Join Getting Down to Business hosts Lauren Everett and Max Hayes as they sit down with Drew Lavine and Shawn Hogan from Re:Vision Architecture, an architecture and sustainability consulting practice that has been a certified B Corp since 2007 and is deeply committed to re-envisioning and restoring the balance between natural build and social environments.

Drew is a partner at Re:Vision and an expert in designing net zero energy passive house and living building challenge projects. He's also been an integral part of embedding B Corp principles into Re:Vision’s culture and operations. Shawn Hogan is a project manager at Re:Vision’s High Performance Consulting Studio who specializes in fostering collaboration and environmental change within corporate and community spaces.

In their conversation with Lauren and Max, Drew and Shawn focus on one of the most crucial aspects of the B Corp certification process: environmental impact and sustainability. Businesses today are increasingly being held accountable for their environmental footprint, and B Corps are leading the way by measuring, reducing, and mitigating their impact on the planet.

Re:Vision Architecture

Re:Vision, a small Philadelphia-based firm, has two sides: an architecture studio and a consulting studio. The architecture studio is dedicated to a variety of green and sustainable architecture, from new home construction and renovation to commercial projects such as higher education and even manufacturing. “We're unique because we're not stove-piped in a single industry,” Drew says. “We work across sectors with sustainability being the thread that connects them on the other side of the firm.”

On the consulting side, Shawn describes the range of services the High Performance Consulting Studio provides: “We do a lot of LEAD certification—buildings that are in design that want to be more sustainable than code minimum. And then we also do other types of building rating systems, sustainability consulting, so we've had LVC Core Net Zero Energy, net zero Carbon projects as well, or just general sustainability consulting.”

From its founding, Drew says Re:Vision has been a mission-driven practice striving to rebalance the relationship between the built, natural, and social environments. “That's always been our ethos as a company,” he notes. “And so when B Corp began, it just made so much sense for us because it's like all of a sudden this is the position that we’ve been working from. We've just gotten to be more involved with the community and more involved with the evolution of B Corp. It's something that really is a very defining cultural aspect of what we do.”

Measuring environmental impact

Lauren describes the B impact assessment, or BIA, as a comprehensive, free tool for measuring a company's overall social and environmental impact. “Specifically, the environmental section assesses factors such as carbon footprint, waste management, water usage, supply chain sustainability and product lifecycle impact,” she explains. “And companies provide measurable data to earn B Corp certification and demonstrate their commitment to continuous improvement.”

For Drew and Shawn at Re:Vision, some of the biggest challenges around B Corp certification and recertification were around data management. Shawn, who joined the firm right before recertification was due, says that pulling together the necessary data was a huge effort the first time around. But then, she says, she began meeting with project managers at regular intervals to keep everything updated: “So now, when that recertification comes, it's a breeze.”

Drew says having those data-collection and other systems in place has had dual benefits. “One, we knew our work a whole lot better afterwards and we could see that kind of impact across the board of what we were doing,” he notes. “But I think it's also put the framework in place. So now when we start a project, we're thinking about these things all the time and not just in the normal flow of what we might be doing on that project.”

For more information about B Corp Certification and how to measure your company's impact, visit https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/programs-and-tools/b-impact-assessment/