Our Impact
We are proud to be a B Corp.
As a responsible company we aim to balance people, planet and profit. We aim to build for longevity. Whether it’s an old building that is renovated and thus given a new lease of life, or a new building started form scratch. We try to minimize use of materials without compromising on quality. By founding Octatube Services, we ensure a building the right and specialized aftercare to extend its lifespan.
But there is so much more we can and should do. We need to learn more about our impact, as a company, and we need to do more to ensure a better future for everyone.
This will take effort. Being a B Corp is not a destination but an ongoing journey. We made the first steps by completing an in-depth Impact Assessment covering five key areas: governance, customers, workers, environment, and community. It was not merely a check-in-the-box exercise. We were challenged to review all different aspects of our practices and to make impactful changes on the go.
Based on this assessment, we have been given an overall score on a range of things, from our mission and business ambitions to employee safety and energy use. Companies who score more than 80 points (out of 200) are officially certified. To ensure we maintain our commitment, we must be recertified every three years. With a score of 101.8 we are confident we are on the right track, but we also see a lot of room for improvement.
Going through this whole process has been extremely valuable. It has forced us to reflect on where we are in terms of social and environmental impact, and ask ourselves: how can we do better?
So, what’s next?
This international and independent certification is an important step for us to not only realize challenging architecture. Our long-term ambition is to have a positive impact on our environment, our community, our employees and the wider world as well. We apply this certification as a guideline for impactful entrepreneurship and social innovation. We are also looking into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations. It is our intention to lay out and prioritize a path that will help us comply to these SDG’s.
We also want to invite fellow companies in the building industry to follow suit and join us in using business as a force for good. Currently this is one of the most polluting sectors.
We are proud of the work we are doing and eager to keep moving forward. We want to continue our efforts by setting goals to keep building an inclusive, sustainable and generally better building industry.
With this shiny new status, we are joining a community of companies that strive for a better balance between business success and building a more inclusive and sustainable economy. Making us part of an movement where we can learn from others, exchange knowledge and increase our positive impact.