Our commitment:
We strive to be a sustainable leader in our field, an agent of change that advocates for the livelihood of future generations through our daily actions in practice operation, projects’ work, community involvement and education.
Since 2024, ORA’s practice operations have been carbon neutral. Our footprint is measured each year by Practice Capital, we reduce emissions first, and we offset what remains through certified schemes: ORA’s core-practice emissions have been offset every year since FY2023/24 surrendered through Carbon Neutral Pty Ltd ([view certificate]). We run our practice with fairness, honesty, accountability and integrity, in line with the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
We aim to tackle Carbon Emissions, resource consumption, and biodiversity loss in every project and community, through collaboration and education with our clients, partners, contractors, and suppliers.
Carbon Offset Certificate 2026
Carbon Offset Certificate 2024
Case Study 1 – Embodied Carbon Calculation
As part of our commitment and leadership to sustainability. We are happy to share our Excel spreadsheet as an opensource database for scrutiny and reused and is available upon request. We kindly ask that you acknowledge us when using our spreadsheet and share your final product spreadsheet in return.
We are also welcome any feedbacks that you might have.
For the PDFs of the discussion paper and calculation, please download from the link below.
Embodied Energy Calculation Narembeen Shire Refurb paper241210
Case Study1-Narembeen Embodied Carbon Calculation-241128
Case Study 2: Bruce Rock Supermarket and Hardware
How much carbon went into building a regional supermarket? We calculated the upfront embodied carbon (A1–A5) of the Shire of Bruce Rock’s new supermarket, completed in 2023, using the NABERS method, shop drawings and fabricator records. The result is 630 kgCO2e/m², or about 785 tCO2e for the 1,245 m² building.
The steel structure and the slab account for most of it. The study came before our Sustainability Action Plan, and it now sets our baseline for new buildings.
It also asks what we would do differently: shorter spans, low-carbon concrete, lighter walls and, above all, a building sized to the community it serves.
Sustainable Action Plan – In progress.
We recognise the importance and urgency of addressing the global ecological crisis, especially the threat of climate change and biodiversity loss. This crisis impacts both global and local in the Wheatbelt, Great Southern, and South West regions of Western Australia and will continue into many future generations.
The construction industry contributes to nearly 37% of global energy and process-related CO2 emissions (UNEP, Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction 2023). It is one of the biggest sectors of global resource consumption, and we, the architects, have a crucial role in making the changes.
This document presents our commitment to sustainability as a practice, guide, and compass for our daily activities. It is a call to our clients, collaborators, and community to move towards a regenerative future.
Our Emissions Reports
Each year Practice Capital measures the greenhouse gas emissions from running ORA. The emissions of the buildings we design are measured separately, in our [embodied carbon case studies].
FY2025/26
| Measure | tCO2e |
|---|---|
| Full organisational footprint | 11.63 |
| Less project consultants engaged through ORA | (4.03) |
| Core-practice footprint | 7.61 |
The full footprint includes every service ORA bought, including consultants we engaged on clients’ behalf. Many consultants on our projects are engaged directly by clients and fall outside our footprint, so this figure changes with how a project is contracted rather than with how we work. The core-practice figure tracks the emissions of running ORA itself, and it’s the one we use to measure progress and to offset.
- Main sources of core-practice emissions:
- business services and software: 4.05 t
- vehicle travel to regional sites: 2.27 t
- Brookton office electricity, until it closed in June 2026: 0.37 t
- Not yet counted: energy used in our home offices. It will be included from next year.
A change in method
This year Practice Capital moved from a licensed calculator to a more detailed method using Australian emission factors. Earlier results were 10.54 tCO2e (FY2023/24) and 6.17 tCO2e (FY2024/25). They can’t be compared directly with this year’s figures.
Offsetting
We have offset our core-practice emissions for FY2024/25 and FY2025/26: 13.78 tCO2e, covered by 14 tCO2e permanently surrendered through Carbon Neutral Pty Ltd. The 4.03 t from project consultants is reported but not offset. [View the certificate]
What’s next
Since the Brookton office closed on 30 June 2026, we have worked from home offices in Joondanna and Brookton. That removes a separate office’s energy use, which makes business travel to regional sites our main source of emissions to tackle. Our Sustainability Action Plan 2.0 sets out how:
- Travel: halve vehicle travel emissions from FY2025/26 levels (2.27 t) by 2030, with a trip log and combined site visits.
- Suppliers: reviewing business services to favour suppliers who use renewable energy and report their carbon.
- Energy: renewable electricity in our home offices, including the rooftop solar and 100% GreenPower already at Joondanna.
- Projects: our clients’ buildings sit outside our own footprint, but they’re where we have most influence. We now discuss low-carbon materials in every project brief, and we measure embodied carbon on our projects. Read our case studies: Narembeen Administration Office and Bruce Rock Supermarket.