Offices are generally big consumers of energy and water and heavy emitters of carbon. The UK Green Building Council estimates that non-domestic buildings account for 18% of UK carbon emissions. On top of that, fitting out offices can produce a lot of waste that goes straight to landfill. But by adopting good practice when fitting out and refurbishing office interiors, business can dramatically reduce their environmental impact.
Until recently, assessing and improving fit-out was something of a sustainability blind spot. Although there are established tools for assessing the environmental impact of buildings, industry feedback demonstrates that attempts to use whole building systems on projects can be unsatisfactory, both in terms of technical fit and cost. This means that the vast majority of fit-outs to buildings go unmeasured and, as a result, unimproved.
The Ska Rating is the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) environmental assessment method. Launched in 2009 for non-domestic fit-outs, it helps landlords and tenants evaluate and rate a project against a set of sustainability criteria. It is estimated that 11% of UK construction spending is on fit-out, and buildings may have 30-40 fit-outs during their lifecycle. It differs from other categorising systems in that it is project-driven: it labels fit-out projects irrespective of base building.
The scheme consists of 104 individual good practice measures covering energy and CO2 emissions, waste, water, materials, pollution, wellbeing and transport. The methodology has been developed by a technical committee, the online tool has more than 1,200 registered users, and the guidance is freely available.
A new version of the rating systems for 2011 allows owners and occupiers to better understand the commercial and environmental performance of their office fit-out by measuring their energy and water consumption in the 12 months following completion. This occupancy stage assessment complements the existing design and handover stage assessments. The updates recognise that the way in which occupiers manage their workspace can either enhance or limit the sustainability measures introduced as part of a green fit-out or refurbishment.
Projects being completed according to Ska Rating methodology will now be asked to conduct a review of the good practice measures achieved during the fit-out, including measuring the energy and water consumption levels as well as the way in which the office is managing its waste and recycling activities.
The changes will help owners and occupiers better understand the business case for sustainable good practice, allow them to demonstrate the cost savings that can be achieved by targeting a more environmentally friendly fit-out and may even allow their original Ska Rating to be upgraded (for example, from silver to gold).
While until now the focus has been on offices, a new retail and restaurants version is in development.. New measures, rankings and the means to certify a roll-out of a standard design specification across multiple sites without having to assess each project individually are being designed for each sector.
Based on projects certified to date, which include offices for Bank of China, Yell, nPower and Paradigm Housing Association, there is an increasingly clear business case for environmentally responsible fit-out. Clients have not only found that the rating has helped engage employees in the process and strengthen their brand image but there have been hard financial benefits – reductions in energy costs of up to 31% and reductions of waste sent to landfill of up to 99%. With landfill tax at £56 per tonne and rising energy costs, sustainable fit-out is now the concern of the finance director as well as the corporate social responsibility professional.
Tim Robinson is director of Information Products at RICS and chair of the Ska Rating development committee
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