Category Archive

London, 01 December 2025, The Useful Simple Trust (Trust) has appointed Will Arnold as Head of Sustainable Materials, strengthening its mission to embed sustainable, low-carbon practices across the built environment. This new role consolidates the Trust’s expertise in engineering, design, and project delivery into a focused consultancy offering, ensuring every project benefits from advanced materials intelligence from concept through completion.

Will’s appointment draws together our Trust wide expertise into a dedicated sustainable materials consultancy offering across Expedition Engineering, Useful Studio, and Useful Projects. This enhanced capability builds on the Trust’s legacy of pioneering projects including the London Olympics, WWF-UK Living Planet Centre, The Phoenix in Lewes and Eden Project Scotland, now with dedicated materials expertise woven through every stage of design and delivery.

Bringing Cross-Sector Influence & Technical Depth

With over 15 years’ experience spanning structural engineering and cross-industry sustainability leadership, Will brings both technical credibility and strategic vision. His hands-on design background means he understands the practical realities of delivery, while his sector-wide leadership positions him at the forefront of policy development and market transformation.

As the former Head of Climate Action at the Institution of Structural Engineers, convenor of Part Z, and embodied carbon technical lead on the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard, Will has shaped the frameworks that are defining the industry’s transition. His ability to influence policy direction and translate complex sustainability challenges into actionable guidance means our clients benefit from insight into where the market is heading, not just where it is today.

In this new role, Will will work directly with clients to integrate materials intelligence throughout project briefs and delivery. The role encompasses practical support on questions clients regularly face: how to balance embodied carbon reduction with budget realities, which emerging materials are ready for specification, and how to align project decisions with organisational net zero commitments.

This builds on a core Trust principle: doing ‘More with Less’. Will’s materials expertise will help identify opportunities to optimize structural and architectural solutions, using less material, reducing carbon, improving efficiency, and often reducing costs simultaneously – embedding materials thinking into the fundamental design decisions that shape project outcomes.

Shaping Industry Direction

Beyond project work, Will’s role includes contributing to our policy influence efforts. His established voice in shaping industry standards means insights from our projects feeds into broader market transformation, and equally, that emerging policy directions inform our client work before they become requirements.

Will commented: “I care deeply about beautiful, thoughtful buildings and infrastructure, and the creative teamwork that makes them possible, and I see the Trust as a place where that ethos already thrives. My focus is on using deep knowledge of carbon and ecological impacts to shape outcomes that are practical, commercially viable, and genuinely forward-looking. This isn’t about pursuing ‘perfect’ sustainability but achieving the best possible outcomes for each project, creating a foundation for even greater progress in the future.”

Judith Sykes, CEO of Useful Simple Trust, said: “Will’s appointment will help us in our mission to shape the future of our industry. His ability to influence policy and translate sustainability challenges into practical design decisions will strengthen our ability to do things differently. We are excited by how he will leverage the collective expertise of the Trust to drive the transition to lower carbon and lower impact construction.”

Discover how Will and the Useful Simple Trust are shaping smarter, more sustainable projects here.

-ENDS-

Today marks a pivotal moment in the Useful Simple Trust’s sustainability journey. After years of dedicated work and commitment to our Science Based Targets, we are proud to publicly launch our Climate Transition Action Plan (CTAP).

This CTAP is a blueprint for transforming climate goals into measurable action – providing transparency on our carbon context, identifying our emission hotspots, and outlining our target pathway with specific actions for 2026.

Why This Matters

Whilst we recognise that our greatest impact is through our project work, we believe that every organisation has a responsibility to combat climate change. For us, reducing our impact aligns with who we are as a business; our Ethos and our status as B Corp, Social Enterprise, and Employee Benefit Trust.

The Trust’s four Impact Strands – Get Set Zero, Work for Good, Restore and Adapt, and More with Less – knit together the projects and services our brands provide to clients. Our CTAP focuses on accelerated action towards net zero carbon in line with Get Set Zero, and provides a near-term roadmap aligned with the critical 1.5°C pathway following guidance from the We Mean Business Coalition.

2018: Became a Social Enterprise

2019: Started calculating our annual operational carbon footprint

2020: Achieved B Corp status

2021: Appointed our Head of Sustainability, Carrie Behar

2022: Set carbon reduction targets with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)

2023: Became a Carbon Literate Organisation – Silver

2024: B Corp recertification and 32% score improvement

2025: Became a Carbon Literate Organisation – Gold

1. We have set official Science-Based Targets with SBTi, committing to reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions 46% by 2030, from a 2019 base year, and to measure and reduce our Scope 3 emissions.

2. Through the SME Climate Hub, we have joined the United Nations (UNFCCC) Race to Zero initiative, where we are committed to ‘reducing emissions, across all scopes, swiftly and fairly in line with the Paris Agreement, with transparent action plans and robust near-term targets’.

3. We will offset residual emissions from business travel, office and homeworking energy use, and employee commuting by 2030.

4. We will engage with our top 10 suppliers to set their own Science Based Targets and reduce emissions by 2030.

The Useful Simple Trust is proud to share our 2024-25 Impact Report. This year we are focusing on the theme of ‘collaborative innovation’, showcasing how our work to unite diverse expertise and foster cross-industry partnerships is really delivering impact on the ground.

