The twin crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are the most serious issue of our time. Buildings and construction play a major part, accounting for nearly 40% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions whilst also having a significant impact on our natural habitats.
For everyone working in the design and construction industry, meeting the needs of our society without breaching the earth’s ecological boundaries will demand a paradigm shift in our behaviour. Together with our clients, we will need to commission and design spaces within buildings as indivisible components of a larger, constantly regenerating and self-sustaining system.
The research and technology exist for us to begin that transformation now, but what has been lacking is collective will. Recognising this, we are committing to strengthen our working practices to design spaces with a more positive impact on the world around us.
This document sets out twelve pledges for an industry-level commitment to regenerative interior design practice. Each pledge is mapped to its primary alignment within the Design Council’s six Green Design Skills and to the Green Design Mindset, with a suggested first action and measurement indicator to support annual reporting.
We will seek to:
1. Treat nature as a stakeholder
We will consider nature explicitly at briefing stage and represent its interests in design decisions from how we specify through to end-of-life.
Action: Add a nature-as-stakeholder section to the studio brief template, with a defined method for representing non-human interests.
Measurement: % of projects with nature named in brief; documented method used.
2. Design for low and whole-life carbon
We will model whole-life carbon from briefing onward, specify low-embodied-carbon materials and consider their installation process. Aiming beyond next zero where the project allows.
Action: Adopt a whole-life carbon modelling tool and require a baseline calculation concept design stage / RIBA Stage 2 on every project.
Measurement: kgCO₂e/m² per project; % projects with Whole Life Carbon modelled at RIBA Stage 2.
3. Embed circularity by design
We will design for adaptation, disassembly, repair, reuse and return; testing every specification against the question where does it go at end of life?
Action: Add an end-of-life route field to the specification schedule; every line item must name a reuse, repair, return or recycle pathway.
Measurement: % specifications with disassembly/return route documented; reused content %
4. Source with provenance
We will specify with knowledge of whole lifecycle: origin ecosystem, labour, artisanship, locality, transport and embedded knowledge, supported by third-party certification wherever possible.
Action: Use a provenance questionnaire for suppliers covering these factors.
Measurement: % specifications with full origin disclosure beyond certification.
5. Work with our supply chains to do better
We will treat suppliers as partners in the transition: sharing our standards, asking for transparency on materials, carbon, water, animal welfare, labour, and fenceline communities supporting smaller and place-based suppliers to meet rising expectations rather than replacing them.
Action: Publish a shared standards document setting out what the studio expects covering these factors.
Measurement: Number of supplier engagements per year; % suppliers providing EPDs or equivalent.
6. Eliminate toxic chemicals from furniture, finishes and fittings
We will progressively remove substances of concern, including PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), formaldehyde, flame retardants, and harmful VOCs (volatile organic compounds) from specified furniture, finishes and fittings, and request full material disclosure from suppliers.
Action: Adopt a studio Red List (e.g. ILFI Red List or Cradle to Cradle Banned List) and screen furniture, finishes and fittings specification against it.
Measurement: % specifications screened against a defined Red List; supplier disclosure rate.
7. Understand and reduce water impact
We will build in water literacy in our studios, specify for water efficiency, include water footprints of specifications, and consider catchment & watershed in our design decisions.
Action: Find an appropriate Water Literacy CPD, specify for water efficiency, and add catchment & watershed context to every project briefing.
Measurement: % of studio staff Water Literacy accredited; litres/m²/year modelled per project.
8. Understand human impacts on ecology
We will develop our knowledge of how the built interior, its materials, energy, water, light and waste affects local and distant ecosystems, and use that understanding to inform specification, siting and brief.
Action: Find an appropriate Ecological Impact CPD and add a one-page ecological impact statement to the project deliverables list.
Measurement: Studio CPD hours on ecology; ecological impact statement per project.
9. Empower green communities and equitable practice
We will work toward justice and equity in who we both employ and hire, who we design for, and how spaces support end users
Action: Publish baseline workforce demographic data and add an accessibility and inclusion audit checkpoint to the studio design review process.
Measurement: Workforce demographic data; accessibility audit per project.
10. Influence behaviour and share what we learn
We will raise client and occupant awareness, refuse greenwashing, share methods and outcomes openly with the profession, and advocate for industry and policy change.
Action: Commit to publishing one open case study per year and contributing to at least one industry or policy consultation annually.
Measurement: Client briefings delivered; case studies published; policy responses submitted.
11. Evaluate impact through use-phase occupancy and beyond
We will set measurable goals at briefing, conduct post-occupancy evaluation inline with RIBA Stage 7, and treat maintenance and adaptation as design outputs, not afterthoughts.
Action: Add a post-occupancy evaluation at 12 months to every project Operations and Maintenance Manual, and produce a maintenance and adaptation plan as a standard handover deliverable.
We encourage suppliers to use a form of product or materials passport integrating this information.
Measurement: % projects with POE at 12 months; measured vs. predicted performance gap.
12. Measure our pledges
We will measure progress against every pledge above, publish annually, and revise the instrument as evidence and practice mature.
Action: Adopt a common annual reporting template covering all twelve pledges and publish the studio’s first baseline report within twelve months.
Measurement: Annual public report against all pledges.
Criteria:
Founding signatories:
Absolute Project Management, Designed by Woulfe, Elemental Studio, Helen Bainbridge Interior Design, Materialise Interiors, MCM , Oliver Heath Design, Persona Abode Interiors, Studio Suss.
We hope that everyone involved in the UK interior design industry will join us in making this commitment.
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