5 Ways ESG Can Influence Design and Create Opportunities

In response to our last article on “The Future of ESG in Architecture,” many of our partners have asked how they can create an “ESG compliant building.” The truth is that environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) is a multifaceted approach in response to the way business is conducted, how the environment is affected, and potential impact on the community. No single rating system or program can capture the unique challenges and opportunities any given asset may have. Several ESG reporting tools exist that provide frameworks intended to capture and quantify the non-financial opportunities and risks of a corporation’s daily business practices. However, for a project to transcend the norm, innovation, ingenuity, and science-based targets can make way for more quantifiable, tangible outcomes.

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ESG reporting mechanisms that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion, while looking through the lens of environmental stewardship, community impact, and corporate governance provide quantifiable, performance-based outcomes. These are the non-negotiable tenets of ESG. Unfortunately, the reporting of ESG metrics is inconsistent, and the results are often difficult to understand.

Meanwhile, capturing real estate ESG metrics often relies on a back-casting model: calculating impacts based on completed work, instead of strategizing enhancements through an integrated, data-driven approach to new work. But by expanding our understanding of ESG metrics, we can tangibly quantify the positive impacts design innovations can bring, and pursue an informed decision-making strategy that begins with design and produces results-driven outcomes.

We’ve identified five ways we’re rethinking designing for ESG, using a science-based approach that can impact the ESG value chain.

ESG Site Selection Tool

Before we get into the ESG measures that can be influenced by design strategies, we must first identify properties that are best suited to doing so. Given the complexity of ESG variables and the general inconsistency across competing reporting mechanisms, the future of smart asset acquisition strategy must shift to a metrics-informed equation.

Over the past year, we have developed a tool to do just that. Our research-based prototype can quickly assess open-source data to identify strategic repositioning opportunities for enhancing a building or asset’s environmental and social performance indicators. The tool uses publicly available data aligned to six performance indicators to create a current building score, as well as an opportunity score. This tool can help our clients quickly identify risk and reward regarding property investment options from a high-level ESG perspective, saving time and money while allowing for quick investment decision making.

Reimagining Thermal Performance

Once a site or asset is selected, we can evaluate where design strategies can create co-benefits, whereby o