June 15, 2015

‘Tree office’ coworking space opens in an East London Square

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace design

A new kind of workplace has been opened in London…an office built around a tree. The pop-up office designed as a coworking space is based in Hoxton Square in the first initiative from the Park Hack project, led by Groundwork London and Hackney Council, set up to test new innovative models that sustain and enhance public open spaces. It is designed to operate as a working office and will be available to hire over the next seven months for businesses, creative workers and community groups. It is equipped with a power supply and WiFi and has the capability to also host small meetings or intimate events. Those who hire the space will be directly supporting the local environment, with income generated being reinvested into Hackney’s parks and green spaces. TREExOFFICE is also featured in the London Festival of Architecture that is taking place this month.

June 12, 2015

‘Trailblazing’ firm wins Gold Award for sustainable buildings

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

Environmental engineers Max Fordham have been named Gold Award winners in the 2015 Ashden Awards which champion sustainable buildings. The firm, which was the recipient of the Ashden Award for Sustainable Buildings, works with architects to minimise the energy requirements of new buildings. This results in buildings that can meet many of their own lighting, heating and air conditioning needs through measures such as harnessing natural light and ventilation. Its work on new buildings – such as the Hive [pictured] can cut carbon emissions by up to 50 percent. Demand Logic, a clean tech company that helps large buildings make big savings on their energy bills, won the 2015 Impax Ashden Award for Energy Innovation for a cloud-based system which plugs into the management system of commercial buildings and detects what it calls ‘energy insanities’ where, for example, energy sapping systems such as boilers are left on when not needed.

June 11, 2015

Government urged by top organisations to combat climate change

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

In an open letter to the Financial Times, 80 UK businesses, including Willmott Dixon, Cisco, E.on, Kinnarps, UK-GBC and BT have joined with the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) to call on the government to take action to combat climate change. It calls on the administration to; seek a strong global deal in Paris in December which limits temperature rises to below 2°C; set an ambitious 5th carbon budget to drive forward UK emissions reductions (covering period 2028-32) and establish a long-term framework for investment in the low-carbon economy. WWF-UK Chief Executive David Nussbaum said: “British business is ready to step up. From construction and energy to retail, the best British enterprises know that green growth is the future. They take on board that it’s no longer credible to base a sustainable economy on fossil fuels, so the Government should put us on track for a low-carbon world.”

May 21, 2015

Over two thirds of UK staff care about energy efficiency at work

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News

New research claims that 68 percent of UK workers care about energy efficiency at work and of these, 22 per cent said they care a great deal. The survey by YouGov for British Gas Business found that Hospitality and Leisure workers care the most – 82 percent – about saving business energy. Other industries that ranked highly were Financial Services (77%) and Manufacturing (76%). With almost two thirds (62%) confirming that their workplace invests in saving energy, it is clear that it is important for companies and organisations to be energy efficient. Yet, less than half (43 %) of workers said that their company or organisation ensures that all lights and computer screens are switched off when not in use and less than 1 in 5 (18%) said they conduct a regular energy audit.

May 2, 2015

The latest issue of Insight Weekly is available to view online ⁰

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, Newsletter, Property, Technology

In this week’s issue; Mark Eltringham lists the three workplace issues that could influence the general election, Maciej Markowski cites some examples of how companies are using Gamification and Sara Bean reports on a global career success survey which found staff rate happiness and flexibility over performance. In news; the first building to be certificated under the new BREEAM Refurbishment and Fit-Out standard and HSBC’s move to a new landmark building in Birmingham – not abroad – is given speedy assent. A new study warns of a growing number of European employees going rogue with their own digital devices and apps and Gartner urges organisations to draw-up a ‘manifesto’ that of digital best practice. Sign up to the newsletter via the subscription form in the right hand sidebar and follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

April 30, 2015

Many UK SMEs are falling short on green credentials, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, News

Many British small and medium sized businesses are putting their competitiveness and reputation at risk because they are not doing enough to improve their environmental credentials, according to a new report from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. The findings show that one in five (19 percent) of the firms surveyed for the study accept they are not doing enough to take on environmentally responsible practices and that although a quarter (25 percent) of SMEs say green issues are a top three priority for the year, the vast majority (71 percent) admit they do not understand the positive impact environmental responsibility can bring. The report also highlights the mismatch in perceptions of environmental issues between those who have successfully implemented green policies and those yet to do so.

