RIBA Plan of Work 

Stage 0-3 Support

Colorful horizontal arrow process diagram with five chevrons, from dark gray to yellow, orange, green, white, and light gray.

The opportunity to make key sustainable and beneficial decisions at the early stages of concept design are often overlooked. Mesh recommends that this is where you and your client should start the conversation.

Clients often hold off spending money on consultancy fees until after planning. The problem with this is that as the design phases progress, options and design choices reduce and costs increase rapidly. At worst, lack of sustainable design considerations before going for planning permission can lead to a resubmission or, indeed, fundamental building design elements that are not compatible to reach the desired energy efficiency goals of the client.



Mesh can help you and your client to navigate this early-stage design. We help to keep costs under control, whilst also giving appropriate design analysis and consideration before submitting the building for approval.

For the most successful low-energy and progressive projects, we find the following services offer benefits to both the homeowner and wider design team:

Initial overheating analysis

gives peace of mind that the building design is within comfortable limits and is thermally stable year round. Any issues can be flagged and the design modified appropriately without compromising the aesthetics. 

Building fabric optimisation

allows you to intelligently spend the project budget precisely where it will have the biggest impact on energy bill savings and thermal comfort. Ideal if you have a fixed budget for insulation work or an optimal design point you are trying to uncover.

Renewable energy feasibility

enables you to holistically review renewable technology options for the building, understand capital and running costs, available government subsidies and the best way to proceed. The optimised whole-site strategy will give your design team clarity for moving the project into the next stage. 

Embodied Carbon Analysis

can be supported at the very earliest stages of your project for even concept designs to better inform design evolution. Be sure you’re on the right track and designing progressive and beautiful, lower carbon buildings with confidence. 

Abstract black and white horizontal bars with a narrow green stripe near the top

By taking a measured approach at this early stage, we take the guesswork out of low-energy building design. 

Embodied Carbon Calculator

Our FREE Embodied Carbon Calculator gives a valuable insight at the very early stages of the design process allowing you to discover how the embodied carbon of your designs is affected by material choice and also how your building compares to the RIBA 2030 targets.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE EC CALCULATOR
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At whichever stage of your project you are, drop us a line and we will be glad to support you



Relevant Articles

Mesh Team Volunteers to Help Preserve Ancient Woodlands

17 October 2026
Sustainability, impact and integrity form the basis of Mesh's culture where creativity and fun are still very present. As part of this ethos, each year we hold a series of volunteering days for our team. 11 of our colleagues from as far afield as Portugal, Exeter and Bristol recently joined the Surrey Society to work with rangers at West Horsley Place – a 400-acre estate near Guildford – and help maintain some of their ancient woodland. The team lent a hand with ‘coppicing’. This practice involves felling a tree to create a living stump called a ‘stool’ which supports regrowth into new, fast-growing poles or rods. Regular cutting of the stools can extend the life of a tree for centuries, provide sustainable materials for a range of uses, and encourages biodiversity. Doug Johnson, Founding Director of Mesh: "We had a fantastic day in the fresh air which was followed by our monthly team meeting in the beautiful grounds and a social dinner afterwards. Thank you to the Surrey Society for giving us the opportunity to volunteer on another of their projects. This independent charity does some great work to encourage people to explore the outstanding landscape in Surrey. This fits so well with Mesh's sustainability values." 

Mesh Wins Accolade at National Energy Efficiency Awards

12 October 2026
Mesh has been announced as a runner up for Energy Consultancy of the Year at the National Energy Efficiency Awards. This latest accolade follows our success in winning Regional Energy Efficiency Consultancy of the Year at the South East Energy Efficiency Awards. According to Doug Johnson, Founding Director of Mesh: "As one of the smaller, specialist consultancies, this was a significant achievement for such a prestigious award and in a highly competitive category. The awards event was a fantastic celebration of innovation and achievement in improving energy efficiency across the built environment. Our teams are committed to excellence in both building performance analysis and building services design – delivering practical solutions and strategies for our clients to accelerate decarbonisation and improve the energy efficiency of new and existing homes and buildings. It is wonderful to have our team's talent and hard work recognised with this national accolade from the industry."