To B Corp or not to B Corp, that is the question

Kate Sandle

Head of sustainability, Newcore Capital

When did you start the certification process and why? We started the process to become a B Corp in 2019 and achieved certification with 112 points in August 2020. The purpose of the B Corp movement and the certification fitted well with the ethos that Newcore has tried to follow from its inception in 2011. Essentially, balancing the interests of all its stakeholders in the knowledge that this will achieve better long-term outcomes all round, including for the business’s shareholders.

How did you go about it? For the initial process we completed the impact assessment, which consisted of about 200 questions. The questions are a helpful checklist in helping to look at how the business is structured and provided a framework to codify some of the policies and practices that we were informally in place, improving our governance. From the point of making the decision to certify, to becoming formally certified took about nine months. After our submission, our application was reviewed by a standards analyst and we then went through about three to four rounds of questions and meetings. We had a friendly and helpful standards analyst from B Lab who provided constructive feedback through the process. For recertification – it was different as I had joined Newcore as director of sustainability and led the piece of work. The main priority was working with people from all over the business to gather information and submit the assessment. (I should mention that I worked as a director at B Lab UK, before joining Newcore, so that was useful.)

How long did it take to receive the certification and how much did it cost the business in terms of money and time? The certification has significantly grown since 2019 so this isn’t a quick process. Gathering data to answer the five sections takes time and then the verification process is not quick. Due to the increase in demand there is a queue to be verified that can take three to six months, but we have heard of it being longer! We’re currently in the process to recertify – we submitted in August and still haven’t recertified yet [Newcore was recertified earlier this month].

What have been the benefits of achieving B Corp status? Certification was seen as a positive from investors. It has helped to attract talent – and has been a shortcut for candidates to understand our business better and how we choose to operate. The initial certification gave us a long to do list for improvements, many of which have been implemented in our first three year term.

Are there any downsides? The assessment is about to be updated and this is overdue. It is still a rigorous process, but the world and expectations of business have changed since this version of the assessment was launched.

What advice what you give to someone considering applying? You need buy in from your CEO and shareholders. There are two reasons for this – one is part of the requirement of certification (amending your articles or deed to meet the B Corp Agreement) and the other is the need for commitment to operate the business to ensure social and environmental considerations are embedded into decision making. With the latter your team need to understand why certification is important and how it matters to their roles, so they feel a sense of ownership and responsibility.

Basil Demeroutis

Founder and managing partner, FORE Partnership

When did you start the certification process and why? We started considering becoming a B Corp in 2018 and finally received our certification in 2020. Our business was founded with both low carbon, and high social impact as core elements of our DNA, so it seemed a natural thing to do. While our buildings had been winning top certifications for a while, there was nothing to hold our own business to account in terms of our processes and impact. I’ve known the B Corp team well since 2016, when they won a Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, given my close connection to Jeff Skoll and the Skoll Foundation.

How did you go about it? It was a key strategic decision for us, and as a small team, each person played a role. Certification is as much about the process and what that does to push the team and the firm forward, so it was important to have everyone involved as part of our personal growth and development.

How long did it take to receive the certification and how much did it cost the business in terms of money and time? It took us about nine months. It cost us very little in terms of money, perhaps a few thousand pounds that we spent with some third parties on things that we needed to document and tidy up. Time-wise, it was more intense and it did take up a considerable amount of our bandwidth over that period. It’s not meant to be easy!

What have been the benefits of achieving B Corp status? Being a B Corp has been our true north, almost above all else. When we have particularly complex decisions to make, or need to answer the ‘why’ of a specific tactic or strategy we want to implement, it provides the firm ground on which we can stand.  We can’t point to one specific business win or revenue line item; our B Corp status is everywhere, it’s the oxygen around us, omnipresent.

 Are there any downsides? It’s hard to think of any.

What advice what you give to someone considering applying? Just do it! There is no ideal time, and nor is any business perfect, including ours. I’m surprised when I hear firms say they don’t have management buy-in or the energy to pursue becoming a B Corp.  Surely there can be no more important thing for a business than finding – and codifying – your purpose. This is what B Corp empowers.