April 29, 2015

First BREEAM standard for refurbishment and fit-out awarded to Bristol office ⁰

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

An office at Bristol’s Aztec West Business Park has become the first building to be certificated under the new BREEAM UK Refurbishment and Fit-Out standard. Legal & General Property’s building at 740 Waterside Drive has been awarded design stage ‘Very Good’ ratings against Parts 2 and 3 of the scheme for the refurbishment and fit-out of its core and local services. The £5 million, 51,000 square feet project took 30 weeks to complete and includes an extensive range of refurbishments and improvements. These include fully replacing the mechanical and electrical systems, installing photovoltaic panels on the roof, enhancing the airtightness of the building and improving its EPC rating to achieve an EPC A. BREEAM UK Refurbishment & Fit-Out 2014 has been developed to assess a wide range of project types.

April 24, 2015

Are these this year’s ten most sustainable buildings in North America? ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, News

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and its Committee on the Environment (COTE) have selected what they claim are the nation’s top ten examples of sustainable architecture and ecological design projects. The COTE Top Ten Awards program, now in its 19th year, claims to be the profession’s most rigorous recognition program for sustainable buildings. The program highlights projects that are the result of an “integrated approach to architecture, natural systems and technology … which make a positive contribution to their communities, improve comfort for building occupants and reduce environmental impacts through strategies such as reuse of existing structures, connection to transit systems, low-impact and regenerative site development, energy and water conservation, use of sustainable or renewable construction materials, and design that improves indoor air quality.”

April 16, 2015

WELL building standard launched in China ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property, Wellbeing

The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) and the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) have launched their WELL Building Standard in China. The standard sets out to improve the health and wellbeing of people and claims to complement international green building rating programs such as LEED, BREEAM International and Three Star. The Standard is a performance-based system for measuring, certifying and monitoring features that may impact human health and wellbeing, through air, water, nutrition, light, physical health, comfort and mental and psychological wellbeing. The standard claims to be based on medical research that links buildings with the health and wellness of the people working and living in them and helps building owners and occupiers to understand those links and create a healthier working environment.

April 12, 2015

Green Sky Thinking to focus on designing in sustainability for London ⁰

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Green infrastructure, social sustainability and intelligent design are the main themes for this year’s Green Sky Thinking event, which takes place between 20-24 April. The event includes a range of informal session and on-site talks that highlight what the organisers claim is best practice on how to ‘design in’ sustainability. The purpose of the programme, led by Open-City, is to enable those working within the built environment to see real life sustainable solutions, talking face to face with those responsible for designing, delivering and managing successful schemes. Its ultimate aim is to help them gain a holistic and cross-disciplinary understanding of how sustainable development is being practically applied across London, while understanding the current technologies, policy and thinking and how these translate into practice.

April 7, 2015

New UK Green Building Council Chief Executive lists challenges ahead

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

Julie Hirigoyen, the former UK Head of Sustainability for property consultants JLL takes over today as the new Chief Executive of the UK Green Building Council. Hirigoyen was previously Managing Director and founding partner of Upstream, a leading sustainability strategy consultancy, acquired by JLL in 2007. She said of her new role today: “Buildings and cities are at the heart of what we need to change if we are to achieve sustainable development. There’s been a huge increase in the importance of this agenda, since when I first started out, we were knocking on closed doors. But we must not kid ourselves – we are only at the early stages of the journey. We are still exceeding the limits of the planet, there are still very few genuinely net positive buildings or companies out there, and we are not achieving sustainability as a scientific concept yet – there is much more to do.”

April 2, 2015

CIBSE launches updated guide to environmental building design

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Environment, Facilities management, News, Property

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has published the latest edition of Guide A: Environmental Design which the organisation claims is ‘the premier technical reference source for designers and installers of building services, especially low energy and sustainable buildings’. As well as updates to legislation and new research, the edition includes a completely new chapter which identifies specific requirements for achieving quality in environmental building design: adopting a holistic approach as well as a system to assure the quality of design calculations and decisions. The other chapters deal with a specific aspect of design including criteria such as comfort and ambient weather and methods of calculation for performance, heating and ventilation systems, methods for thermal comfort evaluation, energy demand and so on.