B Corp

Helping us create positive impact for our clients, our people, our communities, and the environment.

In February 2021, we proudly achieved B Corp® certification, becoming the first architect in the AJ100 and one of only a handful of firms in the UK built environment sector to join a growing, purpose-driven community.

Here, we breakdown what that means.

What is a B Corp?

Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet high standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.

The B Corp movement is underpinned by the belief that society’s most challenging problems cannot be solved by governments and non-profits alone. By harnessing the power of business, B Corps use profits and growth to a greater end: positive impact for their employees, communities, and the environment.

We’ve always prided ourselves on being ethical and responsible as a practice, looking after our staff and designing in a responsible, human-centric way.

Since we became an employee-owned organisation, we’d been seeking a tool that would help us to measure how we are doing socially and environmentally. The B Corp process forced us to take a deep breath on everything we do.

Pierre Wassenaar, Chair

Our B Impact Assessment Score is 101.5

Based on the B Impact assessment, Stride Treglown earned an overall score of 101.5. The median score for ordinary businesses who complete the assessment is currently 50.9.


0.5
Overall B Impact Score
0
Qualifies for B Corp Certification
0.9
Median Score for Ordinary Businesses

Certification wasn’t easy. It took us 6 months to achieve, going through a rigorous points-based assessment that looks in detail at the way we run the business across five distinct impact areas: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers.

Most businesses that pass the certification process tend to achieve a score between 80-90 on first assessment. Scoring 101.5 out of 200 shows us we’re doing very well, but there’s also room for growth and improvement.

Certification is an out-in-the-open process. Our B Impact Assessment Score is public information, and this will be re-assessed and re-published every three years.

It’s a real badge of honour, and a responsibility to continually improve.

The incredibly detailed assessment did throw up a few surprises. But the whole point of going through the accreditation process isn’t to pat ourselves on the back, but to highlight the areas where we can be doing better – then make a plan to address those.

Pierre Wassenaar, Chair

Our B Team

Here are the people at Stride Treglown who make sure we remain true to our B Corp values and push for continual improvement.

Pierre Wassenaar
Chair

John Wright
Director for ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance)

Sean Peacock
B Team lead for Workers

Karyn Williams
B Team lead for Community

Steve Dolphin
B Team lead for Governance

Rachel Bell
B Team lead for Customers

Robert Delius
B Team lead for Environment

Why did we choose to certify?

Culturally, it’s a good fit

For years, we’ve placed long-term human and environmental interests at the heart of our decision-making – from transitioning to employee ownership to becoming carbon neutral.

B Corp requires us to legally embed the balance of profit and purpose into our articles of association.

It serves our clients

Clients need advisors that can demonstrate they have attained certifiable levels of social and environmental performance.

B Corp gives our clients confidence we’ll help them to deliver their sustainable goals.

It’s not charity, it’s better business

Pierre Wassenaar, Chair

It’s relational, not transactional

We see design as a collaborative enterprise. Our social and environmental challenges need us all to work together.

Being a B Corp makes us part of a fast-growing network of like-minded companies that we can work with and learn from.

It’s about constant improvement

We’re a learning organisation. B Corp certification helps us to measure what we’re doing well, what we could do better, and helps us plan how to improve.

We’re in great company

There are now over 6,000 B Corps in 86 countries and covering 158 industries. There are over 1,000 in the UK. Big names include companies such as Patagonia, Innocent, Triodos Bank and Finisterre.

We’re part of a growing group of companies in the Built Environment sector, including developers, consultants and funders: Igloo Regeneration, Joseph Homes, Ward Williams Associates, Bridges Fund Management, Newcore Capital, Kennedy Woods Architects, FORE Partnership, Planit I.E and Urban Foundry.

Welcoming Stride Treglown is an exciting moment because they have an opportunity to lead the way within architecture and wider built environment sector in the UK. Their commitment to doing business differently will be an inspiration to others and really help spread the idea that we can redefine success in business to be as much about people and planet as it is about profit.

Kate Sandle, Director of Programmes and Engagement of B Lab UK

Good things are happening here

Positive Impact Report 2021-22