At Muse we don’t just talk the talk. A commitment to genuine placemaking, sustainability and social impact runs through every facet of our business and every place we work in.
Sustainable Development Strategy
Our Sustainable Development Strategy guides every project ensuring we:
Support health, wellbeing, and inclusivity
Enhance biodiversity and access to green spaces
Promote circular economy principles
Prioritise renewable energy and resource efficiency
Minimise carbon emissions
Our 6 key themes
Social Value
The positive social, economic, and environmental outcomes that we create for individuals, businesses, and the government through our development activities.
Net Zero Carbon
Reducing embodied carbon emissions and to be net zero carbon in construction and during operation.
Health and Wellbeing
Delivering high-quality places where people can live sustainably, work and thrive, while positively impacting both physical and mental health.
Circular Economy
Eliminating waste and improving resource efficiency through intentional circularity.
Nature
Delivering a biodiversity net gain and environmental net gain, while providing access to high-quality green spaces.
Certifications
By excelling in the individual themes, we will meet the requirements of industry leading social value, sustainability and wellbeing standards, benchmarks, and frameworks.
Sustainable Development Brief
The Sustainable Development Brief gives clear guidance on key performance indicators and targets to deliver the highest levels of environmental performance and positive social impact, enabling transparency and accountability.
Responsible Building Practices
Our Sustainable Development Brief sets out project requirements and our approach for impactful, sustainable delivery, helping us achieve consistent social value and sustainability across all projects.
Sustainable Development Guides provide context, guidance, and clear scope for topics such as Biodiversity Net Gain, Environment Net Gain, Whole Life Carbon, and Operational Energy.
Our Sustainable Development Tracker monitors project performance against KPIs for all main themes and certifications.
Our Sustainable Development Checklist outlines essential actions and design suggestions for low-carbon, circular outcomes, linked to RIBA Project Stages.
We use an innovative carbon calculation tool, Carbonica, to measure whole life carbon emissions across the entire lifecycle of a building. It enables us to pinpoint exactly where carbon savings can be made and ensures we are making decisions based on meaningful and robust data.
Visit Carbonica2025 Highlights
In 2025, we advanced our Sustainable Development Framework goals, improving how we track and deliver sustainable projects.
Social Value
We used flexible methods to measure social value, resulting in £135 million from ECF projects and £232 million from direct delivery since 2019.
Net Zero Carbon
A standard Whole Life Carbon Assessment was implemented with CarboniCa as our main tool, and Stockport 8 piloted the UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard.
Health and Wellbeing
We released a new Design Guide, set clear KPIs, supported industry events, and contributed to sector thought leadership.
Circular Economy
Madastar was piloted to create building material passports, boosting resource efficiency and reducing waste.
Nature
Seven ecological plans were finished, with most meeting or exceeding biodiversity targets, and new approaches to Urban Greening Factor and Environment Net Gain were adopted using the Nature Tool.