Richard Holland

Co-founding director, Holland Harvey

When did you start the certification process and why? Our studio was founded on the belief that design should make a positive social and environmental impact and we had been seeking a means of communicating this through some kind of formal accreditation. B Corporation seemed to fit the bill and when we started filling out the questionnaire it became clear that it would offer us both a robust framework for reflecting on who we were as a business and structured guidance on how we might improve our practice. We began the process in January 2022 and submitted our assessment in April of the same year.

How did you go about it? We decided that we would manage the process internally – ultimately, we know our business the best and it felt like the most efficient and cost-effective way of working through the assessment. The work was divided between one of our founding directors and our head of operations. Keeping the team small and within the company meant that we could be agile in our decision making, to develop and implement policies as we went along. This felt a bit like cheating, but we were reassured by B Corp UK that this was the point – that we were supposed to get better as part of the process – which was a liberating realisation.

How long did it take to receive the certification and how much did it cost the business in terms of money and time? Once we had submitted it took eight months to pass through the verification stages where they assess and review evidence to your responses and gain the certification. We certified in January 2023 – a year in total. We didn’t record our time and so it is difficult to quantify the cost to business, but the majority of time costs were in the initial assessment phase, implementation of new policies and refining existing ones, and the verification process where we had to generate lots of spreadsheets and pdfs. There is a standard fee for certification dependent on the size of your company – I believe for us it was around £2,000.

What have been the benefits of achieving B Corp status? For us it was an opportunity to galvanise what we were doing anyway – but make it more immediate and apparent. It is an amazing tool for alignment as it will either attract, or repel, potential clients and collaborators. We now pitch our B Corp status when bidding for any new work, and I think it has also been a source of pride for our existing clients as well. You also have access to a community of other B Corps – we are active members of the Built Environment Working Group which means that we regularly meet up with larger, more established practices and learn from them as well. It has been less than a year, so tangible ROI is difficult to quantify, but we believe it has given us more of a USP and helped us to promote our values in a meaningful way.

Are there any downsides? Not really. There are some shortfalls of the assessment. The movement originates in the US and so a lot of the language (particularly relating to the built environment) is American and in some instances, there are certain criteria that have no UK equivalency and therefore you cannot achieve the credits. For example, ‘Historic Tax Credits’ – which is essentially the equivalent of working with historic buildings – attracts Federal incentives in the US – whereas here in the UK we are penalised by VAT! A large proportion of our work is working with existing or listed buildings, and so it is frustrating that we can’t get any credits for this.

What advice what you give to someone considering applying? The B stands for ‘Better’, and so I would recommend that every company fill out the assessment, which is completely free to do. It is an amazing opportunity to reflect on and improve your business, even if in the first instance you can’t achieve the certification threshold.

Ivan Rodriguez

Sustainability director, Bridges Fund Management

When did you start the certification process and why? Bridges was one of the first companies in the UK – and the first investment firm – to certify as a B Corp in 2015, when the movement first came to the UK, and we’ve re-accredited twice since. We just felt that B Corp was really well aligned with how Bridges has always thought about the role of business in society, and how we were starting to think about the process of impact management – that is, understanding your positive and negative impacts, and taking actions to improve them. We also liked B Corp because it’s trying to drive systemic change, which is an important part of Bridges’ own mission.

How did you go about it? We always have a single project manager from our specialist in-house impact team overseeing and owning the process. They will then set up a working group that pulls in representatives from all the key business functions that will be involved (e.g. investments, HR, operations, finance, legal). We then use the ‘Team Member’ functionality in the B Corp system so they can all feed relevant information directly into the online platform. The project manager sets a submission deadline, and the working group meets regularly in the weeks leading up to it, to maintain a sense of momentum.

How long did it take to receive the certification and how much did it cost the business in terms of money and time? There’s the direct cost of the annual certification fee, which for a company of our size is about £3,000. In terms of time, doing the initial B Corp assessment is relatively quick – someone who knows the business well can probably do a first pass within a day. The full submission takes longer, because you need to collate evidence for your answers. As a company that has already certified, we typically allow three months to make a submission, but depending on your starting point and the complexity of your business, it could take several months or even years (if lots of improvements are needed). But the time commitment shouldn’t just be about the accreditation process: you should be looking to make relevant improvements continuously.

