Our impact

We are an independent built environment consultancy with a big conscience.

This means we are determined to positively impact people, places, and the planet across all aspects of our delivery and interactions as a partnership – we are focussed on creating better projects for our clients, partners and the communities we work within.


Our latest initiative:

Our Blueprint, 50 years in the making.

For more than 50 years, we have helped healthcare clients navigate complex estate challenges. 

Having lived and breathed healthcare for five decades, we’ve taken a long-term view of how we can support NHS Trusts and healthcare estates for the future.

That’s why we’ve developed our Blueprint. A guide built around the challenges Trusts face today and the priorities that will shape future healthcare investment.

Future thinking

How to Navigate Sustainability with Confidence - Introducing The Sustainability Pathfinder©

There is no easy route to Sustainability in construction.

Wouldn’t it be good if there was a guide to help you through it…Introducing Sustainability Pathfinder© a free resource that helps you to turn ambition into action, whether shaping a strategy or delivering a project.

 

What is the Pathfinder?

The Sustainability Pathfinder© is a hands-on guide for project teams, business leaders and built-environment organisations looking for a practical route through sustainability, aligned to outcomes rather than buzzwords.

It is designed to be flexible and usable in the real world. You can explore the chapters most relevant to your role, your project stage and your sustainability priorities, from carbon and materials to performance, reporting and delivery.

Use the “choose your own adventure” prompts to build a pathway that fits your goals and helps you move forward with confidence.

What you’ll get from the book

Clarity on what to prioritise, and confidence on how to deliver it.

  • Expect guidance that helps you:
  • Make sense of sustainability requirements and what “good” looks like now
  • Set practical targets and translate them into project decisions
  • Reduce embodied and operational carbon using realistic levers
  • Choose better materials and specifications without stalling delivery
  • Improve building performance so outcomes match intent
  • Create an evidence trail that stands up to scrutiny (clients, funders, frameworks)

This isn’t theory. It’s the path teams use when they need progress they can defend.

Register your interest for the Sustainability Pathfinder©

How to optimise social and economic value? The MWJV blueprint for positive impact.

How Cornwall cracked the code on local economic impact

When Cornwall Council set out to boost its local economy through capital delivery, it didn’t just tender a framework, it reimagined how public money could work harder for local communities. The resulting Joint Venture created a new blueprint for local delivery which delivers the Government’s goal of “getting Britain building”, whilst ensuring a positive local legacy.

From 2019 to 2025, Ward Williams partnered with Mace to deliver Cornwall Council’s Built Environment Professional Services (BEPS) Framework under the Mace Ward Williams Joint Venture (MWJV). Together, we delivered over £500 million in capital programmes across housing, education, transport, and regeneration. But our greatest achievement wasn’t just what we built, it was how we built it, and the social and economic value that stayed in Cornwall.

Over the past five years, the partnership created 242 local jobs (including 27 apprenticeships), held 215 careers events, and delivered £128.1 million in social and local economic value. Crucially, 67% of all spend went to micro, small or medium enterprises based in Cornwall.

For local authorities looking to achieve similar outcomes, the question is: what made it work?

Click here to see more : The MWJV blueprint for positive impact

Our Blueprint For The Future Of Healthcare Estates Construction.

Our Blueprint, 50 years in the making.

For more than 50 years, we have helped healthcare clients navigate complex estate challenges. 

Having lived and breathed healthcare for five decades, we’ve taken a long-term view of how we can support NHS Trusts and healthcare estates for the future.

That’s why we’ve developed our Blueprint. A guide built around the challenges Trusts face today and the priorities that will shape future healthcare investment.

We understand the future of healthcare estates will demand more than traditional delivery. Trusts must balance ageing infrastructure, sustainability goals and growing demand while planning for the long term. 

We’re ready to help. 

Through our focus on sustainability, digital technologies and the practical application of AI, we help Trusts make better-informed decisions, reduce risk and create resilient, adaptable estates. 

Our strength starts with our people. Bringing together specialists across project management, cost management, building surveying, sustainability, infrastructure and construction delivery, we provide the expertise needed to navigate increasingly complex healthcare challenges. 

Together, we’re helping create healthcare environments ready for the future.

Find out more here

B Corporations

B Corps are organisations that are committed to using business to build a more inclusive and sustainable economy. They are rigorously tested and scored to ensure they meet the highest standards of ESG performance.

The B Corp assessment complements our Partnership Model because it measures the impact of our operations and business model on governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. The framework also enables us to target actions to improve our impact, and to work in collaboration with other businesses to make tangible improvements in our services, operations and partnerships. Becoming a B Corporation also focuses our team on continuous improvement with progress measured through a re-certification every 3-years within the Business Impact Assessment.

More context on B Corp

To give some context to our B Corp score:

  • The median score globally is 50.9.
  • A score of 80 or above qualifies for B Corp Certification.
  • At our initial Certification in 2020, we scored 135.5 – at the time, one of the highest B Corp scores in the UK.
  • At our re-certification in 2023, we scored 163.9 – ranking in the top 5% of B Corp’s in the world.
  • Our current score is still 163.9

We are now one over 8,250 B Corps globally, spanning 96 countries and 162 industries.

50.9

B Corp score of average business

135.5

Ward Williams 2020 score

163.9

Ward Williams 2025 score

Our Bee Corps

Our commitment to places and planet is not just about our influence and impact arising from our professional services and partnerships.

In 2023, in collaboration with one of our clients, we started a honey-bee colony with five hives located within the landscape of one of their projects.

Bees are the essential pollinators of the natural ecosystems on which we all depend for our survival. By supporting their incremental impact, we help to maintain vital environments, the balance of nature, and to contribute to the circularity of our projects, positively influencing an increasingly compromised world.

Awards

Our project excellence has been recognised with multiple Michelmores and RICS awards, as well as the Queen’s Award for Enterprise – Sustainable Development. Our people development and custodianship were recognised with Best for World B Corp awards, and SME of the year from Constructing Excellence South West.

“The Queen's Award for Enterprise - Sustainable Development, was awarded to Ward Williams, a business that has grown from it's South West roots to become one of the world leaders in sustainability, because it has examined and addressed it's own impact and provided leadership for the industry”

Colonel Sir Edward Bolitho KCVO OBE CStJ

Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall

2024/2025 Impact highlights

£301k

value invested back in communities

524

hours dedicated to school engagements

194

days of learning and collaboration with our work experience and placement students

3

new feedback loops to ensure voices are heard

163.9

our 2025 B Corp Business Impact Assessment score, in the top 5% of global B Corps.

26

Apprentices, all paid salaries aligned with the Real Living Wage Foundation

Can we help you on your B Corp journey?