Our themes: “Deploying Resources Responsibly”

One aim of the Starfish programme is to reduce the negative impact that our business has on the environment. Each one of our offices, both in the UK and internationally, is in the process of reducing its carbon footprint and developing a responsible and sustainable resource management policy.

We are also committed to paper recycling and have systems in each of our offices to enable staff to separate paper waste from general waste for recycling.  Wherever  possible general waste from our main offices is sent for incineration, rather than landfill sites, where any metals and items that have value are removed for recycling, and the remainder is incinerated, producing energy to generate electricity for the national grid.  We have introduced a firm-wide 'switch it off' campaign focused on saving energy - and specifically energy consumed by our office equipment. This has resulted in a saving of around 100 tonnes of CO2 per year. However, we are not complacent and we are working with The Carbon Trust to progress these initiatives further, and to identify different ways to reduce our impact on the environment. These include working with our catering suppliers to look at reducing 'food miles' and sourcing from local producers and bottling our own water on-site using reusable bottles.

We have some way to go but we’ve made a good start: as of February 2007 all of our business travel is now carbon neutral.

… and “Inspiring Young Lives”

When we canvassed opinions across the firm about where we should direct the greater part of our effort and resource, the suggestion that emerged time and time again was “inspiring young lives”. This has become the cornerstone of our CR programme.

We believe that personal and collective action is more beneficial to those whom we support (and more rewarding for all) than just opening a chequebook. We therefore combine our commitment into a partnership involving practical assistance, pro bono advice and fundraising activity, wherever possible.

As a firm we’re involved in an expanding roster of projects, some brought to us by local community partners, others by our own people. Schools, start-up businesses, theatres, arts organisations and underprivileged children are just some of those to whom we’ve offered support over the last year. They, in return, have inspired us.