The built environment faces unprecedented challenges: achieving net-zero carbon emissions, adapting to climate change, addressing biodiversity loss, and meeting growing infrastructure demands within planetary boundaries. These systemic challenges cannot be solved in isolation. They require breadth of expertise, broad perspectives, and the collective drive to push for better outcomes.

Innovation through collaboration sits at the heart of everything we do. We believe progress happens faster when knowledge is shared, which is why we continue to invest in long-standing, cross-industry programmes that help drive transformation and practical education across the built environment. From pioneering industry-shifting innovation to advancing social value, our four collaborative innovation themes demonstrate how meaningful partnerships create solutions that ripple far beyond organisational boundaries.

This Report presents some of the achievements we are most proud to share with you, from our B Corp recertification with a 32% score improvement to the real-world impact of projects like the AVA Footbridge, our nature-based solutions at Langleybury Estate, and our continued commitment to education through programmes like Constructionarium and Climate Ed.

Read the Report here.

On Thursday 26 June, our team dedicated four hours to support High Trees at their Tulse Hill Adventure Playground – part of our annual Summer Social and ongoing commitment to community partnership.

High Trees has been established since 1998, addressing a reality we see all too often across London: young people in one of the world’s wealthiest cities still struggling to access opportunities that help them thrive. Their work spans adventure play, accredited adult education, employment support, and community programming across Lambeth.

Hands-on contribution

The adventure playground serves as a community project that requires ongoing maintenance to support the year-round programming families rely on.

By tackling practical improvements – such as refreshing paintwork across key buildings, clearing overgrown pathways to create more accessible play space, and organising storage systems – we directly enable High Trees to maintain the initiatives that create real impact in their community.

Why this matters

High Trees’ mission is straightforward: ‘helping people make meaningful changes to live happier, healthier, and more connected lives‘. The playground is an example of how sustained investment in public spaces creates lasting benefits – fostering early intervention, skill development, and connection to address challenges at their source.

Our Summer Social serves multiple purposes: it fulfills our annual commitment as a B Corp while strengthening collaboration across our diverse multidisciplinary teams. Most importantly, it demonstrates how we can support community development through direct contribution rather than just financial support.

Graham Weston, the Head of Community Action at High Trees, commented; “It was such a pleasure to host you at the Adventure Playground last week – your energy and teamwork made a real difference. The Playground is looking fantastic, thanks to your collective efforts. We really appreciate the time and care you put in to making an impact.”

A huge thank you to Graham and the entire High Trees team for accommodating us!

Learn more about the amazing work High Trees are doing on their website.

The Useful Simple Trust (UST) has reached a significant milestone in our climate action journey, advancing from Silver to Gold certification as a Carbon Literate Organisation (CLO). This achievement demonstrates our commitment to embedding climate-conscious practices across our family of brands and throughout our organisational culture.

Our carbon literacy journey

Climate action stands at the heart of our ‘Get Set Zero’ initiative and unites all the Trust brands in a shared purpose. While many of our team members already operate as leaders in carbon reduction within their respective fields, we recognised the value of formalising and expanding this expertise through the Carbon Literacy Project’s certification framework.

The CLO accreditation uses a tiered system – Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum – requiring increasingly robust commitments to climate action and low-carbon cultural transformation. Having achieved Silver certification last year, our progression to Gold reflects our organisational commitment to addressing the climate crisis.

Secured Gold status

Our certification journey involved several strategic initiatives:

• Specialised Carbon Literacy (CL) training to 55% of our workforce, using materials tailored to the specific needs of organisations transforming the built environment.
• Development of our first external-facing Carbon Action Plan (coming soon!), establishing a clear pathway to carbon neutrality that incorporates our employees action ideas generated during our CL training sessions.
• Appointed dedicated sustainability leadership and embedded carbon literacy throughout our updated People Strategy, ensuring climate consciousness is present at every stage of an employee’s journey with the Trust.
• Conducted a local needs assessment and initiated knowledge-sharing sessions with neighboring organisations in our Temple Chambers office building.

Impact beyond certification

This certification represents how CL has become intrinsic to our organisational identity. The 468 collective hours of learning across our team have translated into tangible changes in our operations, from updated procurement policies to refined recruitment practices.

Our CL initiative has strengthened our internal capabilities, enabling us to address complex challenges in climate resilience and develop net-zero strategies with greater confidence and expertise. By embedding this knowledge within our professional development processes, we ensure its lasting impact.

Collaborative climate action

As we continue our journey, our focus extends beyond internal practices to external collaboration and knowledge-sharing. Looking to the future, we aim to implement this by:

• Expanding advocacy through our professional networks.
• Partnering with organisations seeking to commence their own CL journey.
• Continuing engagement with our community through planned learning sessions in 2025.

This achievement reinforces our mission to balance purpose with profit while establishing benchmarks for sustainable and responsible business practices. As we progress toward Platinum certification, we remain committed to sharing our experience and supporting others in their climate action endeavors.

Learn more about how you can become a Carbon Literate Organisation here.