We’re proud to announce our recognition for Sustainability Leadership at the Manchester Law Society Awards earlier this month (July 2026). 

Joining over 600 North West legal peers at the black-tie event, hosted at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, our very own Suzanne Gregson, partner, head of the Manchester office and housing litigation team, was joined by Tom Starkey, partner in the social housing team, on the night to proudly accepted our certificate. Tom also had the pleasure of an exclusive interview with The Business Desk, discussing the firm’s thoughts on the acknowledgement and our overall approach to sustainability.

Sustainability Leadership

This award highlighted the initiatives and strategies we have implemented to reduce our environmental footprint. As a B Corp organisation since 2022, measuring our achievements and delivering against our sustainability goals are really important to us, and it’s an honour to see these efforts celebrated in such a prestigious fashion. 

Decarbonising our physical footprint

Focusing on our efforts in the North West, this award centred around our recent Manchester office upgrade, inspired by our Birmingham office transformation. Together, these projects form a single, coherent programme to decarbonise our physical footprint while conserving key buildings and creating collaborative, future‑ready workplaces.

We moved from a serviced office into newly configured space in Ship Canal House, an EPC B rated and an all‑electric building. Working with the landlord, we drove an uplift from EPC D to B; a decision that improved the performance of a heritage, Grade II city‑centre building for the long term.

We designed the move around people as well as carbon. Colleagues’ commuting patterns were mapped and the office chosen so that the vast majority of journeys can be made by public transport, supported by a hybrid‑working model that reduces travel frequency. Sustainability criteria underpinned the fit‑out, with a high proportion of furniture sourced as recycled or re‑engineered items rather than new, promoting a circular economy and avoiding waste to landfill. 

Creating a culture of sustainable thinking

Alongside our B Corp accreditation, we’ve been working with environmental consultants to outline our Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) – a compliant roadmap to net zero by 2030, supported by our Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to keep us on track and accountable. 

We believe that small changes can make a big difference. Over the past few years alone we have achieved the following:

• Natural gas related emissions cut by around 71-72% (across both Birmingham and Manchester).
• Scope 1 emissions fell from 316 tCO₂e in 2023 to 89 tCO₂e in 2024.
• 60% reduction in Scope 2 electricity emissions in Birmingham.
• Confidential paper waste fell by 53% (across all sites between 2023 and 2024).

A major pillar of our Strategy 2030, our overall efforts to improving our carbon footprint helped us take home the certificate of recognition, but we’re not stopping there. Our office move has encouraged a culture of continuous sustainability improvement – whether underpinning all activities in line with Scope 1, 2 and 3 measurements, or on a smaller scale, shifting mindsets towards public transport use and the digitalisation of files, we’re proud of our efforts in doing good for our people, and our planet. 

Read more in our recent Social Impact Report 2025.