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A green or sustainable approach to design has nothing to do with embracing a ‘whole earth’ hippy aesthetic. It’s about a more intelligent and future-friendly approach to sourcing materials, managing waste and creating commercially, economically and socially sustaining environments people want to inhabit.

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Words by Veronica Simpson

It's May 2013, and Clerkenwell Design Week is in full swing. At Tent London a seminar has kicked off on sustainable design. There's an atmosphere eerily evocative of a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous (as I would imagine it): behind a dark curtain, a smattering of people shuffle nervously in their chairs while Marc, an interior designer, confesses to the shock and horror that assailed him four years ago when he was asked by a retail client to design something 'sustainable'. 'Oh no' was his first reaction, he tells us. 'It's going to have to be green. It's going to have to be made of hemp or something.' Sustainability just wasn't 'cool'.

Marc Péridis has clearly undergone some kind of conversion. Through his 19 Greek Street gallery he promotes his own 'socially responsible' design practice, and exhibits vintage pieces as well as those by the kinds of contemporary designers who are finding extremely creative and far from uncool ways of designing furniture and lighting through upcycling and recycling.

Perhaps unsurprisingly many of the designers he exhibits are from Denmark and Holland - countries for which 'sustainable' has never been a dirty word. Here you might find Danish designer Nina Tolstrup's Pallet furniture (made from reconstituted wooden pallets) or her Re-Imagined chairs, an eclectic assortment of rejects found in skips and streets and playfully reupholstered (Marc Jacobs is a fan). There's also inventive output from members of the Supercyclers, an expanding group of designers focused on creating products that transform notions of waste materials and the design process.

How tastes shift, along with perceptions. To emphasise sustainability's lurch into the mainstream, this summer saw a barrage of publicity greet the third annual publication of the Sustainia 100 - like the FTSE 100 but assessing the 100 most interesting design, engineering and manufacturing innovations in terms of their environmental impact rather Storm says the level of interest in the 2014 publication surpassed anything they have experienced before. She says of the publication, launched in Oslo in June to an international gathering of more than 1,000 supporters from business, media and creative industries: 'What has been a really great result is the aftermath. Just 10 days after we launched the publication, we had 104 million posts on Twitter alone. It's never been as good as it has this year or for this specific launch. It's maybe telling us that our brand and what we do is more wellknown, but also that people are much more interested in new and sustainable innovations.'

The important aspect of Sustainia 100, says Storm, is that it's presenting positive choices: 'We want to make people aware of the amazing potential that lies inherent in more sustainable lifestyles. We want to make sure that people know that sustainable lifestyles, sustainable cities, production, is not about less, it's about more in terms of better quality of life, better for you, the environment and your pocket. [We're] on a mission to pave the way towards more sustainable markets. To do that we need to make consumers aware of what amazing opportunities they have, to make industries aware of the investment potential, the market potential that lies in the more sustainable way of producing their products.'

But is this surge of interest in all things sustainable a fad, or is it actually translating into seriously effective practice? In the world of architecture the term crops up time and again, along with 'carbon neutral' and 'carbon positive' appended to the descriptions of new offices and hotels, replete with biomass boilers and armies of solar panels. According to Doug King, a leading consultant in construction, innovation and sustainability, most of these labels are pure 'greenwash', as he terms it.

'The terms carbon neutral and carbon positive are utter baloney,' he says. 'It's based on accountancy. The best thing you could do is get rid of all the labels, including carbon. They are not helpful. It creates this illusion that somehow the problem is solved when it isn't. And we need to recognise that there is always a residual problem. The basic fact of human existence is we have an impact on our environment. Everything we do has an impact. Rather than creating labels to pretend these problems have gone away, we should recognise them, admit them, and work as hard as we can to make them go away.'

So how should a designer or architect approach the issue of sustainability? Says King: 'The first thing that people should do is honestly look at their own work and say to themselves is this the best, most functional, most considered design that I can achieve? If it is, job done. Don't rush to label it. If we were all honest about our design like that there wouldn't be this pressure to conform to labels.'

There are courses on sustainable construction run by the Building Research Establishment, and a wealth of literature, for those who want to really embed sustainable design into their practice or projects. For larger projects, says King, assemble your own expert team. It couldn't be easier: simply ring the RIBA for a list of architects in your area, with an expertise in sustainable buildings. 'Then do the same with the Institute of Structural Engineers and the Chartered Institute of Services Engineers.'

But if the world of architecture is susceptible to 'greenwash,' the world of interior design is far, far worse, according to King. Vanessa Brady, founding president of the Society of British Interior Designers (SBID), agrees that the interior design profession as a whole needs to raise its game. 'I'd say that it's probably one of those things that interior designers haven't been good at picking up on in projects,' she says, though high-end residential clients for new-build and listed schemes have become far more demanding in energy and waste-saving fixtures.

