Sustainability
With office utilisation at around 40 per cent, our offices are potentially responsible for 52.5 million tonnes of excessive CO 2 .
Despite a strong business case, there have always been people who do not want to share a desk or check into a meeting room. Yet this attitude is changing as employers and employees understand the moral need to operate more sustainable offices. Today, working in a modern office is not about owning a particular desk or having dedicated meeting rooms for each department, but having guaranteed access to the right kind of facility for getting the work done. This might be a
desk, a
meeting room, a quiet workplace in a resource area, a training facility or a touchdown space.
Buildings Research Establishment figures show that heating, lighting, ventilating and air-conditioning in office buildings account for nearly 50 per cent of the UK’s 153 million tonnes of CO 2 emissions each year. Furthermore, with office utilisation at around 40 per cent, our offices are potentially responsible for 52.5 million tonnes of excessive CO 2 . If companies were to ask 6 out of 10 staff to head to the office, not do anything for the day, and then go home, it would be frowned upon. Yet, it has become acceptable for companies to treat their second most expensive asset - property - in just this manner. The problem with environmental issues in our offices is that it is always someone else’s responsibility.
Anti-emissions legislation is on the horizon, and organisations will come under increasing pressure to act responsibly and manage energy conservation to governed standards.
With the pressure of expensive under-utilised real-estate, a less than favourable economic outlook in 2010 and the impact of our office on the environment, more and more organisations are responding by implementing smart and flexible working practices where employees can reserve a
workstation or
meeting room as and when required.