We are proud to announce Lake|Flato has achieved B Corp certification, joining a select pool of 30 B Corp architecture firms certified across the U.S. committed to balancing financial success with positive environmental and social impact.
Since our founding, Lake|Flato has operated with a strong environmental and social ethos. To demonstrate accountability and further the conversation around social justice and equity, we began tracking and sharing our progress as a firm through the JUST Label offered by the International Living Future Institute. As a continuation of our commitment to equity and accountability, Lake|Flato underwent the rigorous process of pursuing B Corp certification. In June 2023, we became the first Texas-based architecture firm to become a certified B Corporation.
What is B Corp?
B Corp is a global, third party-verified certification that evaluates not only a product or service but also the positive impact of the company itself. Certified corporations – known as B Corps – are global businesses who have met high, defined standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.
How did we do it?
The certification process, overseen by the nonprofit B Lab, is rigorous and typically takes multiple years. Certification assesses the impact of a company's business model on five categories: workers, community, environment, customers and governance. To achieve certification, a B Corp must:
- Demonstrate high social and environmental performance by achieving a B Impact Assessment score of 80 or more. According to B Lab, the median score is 55. Lake|Flato achieved a score of 104.9.
- Exhibit transparency by allowing their performance to be measured against B Lab’s standards and be made publicly available online.
- Make a legal commitment by changing their corporate governance structure to be accountable to all stakeholders, not just shareholders, and achieve benefit corporation status if available in their jurisdiction.
These steps demonstrate that a B Corp is following a fundamentally different governance philosophy than a traditional shareholder-centered corporation. To encourage continuous improvement and long-term resiliency, B Corps are are required to undergo the verification process every three years.
Why did we do it?
Key to improving environmental and social commitments is the continuous act of tracking, recording and benchmarking data. Our journey has allowed us to evaluate where we are internally and compare our impact with organizations around the world and across many different industries.
The B Corp community currently includes over 6,500 certified companies in more than 80 countries working across more than 150 industries. By joining the global B Corp community and holding ourselves accountable to these high standards of verification and transparency, we aspire to serve as a model for other firms and contribute solutions to the pressing environmental and social challenges we face as a society.
Click here to read more about our process for pursuing and achieving B Corp.