AtkinsRéalis: Approach to becoming Consultancy of the Year

At a glance:
Who: AtkinsRealis
What: Award-winning approach to sustainability consultancy
Where: UK
When: Ongoing
Why: To assist firms on the road to net-zero

The challenge: 

Businesses are facing huge transformations on the road to net-zero while also accounting for biodiversity, society and the pressures that the current levels of inflation bring for corporations. Finding external partners and support that can help corporates deliver on their aims is no easy task. 

The solution: 

AtkinsRéalis is at the forefront of leading engineering and industry in achieving the net-zero transition as rapidly and affordably as possible, through bespoke solutions that help clients manage climate risk and build climate resilience by decarbonising estates. 

How they work: 

AtkinsRéalis’ team of global experts offers holistic, cutting-edge solutions and expertise at the forefront of sustainable best practice, including focuses on biodiversity net-gain, investing in natural capital and providing nature-based solutions across markets and sectors helping them optimise their path to net-zero. 

AtkinsRéalis has set up dedicated “Decarbonomics” teams and initiatives that links cutting edge digital solutions with client co-creation programme to enhance and uncover innovative ways to increase levels of decarbonisation. 

The organisation works with clients to significantly reduce the carbon of their estate and help them lower their annual operational costs in the process. It does this through Decarbonomics, AtkinsRéalis’ pioneering solution for decarbonising existing buildings at the portfolio level through the creation of AI enabled data digital twins. 

AtkinsRéalis provides a holistic approach to decarbonising estates. For each estate, they create engaging and interactive dashboards where the client can access and view their current stats, data and outcomes within certain benchmarks, roadmap and delivery phases throughout their decarbonisation journey.  

Decarbonomics is designed to make decarbonisation a financial and practical reality, providing a fast and efficient process to enable educated investment decisions that can kickstart decarbonisation. It also reduces the time typically required to retrofit estates using traditional methods and instead utilises an automated and faster system to achieve this for multiple buildings across whole estates. 

To facilitate this process, AtkinsRéalis has collated an extensive library of data (Carbon Data Insights), which has been benchmarked against industry standards and regulations. This is supplemented by targeted site survey information collected from a representative subset of client portfolios to provide accurate insights into their decarbonisation journey. 

AtkinsRéalis has brought all of its in-house net-zero capability together including design teams, technical experts, digital solutions, sustainability experts, cost managers, and PMO experts to offer this as an end-to-end service to help clients in the most cost-effective way. 

The results 

AtkinsRéalis aims to streamline the processes, tools and training needed to make carbon reduction ‘business as usual’ in the service they offer. 

Last year alone they identified almost 300,000 tCO2 reductions for clients. Additionally, the organisation has assessed more than 3,000 buildings, reduced delivery time by more than 60% through automation and identified more than £14m worth of annual operational cost savings. More than 160,000 tonnes of annual operational CO2 have been reduced and the company has overseen more than £324m of capital expenditure. 

The organisation 

AtkinsRéalis has set a regional target of reaching carbon neutral and net-zero carbon ahead of the target set in the context of the Paris Agreement. The company’s main focus is on innovation, business change and encouraging sustainable behaviours across all its offices, staff and operations. 

AtkinsRéalis had also created a Carbon Academy to upskill staff and increase awareness in matters related to reaching net-zero carbon. As part of an Engineering Net Zero Programme, AtkinsRéalis aims to tackle all projects with a Whole Life Carbon approach that looks at materials and buildings across the whole value chain and considers hidden and embodied impacts. 

The judges said: 

“This consultancy shows real evidence of combining a people-led approach with collaboration with digital innovation to drive stand-out results. A great example to showcase how to use digital to improve insights and outcomes – an aspiration that many set, but few are delivering on.”