Our Journey Toward Sustainability
At Workbench, sustainable design is a continuous journey that touches all aspects of our company and work. We're working toward spaces that foster human connection, enhance individual experiences, celebrate nature, and strengthen communities—with sustainability as our guide.
Focus Areas
We're actively developing practices to become sustainable by design. This isn’t distant ideals but ongoing design decisions and evaluation. We're focusing our efforts on four interconnected areas:
Community
Our most important commitment is to the sustainability of our team, clients, and neighborhoods. How we build our business and conduct ourselves in our spheres of influence sets the foundation for how we work.
Energy
We're learning to evaluate energy performance earlier in our design process, working toward systems and strategies that benefit both projects and people.
Water
We're striving to go beyond standard requirements, helping clients find practical, cost-effective water solutions that benefit both residents and the broader community.
Materials
We're working toward healthier spaces through more responsible material choices. This means eliminating harmful substances, incorporating biophillic choices, and reducing waste.
Our Ongoing Commitments
Our sustainability action plan represents the path we're traveling together—with specific objectives that help us measure our progress:
2023-2025: Building foundations through education, developing protocols, piloting new approaches, and establishing baselines
2026-2028: Expanding implementation, measuring progress, and refining our methods based on what we learn
2028-2032: Deepening our impact as we continue evolving our practices
2030 Commitment
Committed to netzero emissions by 2030.
Join Us on This Journey
In 2022 we signed the The AIA 2030 Commitment. As the first architects in our area to do so we committed to actionable steps including set of standards and goals for reaching net zero emissions in the built environment.
We’re working toward publishing more comprehensive sustainability summaries for each of our projects. These are being added to projects as they are developed.