Environmental Sustainability

Working within the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AECO) industries, the built assets we support through the construction lifecycle affect the environment from planning stages through to realised builds in use for the public. In Europe currently, the construction sector is responsible for over 35% of the EU’s total waste generation (source: European Commission). This can be from materials used, to energy consumption during construction, and many other aspects. AECO needs to adapt, and adapt quickly, as the sector is a major part of the European Green Deal – the main objective of which being that the EU is carbon neutral by 2050. 

In 2020, the European Commission was able to produce the Strategy for a Sustainable Environment. This strategy relates to all built assets that people live in and around, including residential or commercial buildings, infrastructure and through to public spaces. With this strategy, the goal of reduced climate impact is realised through promoting circulatory principles throughout the lifecycle of buildings. This is having a major impact on how the industry is operating. 

One of our goals at Thinkproject is to offer digital solutions to manual, paper-based processes. From analysis taken by our customers, we have found that by ditching paper-based communications, plans, documents and more, the projects we support were able to save millions of litres of water and tons of CO2. With teams free from laborious administration, innovation can thrive which leads to exciting new ways to solve the industry’s problems. 

Furthermore, with project teams being connected digitally and the rise of remote working, unnecessary journeys to/from on-site can drastically reduce the amount of CO2. By having the entire project digitised from start to finish, companies can also analyse their data and insights, leading to more informed decisions that reduce wasted materials or costly mistakes. All of this comes together with sustainable construction methods and the development of innovative tools, such as those offered to customers by Thinkproject, to get the sector on-track for a carbon neutral future. 

It is important to us as a business that we are clear and transparent with our own efforts towards being a sustainable company. Though we focus on the digitalisation of AECO, the software industry where we reside also has its own issues when it comes to sustainability (according to this source, by 2040 the ICT (Information & Communications Technology) sector will make up 14% of global carbon emissions). Naturally, we want to ensure we are striving to be part of the change in the sector. 

Thinkproject calculates its own carbon footprint on an annual basis in line with the requirements of the Green House Gas (GHG) Protocol. We work with third parties such as Planetly who support is in calculating our emissions, and Schneider Electric, to offer us insights into how we can improve sustainability across our organisation. 

In addition to this, we have an engaged and empowered workforce who readily offers suggestions and hold us accountable in our sustainability goals, this could be from sourcing ethical and low-carbon resources for our office locations, through to cycle to work schemes and more. We have also recently welcomed a dedicated Sustainability team into Thinkproject. 

Sustainability across the asset lifecycle is a key component of our strategy and you will be able to get regular updates and insights on this topic on our blog.