Skanska has improved the working environment for 450 staff at its UK head office in Herfordshire with a range of measures including better lighting and extending the staff bus service.
Since the £1.3m retrofit to make the building more sustainable, 90% of staff feel that Maple Cross near Rickmansworth is more efficient and a better place to work. Two-thirds have reported improved lighting and ventilation.
The retrofit will cut energy consumption by 38% and carbon emissions by 48%. Skanska believes Maple Cross highlights the savings a tenant can achieve within a lease: it is sole tenant of the building with a 10-year lease and all initiatives will recoup their investment before the lease ends.
Its approach involved upgrading lighting throughout the building, installing a prefabricated biomass boiler, fitting 340 solar panels on the roof, making the building management system more efficient and creating a green communications area in the central atrium.
The company set up a waste plan and asked its catering supplier for healthier menus, snacks and drinks. It is saving water, has incentivised car sharing, extended the staff bus service and installed electric car charging points.
Skanska is one of the world's leading project development and construction companies, with 57,000 employees. It began working in the UK in 2000 and has been involved in the National Grid's gas mains replacement, redevelopment of St Bartholomew's and The Royal London hospitals, the 2012 Olympic Games, widening the M25 and Crossrail.
Its is working with the UK Green Building Council to stimulate the market by providing proof that a green building is also a more productive one.
Jackie Wills is part of the wordworks network
The Guardian Sustainable Business Sustainability Case Studies contain articles on all the initiatives that met the criteria for the GSB Awards.
