Speaking with Kat Scott, dRMM

We interviewed Kat Scott, Sustainability and Regenerative Design Manager at dRMM, regarding her opinions on the current and future state of sustainability in the construction industry. [01.09.21]

Doyouthinkit’simportantmovingforwardthat eachofficehasaleadinsustainability,orwould itbeenoughifeveryarchitectwasupskilledand involved?

I think it depends completely on the practice size. We’re a medium-sized architecture practice, and that means that it does help having one person who is a centre point from whom the knowledge can flow through and then be disseminated. [...] I think it just helps to make sure that the strategy is well coordinated and that you are working progressively towards something. My title is actually sustainability and regenerative design manager and that reflects how broad this subject is, because we're not just talking about sustainability in carbon terms[.]

There’sclearlyalotofintrospectionandwork withinyourteams,butyoualsodoalotofwork withpeoplelikeArchitectsDeclareandLETI. Istherethenafeedbackloopwiththewider architecturalcommunity?Orisitmoreaboutan in-housefocus?

There’s a lot of informal knowledge sharing that’s now set up between offices, so there’s a group of us who meet very informally. There’s not really a name, but it’s a group of sustainability leads, from a group of practices who’ve got common interests and objectives.

Arethereanyotherwaysinwhichyou’re promotingthismoreintersectionalapproachto sustainabilityinthepractice?

There’s such a big overlap between sustainability and social equity, and there’s a reason why climate justice is a really hot topic right now. Fuel poverty, particularly in council-based projects that we're working on, is a really pressing issue, and it comes up time and time again in our brief as something that we need to look at addressing, whether that's in the retrofit of existing buildings, or whether it's in the development of new buildings with really high fabric performance. And so there's a huge overlap there between social issues - making somewhere [which is] sustainable and affordable to live in, and obviously, then, the impact that that building has on the planet.

In recent months there’s [also] been the development of the Architects Declare practice guide, which I’ve had some involvement with. I think there's a huge benefit to being involved in these kind of collaborative voluntary initiatives in terms of access to other people's ideas, access to other people’s past experiences of different things that you might not have yet encountered, and then being able to input your own knowledge and make something greater than what you would have been able to do on your own.

For example, we're working on a project which is aspiring to be Passivhaus and we're using the diagrams that I drew for LETI to explain things in presentations to our clients. [...] [And similarly, clients] are starting to come in with the environmental targets based on the LETI targets that I was involved in writing. So there's this really bizarre feedback loop.

It’sinterestinghearingyoutalkaboutclients; howmuchinteractiondoyouhavewiththem? Doyoueverfindthatasapracticeorinyour role,yourunupagainstclientsthatdon’twant toengagewithsustainabilityandregenerative design,andhowdoyouworkaroundthat?