Inside the BIID’s Professional Practice Committee

HIGHLIGHT

Simone Suss, founder of Studio Suss, discusses the purpose, remit and future plans of the BIID’s Professional Practice Committee

Anyone can wake up one morning and announce they’re an interior designer. But that, of course, doesn’t mean they’re any good.

That’s where the British Institute for interior Design (BIID) comes in, it lets our clients and the wider world know we’ve reached certain professional standards, that we’re serious about our chosen career. In addition to rigorous entry requirements – which assess training, experience and professionalism – the BIID requires members to continue their professional development throughout their career.

I’m proud to be a BIID member and last year I joined the Professional Practice Committee. This monitors and assesses how as BIID members we conduct ourselves as individual business entities. We all sign up and agree to abide by the Code of Conduct, which outlines our responsibilities to society, clients, fellow interior designers, suppliers and the interior design industry. We’re releasing a revised Code next year and it will include a section on sustainability – which reflects both the BIID’s and my own commitment to this vital area.

At Studio Suss, we’ve always designed with the environment in mind. It’s one of the fundamental tenets of our business and a personal passion of mine. But we’re all falling well short of where we should be, there’s so much we can do to improve. That’s why earlier this year I completed a Certificate in Business Sustainability Management at University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, which provided me with the framework for how I could impact change and create a more sustainable world.

As interior designers, we have a massive impact on the teams we work with, spaces we build and there are so many ways for us all to be more sustainable at every stage of the interior design process. From how we manage the wastage of the strip out, to how we run the operations of our companies, to the products that we specify and where we choose to spend our clients’ money.

I joined the Professional Practice Committee as a way of influencing our profession’s emphasis on sustainability and I’m delighted that it is now firmly on the BIID agenda. The committee is working on how to increase a focus on sustainability throughout the industry. We’re working on a number of practical initiatives, including a checklist to guide designers on how they can source more sustainably, and early next year we’re also publishing a core document which outlines the BIID’s position on this most vital of areas.