Sustainable development consultancy Arup was honoured with two awards at the 2022 Shared Value Awards announced last week.

Arup received the awards for Best Shared Value Idea (Early Stage) for Mushi – Floating Leaf River Cleaning Concept with Mycelium Structure, and Shared Value Organisation of the Year.

Given by the Shared Value Project (SVP), the peak body encouraging and enabling the adoption of shared value in Australia, the awards recognise organisations and people across the Asia Pacific region who are using shared value to create new and innovative solutions to some of society’s biggest challenges.

Mushi - Floating Leaf River Cleaning Concept with Mycelium Structure - Best Shared Value Idea (Early Stage)

Healthy wetland systems provide a natural way of cleaning water. Naturally occurring wetland habitats are essential for improving water quality, controlling flooding, and increasing biodiversity. However, they take a long time to establish naturally and are rarely found in urban settings. Current practices include creating floating wetland modules made of plastic to mimic natural wetlands to improve urban water management. These plastic-based products can contribute to pollution of water bodies through micro-plastics and unsustainable manufacturing methods.

Arup’s team of engineers and designers recognised a gap in the market for floating wetlands, which are produced with biodegradable or organic materials.

Arup’s ground-breaking and award-winning project uses mycelium, the vegetated strain of fungi, rather than artificial plastics to create floating wetlands in an Australian wetland restoration pilot project with impressive outcomes. These mycelium floating wetland modules, called ‘Mushi’, are becoming thriving habitats as the plant roots absorb and cleanse the water. With the project moving into manufacturing, there are broad opportunities for urban waterways and run-off mitigation around infrastructure.

Arup - Shared Value Organisation of the Year

Arup’s global strategy reinforces sustainable development – creating shared value for their clients and communities while safeguarding the planet is core in their DNA and business model. Arup’s track record in delivering positive social and environmental outcomes is a key differentiator for clients and partners.

Example 1: Decarbonisation services

At COP26, Arup pledged to not pursue any new energy commissions involving the extraction, refinement, or transportation of hydrocarbon-based fuels and committed to undertaking whole-life carbon assessments for all their buildings projects – new and retrofit from 2022.

Example 2: Investment options

IiA is Arup’s platform for enabling their people to research, learn, collaborate, develop and deliver solutions to address complex challenges facing both clients and society. A core element of Arup’s business model, it underpins a culture of curiosity and innovation, technical excellence, and new product and service development.

Since its inception, Arup has invested $57.7m of their own profits into the initiative in Australasia across 2,805 projects, with an annual average of $8m (since 2017). The company has also achieved returns of ~$7 of incremental revenue per $1 invested in IiA research.

Branko Miletic

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