TODD Architects - Awards Finalist 2022 Case Study

Why did you enter the Awards?

We view the Investors in People standard and Awards programme as the leading, most robust indicators of businesses that are successfully placing people at the centre of what they do.

We decided to enter TODD Architects into the Health and Wellbeing (H&W) category at the Investors in People 2022 Awards because we felt it was the right time in our journey to share how far we’ve come as a business when it comes to prioritising the H&W of our people – something that was catalysed to the forefront of our wider business objectives in light of Covid 19 and its devastating impact.

We also wanted to recognise and champion the incredible efforts taking place across the business in the form of our H&W Working Group which makes space for volunteers from across the business to come together and drive the H&W agenda forward.

 What was the key point of your entry?

Our entry focused on ways that we have:

• Navigated the impact of Covid and how it caused us to rethink our approach to our people.
• Worked hard to normalise and reduce stigma surrounding conversation related to mental health and promote help-seeking across our Practice.
• Introduced a full programme of mental and physical health initiatives to promote wellbeing and create an ethos of teamwork, fun and interaction beyond the office.
• Re-evaluated our physical office environment to ensure we are providing a top-class work environment.
• Given enhanced focus to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion across our studios by adapting our policies and introducing a library of digital training resources for staff in line with our wider strategic objectives to be a forward thinking, ethical and sustainable practice.
• Appointed a new ‘Head of People’ to drive forward our people-centred approach to doing business.
• Adopted a healthier approach to work-life balance though various policy changes / initiatives.

Recognised the intrinsic impact architecture has on the health and wellbeing of communities at a societal level through the launch of our new Social Value policy 2022. The policy aims to drive forward a complimentary universal approach to health and Wellbeing, considering our employees, but also our wider impact on the communities around us.

What would it mean to you to win?

We are proud of our legacy and contribution to the built environment across the UK and Ireland backed up by a long list of Architecture awards spanning back to the 1970s when the practice was first established. However, fast forward to 2022 and our focus has evolved. We are still determined to produce leading-edge architectural spaces that are award-worthy, but we increasingly realise that in order to get the very best from our people, in order to achieve the highest levels of performance across our team, they need to feel valued, respected, energised and inspired. It would be a huge joint-achievement for everyone at #TeamTODD if we were recognised by the prestigious Investors in People Awards for the significant steps we have taken to drive forward a people-centred approach to Health and Wellbeing across the practice. It would be something we could all take pride in.