The company’s Marketing Manager, Lucy Wright and Procurement Manager, Ruth Driver were delighted to attend the inaugural Women in Signs…
The growing pressure for ESG reporting
Think your job has no impact on your journey to net zero – think again! Now more than ever sustainability is no longer optional — it’s a legislative and reputational requirement that’s growing rapidly.
If you are responsible for an estate then you’ll be under increasing pressure to publish your own set of comprehensive ESG reports to demonstrate your steady progress towards achieving net zero. Branding and signage of this estate is often overlooked, but do form a visible and measurable part of these commitments.
From the energy use of your illuminated signage to the careful selection of materials, and the waste linked to estate branding must now be quantified, reported, and reduced. This makes your company’s signage strategy a key consideration.
Sustainable signage solutions
Astley has supported multiple clients with sustainable estate branding, owning the enhanced responsibility as a manufacturer to support our partners and clients in working more sustainably:
- Central Co-op: first solar-powered totem installed in Streethay, part of an estate-wide rollout.
- Co-op: award-winning solutions for their new sustainable store design
- Forecourts: Full LED conversions across national networks, slashing energy use and operating costs.
- Sustainable manufacturing practices through reduced transport, recycled materials, and UK-based production.
- ESG focused strategy to ensure all our processes and working relationships are carefully considered
Our in-house creative and production teams ensure to offer clients alternatives to traditional materials through comprehensive prototyping, alongside providing the associated advantages and compromises so clients are then aware of opportunities open to incorporate sustainability within their schemes.
By working with us, an EcoVadis Medal holder, you’re choosing a team that genuinely puts ESG commitments first. We do things the right way – fair, transparent, and ethical – because that’s what our clients expect and deserve. From how we design to how we make, our processes have been independently audited, placing us in the top 35% of companies worldwide for sustainability and responsible practice.
Compliance & innovative thinking
Sustainability isn’t just about using card or PVC-free materials though – it’s also about creating safe, compliant structures that stand the test of time. The longer your signage lasts, the fewer replacements you need, which makes a real difference. Thinking about where your signs will be used, how they’ll perform in those conditions, and designing with that in mind from the start, all help deliver a more sustainable, long-lasting solution.
Astley’s BS EN 1090 certification guarantees that large-scale fabricated signage meets strict safety and performance standards. Combine this with regular maintenance and a brand can answer sustainability objectives through simple effective planning and investment.
By designing for durability and energy efficiency, we help estates achieve sustainability goals without compromising compliance or brand impact.
Planning net zero rollouts
Embedding sustainability into every brand refresh cycle at the outset has to become the norm, offering property managers and marketing teams with more opportunity to reduce a carbon footprint alongside responding to wider company objectives. These can include:
Designing signage with energy efficiency as standard
Illumination is one of the most visible – and energy-hungry – aspects of estate branding. At Astley, we help estates make smarter choices by proposing a range of energy-saving solutions, from high-efficiency LED modules to solar-powered systems where viable.
Our in-house prototyping team plays a vital role in this process. By modelling and testing illumination setups, we can strike the right balance between aesthetic impact and energy consumption. Every module is carefully considered: the fewer modules required, the less energy used, without compromising on visibility or brand presence.
This approach ensures estates achieve maximum visual impact while significantly reducing operational costs and carbon footprint.
Factoring sustainability INTO capex planning
September is a critical point in the year for estate teams. Budgets for 2026 are being finalised, and decisions are being made about where to allocate capital expenditure (capex). For many businesses, branding and signage rollouts represent a significant portion of that investment -whether it’s a full estate rebrand, a selective refresh programme, or the launch of new properties into the portfolio.
The challenge? Capex budgets must balance cost, compliance, and customer experience. A poorly planned signage rollout can overshoot budgets, delay openings, or compromise on quality – all of which have knock-on effects across an estate.
This is where our proven expertise makes a difference.
We help estate teams stretch their budgets further by:
- Phasing rollouts so spend can be spread across financial years without losing brand consistency
- Value-engineering design packs so estates get the same brand impact at lower production costs
- Conducting surveys and condition reports that identify where assets can be reused, refurbished, or upgraded rather than replaced entirely
- Producing manufacture-ready drawings that reduce approval delays and installation risks, keeping projects on track and on budget
For estate directors, this means signage isn’t just a line item in the budget – it’s an investment in compliance, customer perception, and operational efficiency.
Choosing supply partners who can evidence their own ESG commitments
Through key policy implementation such as our Sustainable Procurement Policy and through investment in the training of our procurement team, we can ensure that supply partners we work with are just as passionate and committed to working towards net zero as we are. This means every supplier, material, and process is measured not just on cost and quality, but on environmental and social impact too. It’s how we keep sustainability at the heart of our procurement and help our clients meet their ESG goals with confidence.
Sustainability is not a bolt-on – it’s built into every estate solution we deliver!