What have been the benefits of achieving B Corp status? For Bridges as a sustainable and impact investor, it adds credibility – it shows we practice what we preach. And having a high impact score (145.4, which puts us in the top 1-2% of all B Corps globally) tends to be impressive to the kind of businesses we want to partner with. Many of them aspire to be B Corps or are already in that process, so they recognise we can help them achieve that. Equally, for businesses, investors like Bridges will always look favourably on potential investees that are already B Corps – partly because it suggests values alignment, but also because it’s usually an indicator of a well-run business. And we’re increasingly finding that other investors – including those we exit to – feel the same way. The other main benefit is the sharing of knowledge and best practice. As a B Corp you are part of a global community, and B Lab UK runs a range of different member events throughout the year – like the ‘London B Social’, which ran in December.

Are there any downsides? It’s true that the process – fully transitioning to being an impact-led business – inevitably takes time and effort; and particularly for small businesses, this can feel like a big hurdle (especially if you don’t have an investor like Bridges to support). But we think the benefits are well worth the effort. Equally, businesses are hugely diverse, and B Corp is a standardised survey. B Corp do a lot of great work trying to tailor their questionnaire for different sectors and company size – but a standardised questionnaire can’t capture everything. This is why we recommend that companies use B Corp as just one important tool in a broader impact management toolkit.

What advice what you give to someone considering applying? The first thing is just to get started. Taking a first pass at the B Impact Assessment doesn’t take long – and it’s a valuable exercise in and of itself. Second, it’s important to have buy-in and engagement from the most senior levels of the organisation. That signals to the rest of the company that it matters – and it empowers the project manager. Finally, the overall score is useful, because it’s simple for everyone to understand, but there is a risk of getting bogged down in the scoring – of narrowly focusing on getting the points need for certification. Don’t lose sight of the big picture: that the B Corp movement is about creating positive cultural change, and your business can be part of that. This is what tends to really excite and engage employees.

Oliver Goodhall

Co-founding partner, We Made That

When did you start the certification process and why? We Made That has always tried to be a ‘good’ business and in 2020 we decided to put that to the test. We have always had an established focus on projects delivering wider public good and worked exclusively for the public sector and charities. We’d been searching for a model of practice that was true to that ethos, emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic to affirm our greater focus on impact and renewed sense of purpose; public good. Through the B Corp certification, we’re now committed to new legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. We track our impact using a robust framework. We’ve just published our first Impact Report that tracks our first full calendar year as a B Corp: 1 January to 31 December 2022. 

How did you go about it? The process was led by the partners, but necessarily drew in views and participation across the team and our in-house urban research skills to understand and evidence potential for change. We’d started conversations with the wider team in October 2019, framed by ‘how do we do better?’ and ‘what does success look like?’ Of course, there are a range of views within a team of 20 people. But we think this is a large part of the point of being a B Corp. It includes fostering an inclusive workplace culture and enabling an empowering workplace. The process itself led us to change. We now have an appointed ‘impact and social value champion’. We have a ‘climate champion’. We have a head of people who drives equality and inclusion. We set up participatory budgeting for team development and initiatives. We discuss environmental or social impacts of our work at staff reviews. The process of continued improvement doesn’t end there. We’re part of the Social Value Portal’s first Social Value Accelerator Programme, which represents an important next step in We Made That’s work to maximise our social value impact and provide leadership in delivering social value in the built environment.

How long did it take to receive the certification and how much did it cost the business in terms of money and time? Our certification process took 12 months, during which time we have been able to reflect on where and how we work, as well as how the business runs. It involved a significant amount of senior leadership time in the lead-up to this, but it also opened up conversations on our overall mission, ethics, accountability and transparency in what amounted to a preparatory year ahead of certification process. It is a significant resource cost for a small business, but so far not many architecture practices have – or even can – achieve this benchmark of purpose-driven enterprise.

