Archus passes B Corp certification process

Healthcare infrastructure consultancy Archus has completed its certification process to become a UK B Corp. It becomes the latest in a succession of consulting firms to have undergone certification to confirm its social and environmental standards of practice.

Chris Turner, executive director of B Lab UK, said, “Being able to welcome Archus to the B Corp community is hugely exciting. Their commitment to doing business differently will be an inspiration to others and really help spread the idea that we can redefine success in business to be as much about people and planet as it is about profit”.

B Corporations (or B Corps) are companies that meet the standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability set by B Lab, a non-profit network. Over the course of certification, it evaluates companies according to their verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability.

Founded in 2017, with offices in Bristol, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Swansea, Dublin and Cork, Archus has long been known for its work in healthcare infrastructure. The firm recently landed a £9 million investment to drive international growth – but it is also keen to demonstrate its commitment to values which go beyond its balance sheet.

The company’s journey to B-Corp certification involved a detailed assessment of its operations, including its impact on workers, customers, community, and the environment and a legally embedded commitment to purpose beyond profit in their company articles. While the certification process requires a benchmark score of over 80 to pass, Archus achieved a score of 98.5. Archus now joins a global community of over 1,500 B Corps in the UK and 7,000 worldwide.

Shane Dineen, managing director of Archus, stated, “We are incredibly proud to have achieved B-Corp certification with an excellent B-Impact score which is reflective of the importance we place on maintaining ethical business practices. At Archus, we have always believed that creating sustainable healthcare infrastructure is about far more than just physical structures; this milestone reinforces our unwavering commitment to social and environmental stewardship, not only through the work we undertake within the healthcare sector but for the communities we operate in.”

The consulting industry’s B Corp cohort has been steadily growing, alongside consumer expectations for serious ESG commitments from companies they spend money on. Along with Campbell Tickell,Moorhouse and Magnetic also recently passed the strict criteria to gain B Corp status. 

However, there is a continuing debate around what being a B Corp actually means. While it is often billed as being a ‘movement’, or an indicator of ethical business practices, some certified B Corps maintain that their status should not depend on which companies – such as big oil firms – they work for.

Contrary to the belief of B Corps as a movement among equals, a recent opinion piece from And Rising CEO Jonathan Trimble argued, “B Corporations pay a fee to support B-Lab, which formulates meticulous criteria for stakeholder management; however, B-Lab lacks capability or mandate to monitor a company’s actions on-going. B-Lab is not an ombudsman, or standard’s authority – it has no inherent duty to review anything beyond a score for certification.”