Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are playing an increasing role in corporate performance as well as institutional operations and public perception. At HED, we have always believed that it is our organizational and corporate responsibility to create Positive Impact in the world around us through how we conduct business, our noteworthy design solutions, and the lasting impact of those solutions on the facilities, people, and environment they touch. We applaud our clients and partners’ desire to understand our values-based operations and compare our values to their own. To understand our policies in detail: Download Our Approach to ESG
HED’s firmwide mission is to have a positive impact for our clients, the community, and the world through design excellence. Our definition of design excellence is a solution built from thoughtful decision-making that creates measurable, real world positive impact. Sustainability is inseparable from design excellence, and significantly benefits what we refer to as “the triple bottom line” - the social, economic, and environmental impacts of a project.
HED was an early signatory of the 1.5°C COP26 Communiqué and the AEC Sustainable Leaders Group Build Back Greener letter campaign to President Biden. We are one of only a handful of firms to be a signatory of both the AIA 2030 commitment and the Carbon Leadership Forum's MEP 2040 Challenge. Through these dual-programs in the realms of architecture and engineering, we are committed to reducing operational and embodied carbon across all projects, tracking and sharing our data, and are active participants in industry-wide efforts to reduce each project’s energy use and decarbonize building systems with a goal of being net zero by the year 2030. We are committed to these programs and supporters of these causes because we believe it aligns with our firm's values and dedication to supporting clients with climate-resilient design.
However, our team’s knowledge and experience with high performing building projects is just one part of a much larger story about our values and culture. HED’s Sustainability Action Plan is available for public review on the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2030 commitment coalition website.