What have been the benefits of achieving B Corp status? Having received recognition as one of 25 AJ100 ‘Disruptor’ practices by the Architects’ Journal in 2020 and having set out a provocative ethical stance in the ‘Things we won’t do’ list exhibited at the Royal Academy’s Radical Thoughts on Architecture in 2019, we’ve obviously been committed to shaking things up and making meaningful change in the sector. Achieving B Corp status provided us with greater agency in pushing for change. For example through self-starting initiatives like the RE—SET—GO programme in 2021, which in its pilot programme tackled architecture’s diversity problem and created talent pathways by providing 130 individuals from under-represented backgrounds experience, skills and connections to prepare for employment in architecture practice. Shaking things up can be good. But being certified that doing so addresses our profound economic, societal and planetary challenges is powerful. We’re certainly finding that it’s being noticed by prospective employees and being referenced in interviews as a motivating factor for people to apply to us. In a sector where having great team members is everything, this is a really tangible benefit being a B Corp. Before becoming a B Corp we already had a wide view on where the practice should have agency. We now have sharpened clarity on how we best take decisions that quantify and evidence what ‘good’ means. We’re increasingly finding that our clients are committed to meeting the challenges of meaningful change. They come to us because we achieve things that others can’t.

Are there any downsides? The weekly emails from other practices asking for tips and advice on how to do it!

What advice what you give to someone considering applying? Be prepared to adjust how you behave as a business. Certification can test your assumptions and behaviours as business leaders. If you don’t have this mindset then don’t bother.

Zac Goodman

CEO and founder, TSP

When did you start the certification process and why? We started the process in the summer of 2020. Sustainability is what our team and our customers value highly – in both cases it makes them stay for longer! That’s good business in real estate. We wanted to follow a best in class framework to truly live our values – B Corp was the best.

How did you go about it? Jonathan Vanstone Walker – our long serving MD – led the process and created a small team dedicated to achieving the accreditation.

How long did it take to receive the certification and how much did it cost the business in terms of money and time? It took approximately one year – we were accredited in July 2021

What have been the benefits of achieving B Corp status? The benefits are many. It galvanises your team, your clients and your customers firstly. It’s not easy to achieve the accreditation and people recognise that. Secondly, you gain entry into an exclusive club of like-minded businesses. B Corps like to do business with B Corps. Most importantly being accredited raises the spectre of losing the accreditation every three years – it keeps you and your team honest in the face of compromising decisions.

Are there any downsides? For us – no.

What advice what you give to someone who is considering applying? Do it because you really want it, and you believe it aligns with your business and personal values – otherwise there are easier ways to win some marketing plaudits in this space!

Robin Heap

CEO, Zest

When did you start the certification process and why? We started the B Corp accreditation process as soon as we became eligible – when we had been in operation for more than one year (we began operating in October 2021). The reason we wanted to be recognised as a B Corp was simple – we had established Zest based on B Corp principles, including rigorous and transparent reporting of our environmental impact.

How did you go about it? Our leadership team led the B Corp process, working closely with members of the wider business.

How long did it take to receive the certification and how much did it cost the business in terms of money and time? The accreditation took around nine months to come through, but most of this was waiting for an assessor to become available. B Corp accreditation is in high demand. The cost of the process for Zest was not significant because we were already operating on B Corp principles and reporting on impact areas relating to planet and people.

What have been the benefits of achieving B Corp status? It’s too early to quote figures, but the anecdotal evidence is strong. We provide EV charging in long-term partnership with public sector organisations and the commercial real estate industry. In both cases, issues of environment, social and governance (ESG) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) are high on the requirements list. B Corp is rightly seen as a credible measure of a company transparently walking the talk on ESG and CSR. The retail brands we work with are especially concerned about the reputational issues of being associated with the fossil fuel industry over the longer term.

Are there any downsides? B Corp is not a one-off accreditation. It is a continuous process of assessment and improvement including transparent and regular reporting. Zest was already operating to B Corp principles, with climate and culture reporting already part of our existing commitments, so this was not an issue. It may be a large overhead for some organisations that are not fundamentally aligned with the principles of B-Corp, but then maybe they ought to be thinking more closely about the bigger picture.

What advice what you give to someone who is considering applying? My advice is to look objectively at the assessment criteria, work out how closely aligned you are and whether your organisation is equipped to support the reporting and improvement process.

Steve Blades

Head of projects facilities and compliance, Realm

When did you start the certification process and why? We started the process in 2022. Having secured various ISO accreditations we were looking for a way to benchmark our performance and find a way of demonstrating the added value and benefits we create in running our business.

