Sustainability Unwrapped

When distilled down, sustainability really means meeting the needs of today, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

There are 4 key pillars of sustainable design

• Environment
• Wellness
• Equity
• Social

As a leading Civil and Structural Engineering Consultancy, we are very conscious of our responsibility to keep sustainability at the forefront of our daily work practices and helping our Clients and design team colleagues to ensure our completed projects are environmentally responsible.

We understand that the decisions we make as Engineers through the course of our work can have a significant  impact on the natural environment – our challenge is to make that impact a positive impact. And so we strive to ensure that the designs we offer aim to minimise all potential environmental and biodiversity impacts.

Achieving sustainability goals

We understand our clients unique ESG requirements and we are committed to providing lean designs, using sustainable materials, to help them achieve their own sustainability goals on each project. We proactively contribute to environmental index assessments on many of our large projects (BREEAM, LEED, HPI, WELL).

In recent years we have developed excellent experience in the repurposing of existing structures for alternative uses, thereby eliminating the embodied carbon impacts associated with large scale demolition projects.

For new development, we strive to design for resilience, future adaptability, and circularity. We have extensive experience in the design of modular and precast structures, which can significantly reduce the environmental impacts and waste production during the construction of a building. We also have extensive experience in the design and implementation of sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS), such as Green-Blue roofs, swales, rain garden, bio-detention ponds and more, which greatly improve the quality of surface water run-off from our developments into the receiving streams, rivers and water courses.

A roadmap to Net Zero

As a practice, Barrett Mahony has established a roadmap to transition our own company towards a Net Zero future by implementing more sustainable work practices, reducing waste production, and increasing energy efficiency within our office.

In order to ensure that we continue our progress towards achieving our sustainability goals, we have set out the following key aims:

• We have an internal Sustainability Committee with the stated aim of continually promoting sustainability within our organisation.
• Ensuring that our staff engage in regular CPD and knowledge sharing in relation to more modern and sustainable technological advances.
• Engaging with the sustainability groups of our professional institutions, including Engineers Ireland, the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland and the Institution of Structural Engineers.
• Carrying out early stage embodied carbon audits on all of our projects to ensure that we advise our clients on their options in relation to sustainable development approaches.
• Committing to the ACEI Member Net Zero Pledge, with the aim of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
• Continuing to implement ISO14001 (an internationally recognised standard for Environmental Management Systems) within our organisation.
• Promoting more sustainable work and travel practices within our company and promoting the well-being and continued professional development of our staff.
• Specializing in sustainable structural systems, including high-rise modular and post-tensioned concrete buildings in the UK and Ireland.