For architects, is B Corp certification worth the effort? Chris Thornhill takes you through the process he has been through as a small business to decide whether it is worth it for growth, reputation and culture
Is B Corp Certification on your to do list for 2025? The B Corp movement is experiencing significant growth, with over 8,000 certified companies worldwide.
In the UK alone, the number of B Corp-certified businesses has risen to more than 2,400, up from just 1,000 18 months ago. It is the leading accreditation for ‘for profit’ organisations that want to signal their positive impact, whether that’s to employers, suppliers or customers. But is it right for your architecture practice?
Why consider B Corp?
The evidence appears compelling, as clients and partners are now prioritising collaborations with companies that demonstrate strong environmental and social governance. For instance, B Lab UK reports that small and medium-sized B Corp-certified enterprises have seen a 23.2 per cent increase in revenues, compared with the national average of 16.8 per cent. Additionally, these companies have experienced a 9.6 per cent growth in employee numbers, while other businesses have seen a 0.5 per cent decrease.
When we certified in 2023, I reached out to a number of existing B Corps, to understand the benefits they’ve felt to date. Greg Hemmings of Hemmings House, a video production agency, said: ‘Being a B Corp has done wonders for building credibility and trust in our brand. You can say many great things about what your company does, but to actually have that internationally recognised backing makes a real difference.’
Phoebe Ellis, of financial planning firm First Wealth, shared that it’s had a hugely positive impact on their continuous improvement focus across the whole business. ‘You have a duty to hold the pillars B Corps value and promote them within your business. You don’t simply stop trying once you’ve achieved accreditation – you look for ways to continuously improve and of course, are regularly re-evaluated.’
Without fail, all the leaders I spoke to echoed the benefits B Corp certification had made for them in helping to attract, recruit and retain the best talent, in an era where employees are becoming increasingly demanding of their employers.
The realities of B Corp
One must be conscious though of the hard work required, since the B Impact Assessment is a serious undertaking, so must be factored into any decision to move forward, particularly when time and resources are a challenge for any business regardless of size. On the flip side, however, this is one of the reasons B Corp certification is so credible, as it’s not something that’s easy to get.
You may well be aware of BREEAM, WELL Building Standard, LEED and NABERS, and at organisation level, practices can sign up to science-based targets related to reaching net zero and ISO 9001 around quality management. Where B Corp can help is to elevate you above sector-specific standards and put you on a level playing field with such giants as Patagonia, Innocent Drinks, and The Body Shop.
This is why there has been a surge in architecture practices certifying as B Corps since 2018. At the time of writing, there were 17 UK architecture firms certified as B Corp. But this is still just 0.1 per cent of all architectural businesses in the UK, so as a competitive advantage driver, it’s well worth consideration.
So what’s involved?
The process itself takes between six and 12 months. The cost to submit is a flat fee of £200, and then there is a scalable verification fee and scalable annual fees which are based upon your level of annual turnover.
The annual fee starts at £1,000 for businesses with annual turnover under £150,000 and this rises accordingly, with businesses generating £1,000,000–£2,499,999 for example paying an annual fee of £2,000.
The first step is to complete the B Impact Assessment. This assessment asks questions around your governance, along with your approach to workers, community, environment and customers.
It makes sense to reserve a good couple of hours to do a first pass at the assessment tool, before sharing those answers with your key stakeholders as a sense check. Once happy with your answers and assuming you meet the 80+ score needed for certification, you can then press go on your submission.
If you don’t meet the 80+ score, use the answers and the guidance provided in the assessment tool to make improvements that can help you reach that mark at a later stage. Post submission, you’ll be asked to provide evidence around roughly 20 randomly selected questions from your assessment. If the evidence meets the requirements, then certification can go ahead and you can celebrate becoming part of the B Corp community.
So should I go for it?
The truth is that, unless your practice is committed to the idea of growing your bottom line and positive impact in tandem, then B Corp probably isn’t for you. But if you are, then the meaty undertaking can be well worth the effort and has the power to enhance your company's growth, reputation and culture.
Read Holly Lewis of We Made That on the route to becoming a B Corporation
Learn about how can architects bring social value to projects
About the author
When Chris Thornhill and Jen Bayford founded Growth Animals, they were inspired by a mission to help businesses grow both their bottom line and positive impact through marketing that is helpful and inspiring. They are a Brighton based, B Corp-certified marketing agency, which helps SMEs to step up their marketing.