How did you go about it? We actually made contact with one of our marketing suppliers who had gone through the B Corp process –understanding their experience helped make up our mind that it was something we really wanted to do. From that point on, we created a small working party that was managed by myself.

How long did it take to receive the certification and how much did it cost the business in terms of money and time? Applying for B Corp involves a fee and if successful an annual charge which is based on the size of your organisation. The accreditation is audited by B Lab and based on achieving a set amount of points – some businesses will find it easier than others to undertake this. It does require a commitment of time, as it is a very thorough process from initial scoring to a deep dive into the key criteria.

What have been the benefits of achieving B Corp status? B Corp has a strong reputation due to its robustness. We have altered our articles of association to make sure our obligations are legally binding; this journey is only for those prepared to make a fundamental shift to their businesses and thinking towards balancing people, planet and profit. We believe that B Corp businesses are very motivated and this can have a positive impact on talent retention; this process really sharpens a business’ mission and purpose and because it needs to be shared, there is a greater emphasis on communication – this in turn creates a greater sense of purpose throughout any organisation

Are there any downsides? It is a long-term commitment to improvement, that means we’re not settling once a certain threshold has been reached. In this way, it is something to be really proud of, and we know it adds value for all our stakeholders – for our clients, for the assets we manage and for communities and employees.  

What advice what you give to someone who is considering applying? Reach out to a business that is similar to your own to ask for advice on their journey towards becoming a B Corp. This movement is all about change and shifting people’s thinking, so there is a responsibility to gather momentum and help pass the word on!

Edward Clough

Managing director, Octopus Real Estate

When did you start the certification process and why? The investment industry has both the power and responsibility to do a lot of good in the world. That’s easy enough to say; it’s another thing to prove. That was the driving force behind Octopus Investments – including our real estate investment and lending businesses – working towards B Corp certification a few years ago: we wanted to hold ourselves to even higher standards.

How did you go about it? The process of becoming a B Corp is a bit of a test in itself – you need to really believe in it! The assessment itself is a framework for progression, so it’s a really helpful way to establish what you’re doing well and what you can do better. One person managed the whole process, which helped keep things moving along and made sure that everyone from across the business knew how things were progressing.

How long did it take to receive the certification and how much did it cost the business in terms of money and time? It took us 18 months in total: we’re a complicated business and B Corp really wanted to understand what we did and how we did it, as well as understanding and seeking evidence to support our answers. In terms of cost, it formed part of the employee’s overall responsibilities rather than their full-time job, so the main costs were associated with standard B Corp certification fees.

What have been the benefits of achieving B Corp status? In many ways, accreditation is an external commitment to the values our business has always striven toward; sustainability has been at the heart of our investment approach since we were founded. In many ways, it makes things easier for us – it acts as a filtering mechanism, helping the team to ensure the businesses we work with are focussed on doing things the right way. The benefits go beyond short-term impact on our P&L or marketing. Ultimately, the financial services industry is built on trust. We believe that over the long-term, being a B Corp gives all our stakeholders ─ whether they are borrowing from us, investing with us, or working for us ─ peace of mind that we are acting responsibly and fairly. This will help us attract talent, mitigate risk, and drive profitable growth. And sustainability is already having a material impact on capital values in the real estate sector – it’s clear that many buildings are worth more due to their green credentials. This was already the case before energy costs started increasing, but now tenants and buyers have a very real incentive to choose the greenest building possible when they are facing a lease event or purchasing a building, particularly when they have their own net zero targets. It makes the case for doing the right thing even more compelling.    

Are there any downsides? Sometimes the standards we set ourselves have short-term costs. For example, we insist on a minimum level of environmental performance when considering funding a development of new homes. We often require schemes to be fully electric and cut out gas altogether, using solar panels and heat pumps instead. This increases initial build costs, but in the medium- to long-term it’s the right thing to do for that building, its future owners, and occupants. We also turn down deals that don’t meet our standards (or where there’s not a business plan to reach them), but we think this is actually a good filtering mechanism which aligns with investment performance. 

