Becoming a Certified B Corp has been in the planning at Building Relations PR for a few years now. Making good, moral choices has always been part of what we wanted to do as a business, so achieving this recognition feels like an important step in supporting that mission. 



Doing the right thing mattered from the beginning. Not only because it’s the right thing morally, but because it builds trust with our team, our clients and the wider industry. And, in my opinion, without trust, PR and communications don’t really work and let’s be honest, PR has historically had a difficult reputation on this point. 

But building trust is one of our founding core values at Building Relations, and it’s something my business partner Kathryn and I come back to time and time again when making decisions. 

We’re also the first to admit we haven’t always got everything right. When you’re running a business for the first time, you learn as you go and sometimes that means making mistakes. One of the harder lessons has been learning to properly listen to feedback when things go wrong, accepting where mistakes have been made, and making sure we do better next time. 

It’s not always comfortable, but it is how we improve and the better we get at that, the better decisions we make for the agency, our team and our clients. 

Sometimes, doing the right thing isn’t the most commercial decision. 

There are plenty of PR agencies charging more than we do, offering short-term, quick-fire campaigns and promising big results quickly. As business costs rise, of course that approach can feel tempting at times. But when you look closer, it’s not a model that feels particularly genuine – and it’s definitely not one that would allow me to sleep at night. 

Ultimately, it doesn’t build trust or improve reputation and there’s a reason many of our clients work with us for years, not months. 

For us, PR has always been about the longer game. Building a genuine reputation takes time, consistency and showing up – especially when the market isn’t booming, or when it feels like the world has turned its back on your mission. It’s not just about shouting loudly when there’s a quick win to be had. 

In a fast-paced, digital-first world, PR is no longer just about press coverage either. It’s about helping businesses understand how to communicate properly, across all of their channels – and sometimes in person, when that matters most. Another reason why the bigger picture matters.  

That’s why becoming a B Corp felt like the next step.  

Working with B Lab means we are holding ourselves accountable to what we’ve always believed in: running a business that is responsible, fair and thinking about the long term. One where we aim to form proper partnerships with our clients and work together towards the bigger picture. We are also looking forward to entering a network of like-minded organisations, to share ideas and maybe even do business with. 

We have always been vocal about the work we do in the sustainability space, and anyone who knows me knows this is a particular passion of mine. Sustainability – and making better choices for our planet – matters to us, and Kathryn and I firmly believe it is the right path for our business. 

This is especially important given our role as a specialist agency within the built environment sector, which as an industry remains one of the single largest contributors to global CO₂ emissions. As a voice working within this industry, we believe we have both an opportunity to help drive more sustainable thinking, better decisions, and meaningful change. 

But B Corp is bigger than sustainability alone; it’s about how you work with your team, how you support your clients, and the kind of business you choose to be. 

Lastly and most definitely not least, but as a mum of three, I feel strongly that we need to think beyond our own generation and make sure we are helping to instil better practices for the future. We all should. 

I don’t claim to get everything right. But when faced with challenging situations, I often come back to a piece of advice I was given early in my career: treat people how you’d want to be treated yourself. It’s simple, but it still guides a lot of my decisions now. 

B Corp definitely isn’t the end goal for Building Relations but it is a way of keeping ourselves accountable and to guide and inform our choices. It’s a commitment to our own values, our team and our clients to keep learning, keep improving, and keep doing the right thing, even when it isn’t always the easiest option.