Highlights

Table of Contents

Regeneration isn’t a separate stream of work — it shapes how we design.

Our regenerative design process is guided by our Sustainability Framework – not as a checklist or a rigid formula but as a tool for thinking. It helps us take a systems view, map relationships and understand the evolving context of a project from a social, ecological, cultural and economic perspective. Before we begin designing, we’re focused on aligning purpose, place and value.

How we incorporate regenerative design into our design process

In FY25, we ran workshops with project teams in each studio to embed regenerative design principles from the very beginning of each project, recognising that this is where the greatest opportunities for impact exist.

Our workshops marked the first step in our commitment to embedding regenerative design across all projects and all people at Hassell.

For more detail on how our regenerative design approach adds value to our projects download the full Designing for Impact report here.

BUILDING OUR CAPABILITY

Over the last year, we have engaged in a range of important initiatives to embed regenerative thinking across our studios — not as a specialist skill, but as a shared mindset across disciplines.

Sustainability Secondment Program
Partnerships and training
Resources and guidance

Sustainability Secondment Program

Our annual Sustainability Secondment Program is an opportunity for anyone at Hassell to work closely with our Sustainability Team and Communities on initiatives that have the potential to scale across the practice.

Secondment topics include:

creating a carbon quantification template and a case study for project learnings
revitalising project startup processes
researching regenerative design context analysis methodologies
developing a tool for design support and sustainability templates
preparing a material reuse roadmap
improving community engagement in design
implementing strategies for communicating circularity to minimise waste
providing guidance for material audits in projects

The fourth round of our program commenced in July 2025, with three confirmed secondees.

Partnerships and training

In early 2025, Hassell became a Platinum Education Partner for the Living Future Institute of Australia (LFIA), an organisation guiding the built environment industry towards regenerative design. This partnership reflects our commitment to developing our skills and capability, an investment essential to creating places that offer lasting value, where communities and nature can flourish together.

During the year, we also saw seven of our people become Certified Passivhaus Designers, undergoing over 350 combined hours of the technical training needed to implement the Passivhaus Standard on projects.

Resources and guidance

We continue to develop and distribute internal guidance materials on regenerative design, starting with From Sustainable to Regenerative - a living collection of global case studies that helps clarify the difference between a sustainable place and a regenerative one.

More recently, we released our Regenerative Design Guide, a key resource that sets out our approach for regenerative design at Hassell and where to begin.

For more detail on our secondments, partnerships and training or resources and guidance download the full Designing for Impact report here.

COUNTRY-CENTRED DESIGN

We recognise that our work in Australia takes place on the stolen lands of the country’s First Nations people. This understanding drives our commitment to deeply engage with Country and to actively collaborate with First Nations designers, not only in our projects but also to propel the entire design sector forward.

Our approach

Embedding First Nations knowledge, histories and cultural practices into the design process of our Australian projects leads to more holistic and meaningful outcomes for our communities. Throughout FY25, we continued to seek opportunities to put our Connecting with Country: Guidelines for Cultural Engagement into practice.

As our approach evolves, we know we can’t do this alone. During the year, we worked collaboratively with 47 First Nations consultants, designers and client in-house specialist teams, on a total of 64 projects, which comprises over a third of our projects in Australia.

Our commitment to Country-centred design is evident in projects such as:

Sydney Metro – Western Sydney Airport on Dharug Country in Western Sydney, Australia
Sydney Airport International Forecourt on Gamayngal, Bideagal, Gweagal, Gadigal and Gadhungal Country

Beyond design

To advance our commitment to First Nations reconciliation across our studios in Australia, we needed a formal framework. This led to our engagement with Reconciliation Australia’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Framework, and we proudly launched our first ‘Reflect’ RAP in December 2022.

We have now progressed to an ‘Innovate’ RAP, signalling a more ambitious commitment to our ongoing reconciliation journey. It’s a commitment we publicly announced during National Reconciliation Week in 2024.

For more detail on our RAP and commitment to Country-centred design download the full Designing for Impact report here.

BECOMING A B CORP

Transparency is critical to delivering on our purpose authentically. Our purpose and our Sustainability Framework go beyond carbon, so we needed a certification that does too. B Corp is that certification.

FY25 was a pivotal year in pursuing Hassell’s commitment to regenerative design and regenerative business. As part of our B Corp certification, we implemented key changes and considerations that further aligned us with our purpose. We:

Set our impact baseline via B Lab’s verification process, achieving a score of 84.4 (50.9 points is a median score for ordinary businesses).
Embedded our purpose and commitment to stakeholders by updating corporate governing documents.
Developed a values-aligned approach for working on projects that connect with our purpose and can generate the most positive influence.
Are now held to account. With our B Impact Assessment (BIA) performance made transparent, the precedent is set for future communication on our impact and our progress.

For a breakdown of our B Corp score download the full Designing for Impact report here.