What advice what you give to someone considering applying? When we decided to become a B Corp we thought of it as a stamp of approval, which to some extent it is. That said, the real value has come from the framework for progression that the assessment provides for development, and the language it has given us to communicate what we care about. It’s filtered down into every aspect of our business, and whether we’re communicating with employees, customers, shareholders, or our wider community, it helps us demonstrate how we’re considering the world around us. We welcome others in the industry joining us as a B Corp. We’ve been approached for advice by several others in the industry who are looking to gain certification. One thing I’d recommend is focussing on the substance of your sustainability efforts first – the assessment and ‘badging’ is secondary and becomes more straightforward if the substance is clear

When did you start the certification process and why? We began the B Corp process in November 2021 because we believe this is a way to align our core values with the way we operate as a business. There are two main reasons we chose to undertake this. Firstly and crucially, to cement our values and our commitment to operating with a strong environmental and social ethos for decades and crystallise our culture for a lasting legacy – especially in the current context of generational transition. Secondly, because it makes good business sense. Becoming a B Corp is not an easy process and it encouraged us to examine our working practices from a corporate social responsibility lens and to start to implement improvements. Stanhope is a business with strong foundations based on doing the right thing, not the easy one. This certification is therefore built on top of a set of values that were already present within the company. Values are not just words on a page though, they have to be lived in. Having a B Corp certification against such strict requirements also provides a proof point to demonstrate credibly and consistently what we stand for and how we do business. No other major property developer/asset manager had certified B Corp status at the time which meant there was a leadership opportunity to seize. This is and will become increasingly important to attract and retain employees and customers, and win business.

How did you go about it? Gaining B Corp certification means you look at every aspect of the way you run your organisation. They evaluate a company through looking at five specific areas – community, environment, governance, workers and customers – giving a holistic snapshot of the entire company and its practices. Each area required us to look at our efforts and ask ourselves some difficult questions for instance, ‘are we measuring, reducing and reporting our carbon emissions and our waste?’, ‘are our projects meeting stringent environmental standards?’ right across the board to, ‘do we treat everyone fairly?’ and ‘are our employees satisfied?’. We have had to do some difficult soul searching and make some big improvements, but we are trying our very best and the B Corp requirements help us to structure our focus and direction to continue to improve in the future.

How long did it take to receive the certification and how much did it cost the business in terms of money and time? We began the initial process in November of 2021 and started the assessment in January of 2022. Having completed the B Impact Assessment and confidently passed the minimum scoring threshold (80 points), we submitted in July 2022 our formal application to become B Corp certified. The next step was to reach the top of the verification queue, where an analyst from B Lab would audit our responses and supporting evidence. After a six month wait, we reached the verification stage, and it was confirmed that we meet all of the minimum requirements resulting in us receiving B Corp status in March 2023.

What have been the benefits of achieving B Corp status? We don’t see being a B Corp as extra work, we make it work for us. It is something we are incredibly proud of and take time to actively work on. This is not something we have undertaken to create value for shareholders – it is much more important than that. We want to create a lasting and sustainable societal impact which sees our company and projects leave a legacy that prioritises and values people and the planet. The simplicity of the messaging of the B Corp certification really cements this as an efficient way to capture our strong environmental and social ethos and convey our uniqueness to clients, employees and partners. In addition, the assessment really forces us to find out whether we follow the processes we think we have in place and makes sure things happen in line with our policies and values, and it has helped to identify gaps compared to best practice for continual improvement. Another benefit is that it goes a long way in terms of winning and attracting new work, helps with recruitment and retention and even promotes the company’s long-term profitability. People want to work for, and with a company, that cares about values and practically lives them out. Having proof of this sets us apart in a sea of alternatives.

Are there any downsides? There has been some bad press about the B Corp certification, as there has been about other certifications, but this seems to be based more about the core values of specific companies who have achieved B Corp status rather than the B Corp certification itself. We can’t control how others use their certification, but to us it is something we take very seriously and try to reflect this in all of our working practices. I think the important thing about B Corp is how you use it going forward. If it is seen as something to be achieved and a tick box exercise then its value is lost. If, like us, you use it to frame and structure your sustainability practice throughout your working culture then it becomes highly valuable.

What advice what you give to someone considering applying? If you are serious about sustainability and wanting to improve the way you operate your business then this is a great certification to go for. It’s not easy and the standards are high but the rewards are plenty. B Corps are mission driven organisations working to make a positive impact on communities and climate whilst being financially successful, the question is, why wouldn’t you want to be part of it.