Retail and hospitality - bars and restaurants in particular - are among the worst offenders, allowing design trends and competitive pressures to drive a cycle of total refurbishment of as little as two years for high-traffic venues. Hotels are improving, however. Says Laura Storm: 'We really do see hotels stepping up because it is something that other hotels are taking a frontrunner position on - they have proved the business case of being more environmentally friendly and providing services that are in sync with sustainable lifestyles.'

This is especially true at the luxury end. From the new wave of eco-friendly retreats to the super-luxurious city hotel (see London's refurbished Savoy Hotel with its numerous 'green' awards) it seems a low-carbon footprint is now as important in branding and publicity as a high bed-linen thread count. 'The travel industry overall is positioning themselves as being more sustainable,' agrees Storm - but is this just a minor palliative to distract guests from the huge carbon footprint getting to these destinations entails? Or are there added and unforeseen benefits to thinking through your responsibilities to your community as well as the planet?

Rebecca Whittington, owner - and designer - of The Scarlet and the Bedruthan hotels in Cornwall (see FX September's Design Seminar), definitely feels that the degree of care taken over their environmental impact translates also through to the degree of care they take over their staff, and consequently, the care staff take over their customers. The key word, she says, is 'holistic'. Though as a new-build The Scarlet was able to take sustainability to the heart of its entire approach, Whittington says the approach they have to the staffing, the food, with local sourcing (of spa products as well as therapists) wherever possible, has a cumulative impact on the quality of care given to guests.

'We link our staff in with the holistic treatments and therapies and we also allow them to do volunteer work within paid time. They can come to us and we consider courses that they might want to go on, doing something of their choice that has nothing to do with the business, whether it's flower arranging courses or helping Riding for the Disabled. We have a fairly active community fund [and the staff are asked] what should we invest in. Beach cleans we do regularly within working hours. We try to live what we preach. We care about cherishing the planet and so work to do our bit.' Whittington believes the integrity of the whole package helps keep customers returning - 80 per cent of her guests have been before.

There may be a lot further to go before the masses can distinguish genuinely useful innovations from 'greenwash' but there are at least encouraging steps in the right direction. In her contract interiors work, Vanessa Brady has even managed to convert her construction/building teams to the cause of recycling by allowing them to keep the funds raised by separating out any piles of demolition and rubble into their useful components - copper pipes, other metals, insulation, wood; there's a resale value for all of these items, and far less is sent to landfill.

And even King believes there is cause for hope. He says: 'Every new sector that adopts sustainability goes through the hogwash period. Then they get depressed when they realise how little they are actually achieving. Then they come back to it when they start to understand the meaning of value - the importance of finding genuine, operational solutions rather than greenwash.'

Case Study
Powerhouse, Kjorbo
Norway

Snøhetta recently completed Norway's first carbon-neutral office refurbishment in Kjorbo. Thanks to a massive expanse of angled roof space now housing solar panels, the renovation of two original Eighties' office buildings on the seafront in the Baerum region near Oslo, will produce far more energy than it consumes in a 60-year lifespan - including the amount used to produce the building's materials and construction, operation and eventual disposal.

The first in a series of 'Powerhouse' buildings, the scheme is a collaboration between Snøhetta, construction company Skanska, the environmental organisation ZERO, aluminium specialist Sapa and Hydro, consultancy Aplan and property management firm Entra Eiendom. Walls, ceilings and windows have been insulated, replaced or sealed to minimise heat leakage in winter while allowing as much natural light as possible. Solar shading and the introduction of exposed concrete decks internally contribute to cooling in summer. Geothermal energy wells work year round to draw warm and cold air through the building, while new spiral staircases improve circulation and draw natural ventilation into each section and each floor.

The facade has been reclad in charred wood, an environmentally friendly and robust material that scores highly in terms of embodied energy while adding a contemporary modernism to the building's tired Eighties' exterior. Post-renovation, the building's energy needs have been reduced by 90 per cent, achieving an Outstanding BREEAMNor classification, which means that the solar 'army' on its roof (which will produce 200,000kWh of energy a year) far exceeds the office's energy requirements; the remainder will be returned to the grid to boost the nearby town's resources.

Client: Entra Eiendom
Architect: Snøhetta
Size: 5,200 sq m
Completion: 2014

Case Study
Oliver and the Black Circus
Copenhagen

Oliver and the Black Circus is one of the latest and hippest new hangouts in Copenhagen. Its playful and open-minded fine food aesthetic ('Nordic with a Mediterranean accent') is translated into an interior style that incorporates vintage, recycling, upcycling and creative reuse. With a half-English, half- German owner (Oliver Kilian), and Brazilian manager (Francisco Brasiliero), additional influences have been incorporated from their team of Danish, South African, French and Dutch food and furnishing collaborators. Dutch interior designer and founder of Eginstill, Franz Pahlplatz, had the idea of removing parts of the wooden floorboards and transforming them into a tactile and unique wall covering, while infilling the missing boards with concrete for an 'antique-meets-modern' effect.

