volatile and uncertain market, the underwriting process is often undertaken when limited information is available about the true cost and risk implications of future modernisation, decarbonisation and certification requirements.  

This session explores how design teams can better support investors during underwriting by translating incomplete early-stage data into meaningful, robust analysis. It will examine how designers can align more closely with investment priorities, balancing speed, accuracy and flexibility to inform decision-making at a critical point in the acquisition process: 

How are assumptions are formed, stress-tested and communicated? 

How can design insight help quantify risk around capital expenditure, compliance and long-term asset performance?  

Drawing on real project experience, the panel will consider how collaboration between design and investment teams can improve confidence in underwriting models, even when information is constrained highlighting practical tools, workflows and mindsets that enable design teams to add maximum value, ensuring underwriting decisions are better informed, more resilient and aligned with long-term asset strategies. 

Timber Square is redefining how sustainable workplaces can be designed, delivered, and adapted for the future. Driven by a commitment to minimise whole-life carbon, the project integrates innovative structural solutions, material reuse strategies, and forward-thinking design principles to achieve significant environmental gains whilst delivering best-in-class facilities for a global headquarters occupier.

As the UK’s largest commercial scheme to utilise cross-laminated timber (CLT), and the world’s tallest hybrid steel–CLT structure, Timber Square demonstrates the scalability of mass timber in urban construction. The use of approximately 7,000m³ of CLT sequesters substantial embodied carbon while enabling a 30% reduction in embodied carbon and 15% reduction in structural weight compared to a typical new-build construction. Hybridisation with steel—over half of which is produced via recycled electric arc furnace methods—further optimises performance and carbon efficiency.

The project also pioneers circular economy principles, incorporating reclaimed steel, retained structural elements, and reused materials across the site. Intelligent engineering solutions, including transfer structures and future-proofed foundations, extend the life and adaptability of both new and existing buildings. Through a “retain, reclaim, build lean, build green” philosophy, Timber Square sets a new benchmark for sustainable commercial development, demonstrating how innovation, collaboration, and material efficiency can transform the built environment. 

How does the environment impact our physical and mental health? Over the past two decades, our understanding of health and wellbeing has deepened, driven by scientific breakthroughs and a growing awareness of how the built environment shapes our bodies and minds. The global pandemic further underscored the urgency of better understanding the role that the design of neighbourhoods and cities plays in supporting healthy living, social cohesion, and mental health.

A new piece of research, created in collaboration between the Behaviour and Building Performance (BBP) research group at the University of Cambridge, Hawkins\Brown Architects, and Max Fordham, examines these impacts and offers designers helpful questions and principles to consider when planning healthy communities. 

Focusing on the Eddington neighbourhood in North West Cambridge, the research investigated the impact of the green spaces that were created during the first phase of the development, and utilised an examination of emerging research to develop an evidence-based approach to a site-wide investigation of how urban environments influence an occupant’s experience, enjoyment, and long-term health and wellbeing.

FUSE (Flexible Upgradeable Sustainable Ecosystem) reframes science space as a platform: a high‑performing workplace that can be upgraded when needed. By avoiding day‑one overspecification, it reduces embodied and operational carbon, shortens delivery, and stays cost‑accessible. Structure, services and fabric are aligned around a lean baseline that can be enhanced through clear pathways - whether airflow, services or vibration performance - without preloading cost or carbon.

By layering essential infrastructure and enabling future adaptability, the model reduces upfront capital expenditure while maintaining long-term performance. The result is a building that is lower in embodied carbon, more cost-effective to operate, and faster to deliver on site. Critically, it sets out to address the growing disconnect between high construction costs and affordability for occupiers.

Ensuring supply chain solidity requires a continual focus on upstream activities, whose environmental and social impacts are often underestimated. For most companies, Scope 3 emissions account for over 90% of their footprint, making supplier selection a critical strategic decision. Through practical cases, this session explores how solidity is embedded across primary value chains and extended to secondary inputs such as alloying elements and hardware.

What is the role of:

The panel will also ask how evolving legislation and stakeholder expectations are raising new challenges for real-world practice within the built environment supply chain.

The retrofit of Broadgate Tower reimagines a key building in one of London’s iconic office estates. Originally completed in 2008, the project aims to deliver a best-in-class, sustainable workplace that responds to its unique location between Shoreditch and the City, while retaining the tower’s architectural prominence. Central to the scheme is a strong sustainability philosophy rooted in retention and reuse. 

The project incorporates reused steelwork, cross-laminated timber slabs and reused internal finishes, reducing embodied carbon to a minimum. An all-electric services strategy targets net-zero carbon in operation, with 100% renewable energy, biodiversity gain, the project is on target for BREEAM Outstanding and Well Platinum ratings.

The architectural approach strengthens the building’s relationship to the ground through active frontages, improved accessibility and vibrant public spaces. Across 14 refurbished floors and a three-storey extension, the project introduces flexible, biophilic workplaces, market-leading amenities and enhanced end-of-trip facilities. Broadgate Tower demonstrates how refurbishment can deliver sustainability, connectivity and long-term value at scale.

Sustainability has moved far beyond regulatory compliance - it is now a fundamental driver of competitive advantage for both investors and developers. This ThinkTank will explore how ESG principles are being embedded across the investment and development lifecycle, influencing capital allocation, design, delivery, and long‑term asset performance.

We’ll examine how sustainability‑led decision‑making is enabling stronger portfolios, more resilient developments, lower operational risk, and better value outcomes - both today and over the long term.

What we’ll cover

Join RLB for an interactive discussion on how embracing sustainability can deliver smarter, more resilient strategies across the entire built environment lifecycle.

Beginning with the IoD PBE’s usual 'Quarterly Economic Update', this panel session will explore how our push toward net zero creates opportunities across the value chain, not only for businesses, but also for communities and society. As noted in a recent report by the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit and the Confederation of British Industry, The Future is Green, the net zero economy is growing at more than three times the overall UK economy and is "now supporting almost a million livelihoods, with a disproportionate number of those jobs outside London and the South East". What businesses and citizens need now is for the government to create the platform for long-term, demand-driven structural economic growth by baking in policy clarity, as well as financial and tax incentives, as noted in the recent 2025 UK Net Zero Business Census.

As market conditions tighten and buyer scrutiny increases, preparing a real estate asset for exit has become more complex than timing alone. This session explores how liquidity is now shaped not just by location and income, but by sustainability credentials and future readiness. We will examine whether ESG performance is a decisive factor in pricing and deal velocity, or simply a threshold requirement to access core capital. 

The discussion will focus on how owners can future-proof assets when capital for major works is constrained. What signals matter most to buyers? How are sustainability risks and opportunities being measured today, and how consistent are those metrics across markets? We will also look at how core and core-plus investors view transition risk, stranded assets, and the credibility of forward plans. 

Finally, the session will explore whether mapping the next buyer’s ESG journey, even without immediate capex, can itself add value and improve exit outcomes.