Making Muse’s Sustainable Development Framework work on live projects
The big challenge
We previously helped Muse create an industry-leading Sustainable Development Framework (SDF), ensuring that all its future developments will meet the very highest sustainability standards in both construction and operation.
Muse’s next big challenge was implementation: how do you take ambitious, holistic targets on paper and make them work across live projects – with real constraints, competing priorities and tight timelines? The goal was simple but demanding: understand how projects were performing, identify where things might stall, and keep momentum moving.
The big opportunities
As an industry, developers can face a number of challenges in meeting sustainability requirements, for instance, building the business case for longer-term savings and reduced operational costs for residents, versus immediate budget challenges.
There can also be pressures on supply chains for the availability of materials (such as more sustainable cement) and the availability of skilled installers (such as heat pumps).
However, these challenges don’t have to be blockers. Handled early and collaboratively, they can become opportunities to simplify decisions, strengthen the business case and unlock better outcomes – for people, place and performance.
Our people-shaped support
We don’t consult from afar, we plug into your team – and here we supported Muse by reviewing all projects across their portfolio against the SDF, working with project teams to understand the opportunity areas and next steps.
Across Muse’s portfolio, we reviewed projects against the SDF, building a clear picture of where each one stood and what needed to happen next. This wasn’t just theory – these were practical steps to move forward.
On the ground, we worked closely with Muse and English Cities Fund (ECF) to translate ambition into delivery:
- Greyfriars, Northampton – acting as sustainability champions, shaping the vision and embedding SDF KPIs from the outset
- East Bank, Hull – developing a social value strategy rooted in local needs and co-created with stakeholders
From early-stage analysis to detailed modelling and stakeholder engagement, we connected the dots - ensuring sustainability wasn’t an add-on, but built into every decision to benefit local people by improving economic, social, and environmental opportunities.
The big impact:
This is where sustainability moves from ambition to delivery.
At Greyfriars, we helped define a clear, place-led sustainability vision and are working with the team to embed it through design – supported by operational energy and whole life carbon modelling. The result: a scheme pushed to go further, with ambition locked in ahead of planning.
At East Bank, we helped turn local insight into a practical, shared vision for social value. Through targeted stakeholder engagement and collaboration, this has already translated into real-world outcomes – including meanwhile use opportunities that will bring the site to life through a large-scale cultural event before construction even begins.
Across both projects, the impact is the same:
- clearer direction
- stronger alignment
- and momentum that’s now hard to lose
We believe that when sustainability is understood, owned and embedded early, action becomes inevitable – and that’s exactly what we’ve helped Muse achieve here.
“Bioregional’s hands-on support brought clarity, alignment and real momentum across our projects, helping our teams turn intent into action.”
Syreeta Bayne
Head of Social Value and Sustainability, Muse
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Discover how our visionary placemaking support can help you.
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Beyond compliance
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Never cookie-cutter
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Enablers not theorists
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