By Ollie Plastow, Project Director, Consensus Workspace.
The UN has set 17 sustainability targets to meet by 2030 – and this impacts on all business decisions going forward – including office interiors.
Almost half of UK companies say sustainability is key to their growth plans and 66% plan to improve their internal practices, according to HSBC’s Made for the Future Report. You need to prove that your practices and supply chains keep up, as your clients and your best possible employee candidates will be looking for organisations that most reflect them and their outlooks.
Climate change is the number one concern for Generation Z. Born between 1995 and 2015, they are already contributing to our economy and their ethics will soon start to drive it further. In order to flourish, we all need to recognise the changing consumer and business landscape and be clearly defined as responsible suppliers and employers.
Technology plays a vital role. For example, Deloitte’s Amsterdam headquarters use advanced information technology to monitor everything. Thanks to more than 28,000 sensors, elements such as movement, light, temperature and moisture are all tracked. The offices even know when to save power if areas or spaces are empty and employees can use their smartphones to create customised drinks. By using LED panels powered by the same cables that carry internet data, the building produces more energy than it uses. Employee workout sessions even fuel the building’s energy grid.
This may not be replicable for most, of course, however there are lessons we can all learn.
Office interiors can increase their sustainability credentials through choosing suppliers who work to the environmental requirements of ISO14001. Using companies that incorporate recycled, responsible and reused natural materials – vegan furniture, cotton, hemp, cork, bamboo –automatically helps to reduce carbon footprints, as there are fewer virgin materials being used. At Consensus we have used cork throughout our offices: underfloor, on the walls and as furniture.
Using natural materials in this way (biophilia) is proven to make your team feel better – and aside from the responsibility employers have for their team’s wellbeing, it is proven that happy workers are more productive.
Nature can then easily be reflected and accessed through the rest of your space by creating space for unobstructed views, access to fresh air, plant life and the correct temperature and sounds.
By creating a welcoming working environment that reflects nature and communicates your wider sustainability ethos, you are delivering a happier, more productive, more appealing and more responsible workplace.
It’s a responsibility for all of us – as Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England says about sustainability: “Companies that don’t adapt will go bankrupt, without question.”
