Koha X Climate & Ecological Emergency.
Browse our project services, read climate-related journal articles and download our Sustainability Report.
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Our Services
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Retrofit
Refurbishing and working with existing buildings is one of the key values upon which Koha is built. 78% of our projects in 2020 involved the refurbishment or reuse of an existing building in some capacity.
We support the Architects’ Journal #Retrofirst Campaign
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Circularity
Taking stock of existing building fabric is instrumental in understanding where materials can be reused and recycled, before any amount of deconstruction or demolition. We aim to conduct pre-demolition audits on all of our projects by 2023.
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Ecology, Biodiversity, Wellness
Creating architecture that exists in harmony with nature, can often feel like a contradiction of intentions, and therefore designing buildings and infrastructure that are respectful to local, historical, and social contexts is essential. We work with local consultants and consider provisions for biodiversity at the earliest possible stage to ensure their benefits can be maximised.
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Carbon
Using an industry-standard carbon tool, we calculate the embodied and estimated operational carbon of your project. Understanding the carbon footprint of your project at the earliest stage possible allows us to make informed decisions on how to reduce its impact on the earth.
“We understand the urgency of the climate and ecological emergency and pledge to treat it with the attention it deserves.”
— Koha Sustainability Report 2021 —
Our Climate Timeline
Since declaring a climate emergency in 2019, we have been working to improve our company's carbon footprint and the project services we offer. We strive to create purposeful, relevant, imaginative architecture that is well used and loved while also mitigating our impact on the natural world.
As an industry, we contribute almost 40% of the UK’s carbon emissions, a figure that has to change to avoid climate breakdown. Here you can see our actions undertaken since declaring a climate emergency and our plans for the near future.
You can download our full ‘Koha X Climate & Ecological Emergency Report’ below.
2020.
In 2020, we declared a climate and ecological emergency alongside Cornwall County Council and Falmouth University. We became signatories of Architects Declare and signed up to the RIBA 2030 challenge, which outlines a climate framework that we use to monitor the progress of our projects.
2021.
We continued our climate advocacy, with staff members volunteering at a number of climate-related organisations. We revised our sustainability strategy and wrote our first ‘Koha X Climate & Ecological Emergency Report’ which focussed on our hard work so far, and how we can improve our carbon footprint, both as a practice and within our projects. As a result, we started offering new services including pre-demolition auditing and carbon calculating.
2022 - 2030
Improve the impact of our projects by introducing the targets outlined in the RIBA 2030 challenge. Continue our climate advocacy and our engagement within the local community. Maintain the low carbon footprint of our office and office practices. Monitor our progress, be transparent with our targets and achievements, collate this information into annual editions of the Koha x Climate & Ecological Emergency Report.
