Sustainable offices: Tackling fit-out waste

So much office fit-out is wasted when occupiers move into new or previously occupied space, and if the real estate industry - and tenants - are to deliver on sustainability goals, the approach needs to change.

“It used to be more common that buildings were delivered to shell and core so that the tenants could fit out the space to their requirements rather than modifying or ripping out what the landlord had installed,” says Richard Love, Partner. “But we seem to have moved away from that.”

Iconic buildings like the Walkie Talkie – 20 Fenchurch Street - in the City of London were developed to shell and core, for example.

However, it’s not just new buildings where there is waste, the way dilapidations are set up and managed means fit out isn’t recycled, reused or repurposed.

Everything purchased from new and installed in a fit-out has a carbon footprint associated with its production and transportation, known as embodied carbon. Reducing these emissions is as important as improving the energy efficiency and operational carbon footprint of our buildings.

“It’s an education. There is a willingness from occupiers to use refurbished materials, and to recycle or donate equipment and furniture if given the options and means for doing so,” says Tom Roundell Greene, Head of Sustainability.

Taking a sustainable approach to office fit out not only helps businesses meet environmental goals but also helps showcase what they are doing in a tangible and relatable way. It means good stories to tell to help demonstrate ESG values.

But first, we need to break the cycle that generates so much fit-out waste. At the end of a tenancy, driven by dilapidations, the space will often be stripped out, refurbished and put back into a condition that represents the beginning of the lease.

“The next tenant comes in and strips it out, modifies the space, and so the cycle begins again. That’s just the way we’ve always done it. From a sustainability point of view, it doesn’t make any sense,” says Love.

Part of the problem is outdated legislation, the overarching principals stem from the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, at which time the market was very different.

It’s important that a tenancy shouldn’t leave a landlord out of pocket and able to recover their costs through dilapidations, but how they are quantified needs a rethink. Is it too subjective? Is there too much focus on aesthetics?

Landlords are reluctant to show space unless everything is new and as a result, that is what tenants are used to seeing. No one looks to see if the previous tenant's fit-out could work with some adaptation. The recent leaning towards “Cat A+” or “part fitted” space only exacerbating the issue, with Landlord doing even more work which tenants later come to adjust or even remove altogether.

“Taking a prospective tenant on that journey, showing them a more sustainable option and how it could be adapted to minimise waste and carbon emissions would make a building more appealing,” believes Love.

However, it requires landlords to be brave and have a conversation with the tenant about sustainability: what can be fitted as new, what can remain, and what the options are for using recycled items.

Businesses are switched on to what their staff see. “There is a whole range of options other than having brand new, and that is potentially a feature; it can become part of the company's USP,” says Roundell Greene.

“There is a cultural change happening that reusing or recycling, whatever you want to call it, is a positive draw. It’s a low-carbon, low-waste approach.”

The focus on what an office looks like also needs to change. Suspended ceilings to hide plant are often not very durable and can make it challenging to install partitions. Although, exposed plant has become trendy in some quarters.

Offices need to perform specific functions, but there must be questions about what is needed in the first place and how the space can be used sustainably.

For example, each meeting room or individual office that is installed has to have its own lighting and HVAC, which isn’t as sustainable.

“From a sustainability point of view, the best thing you can do is put as little as possible into your office space,” says Roundell Greene.

Sustainable fit-out and refurbishment is a learning curve for tenants and landlords requiring a change in long-held practices.

“If there was a developer or landlord taking a sustainable approach to fit out or refurbishment and willing to do a good deal, I know lots of tenants that would go on that journey given that opportunity,” says Love.