The ceiling has been inscribed by quotes from the team's favourite songs, displayed in fine calligraphy by Parisian artist Tarek Vincent Benaoum, who recently decorated Philippe Starck's Mama Shelter in Paris. Comfy booths mix with vintage Danish mid-century chairs; bar stools were salvaged from an old railway station; wooden tables are lit by an eclectic assortment of lamps and candles. Pahlplatz also contributed enormous bench seating to the outdoor courtyard area, which he fashioned out of old ship timber.

Kasper Kastoft Nielsen, one of the Danish team members says: 'It is a melting pot. That's the great thing about it. Everyone chipped in. There's been no director. The style is everything that looks good, so it is different elements but somehow it works very well. The restaurant is evolving; people are constantly come up with new things and then we might take something out. We still have a lot of ideas that we haven't got around to. It's still in progress. It will always be organic. It's not about fashion changing; it's more about being slow and organic and open-minded.'

Client: Oliver and the Black Circus

Furniture, wall and floor finishes: Franz Pahlplatz

Caligraphy: Tarek Vincent Benaoum

Opened: August 2012

Case Study
St Mary's Hospital
Vancouver, British Columbia

The greenest hospital in North America, St Mary's Hospital in Vancouver is designed to be carbon neutral, targeting - and successfully securing - a LEED Gold certification.

Combining a new wing with extensive renovation to the existing hospital, the new scheme provides a substantial boost to available beds, a new special-care unit for high acuity patients, improved infection control and isolation capacity, new emergency department with fast-track facility, expansion to ambulatory care, surgical day care and a new diagnostic imaging department.

The buildings are organised around a light-filled lobby, which marks the new main entrance to the hospital. In addition to a high-performance building envelope, the project includes 125 boreholes, each 76m deep, which provide a source of zero-carbon energy for heating and cooling the building.

Currently on target to achieve a 40 per cent energy savings when compared with other LEED Gold Certified hospitals, it incorporates a 19kW photovoltaic array, user-controlled exterior blinds and opening windows for natural ventilation. The project was designed to allow daylight to penetrate 85 per cent of the occupied floor space.

Members of the Sechelt Indian Band - who donated this site 50 years ago and form a large part of the hospital's intake - played an important role in the design process, emphasising connections to nature and promoting overall health and healing. In addition to on-site respite gardens, patient rooms have large windows that maximise natural daylight and spectacular views of the Strait of Georgia.

Major artworks tell stories and depict well-known cultural symbols, such as the three totem poles that mark the main entrance. The lobby area is animated by a spectacular mural that spans the entire 21m-long space. Tye Farrow, senior partner at Farrow Partnership Architects says: 'Our team took inspiration from the cedar bentwood box, unique to the coastal First Nations. In this concept, the bentwood box holds our most precious possession - our health.'

Client: Vancouver Costal Health
Architect of Record: Farrow Partnership Architects in association with Perkins+Will Architects
Total project cost: £24.5m
Size: 6,138 sq m
Scope of Work: Master planning and full architectural services
Official opening: March 2014

Case Study
Shore Hotel
Santa Monica

Opened in October 2011, the Shore Hotel in Santa Monica was the first and only newly built, sustainable hotel in Santa Monica to achieve Gold certification from the American Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Situated on the famous Ocean Avenue it is owned by the Farzam family, who commissioned the LA branch of global architecture firm Gensler to provide guests with the ultimate coastal experience enhanced with exceptional sustainable building and operations.

Gensler's response is the epitome of California modernism, of the 21st-century kind. There are 164 stylish rooms in shades of turquoise and orange, with custom-made teak furniture and fittings (all wood was certified by the Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council) with each enjoying an ocean-facing balcony, thanks to the U-shape of the main hotel building. A solar-heated pool sits at the centre of the U, with its patio shaded by a distinctive, steel-trussed roof. A three-storey sky bridge connects the main building with an annex of rooms. This being car-centric LA, there is car parking of course, but tucked out of sight in a 300-bay underground car park beneath the hotel.

Two older Farzam-owned hotels were demolished to create this site, with 50 per cent of their materials including metals, concrete, stucco, terrazzo, wood and carpet, reused within the new hotel. At least 10 per cent of the new materials were sourced locally. Guest rooms feature Eco Solution Q Nylon carpet laid over Nature's Choice carpet pad.

Lobby chairs are upholstered with 100 per cent pre-consumer recycled polyester. All sanitaryware is of the highest water-reduction quality, with low-flow showerheads and automatic taps and toilet sensors. Native, adaptive plants are used in the landscaping, fed by a drip-irrigation system. High-efficiency boilers, a ducted fresh-air system and the natural ventilation provided by balconies ((plus chlorofluorocarbonfree air-conditioning) along with a central sensor system that automatically adjusts lighting and temperatures when rooms are unoccupied, help secure the hotel's sustainable credentials and achieve a carbon footprint allegedly 43 per cent lower than the average hotel.

Client: Farzam Hotel Group
Architecture and interiors: Gensler, LA
Area: 8,360 sq m
Completed: October 2011
Wallcoverings: RJF (Greenguard-certified)
Bathroom vanity units and desktops: Project Stone eco-Quartz