A Short Guide to Sustainable Office Refurbishment

With buildings and infrastructure in the UK contributing approximately 25% to total UK greenhouse gas emissions, it’s crucial for organisations to prioritise sustainability when revamping their office spaces. In this blog, we delve into the vital aspects of sustainable office refurbishment, highlighting its environmental benefits and showcasing the exceptional efforts of MullenLowe, an international advertising agency, in their sustainable office refurbishment. ­­­

Why embrace sustainability in office refurbishment?

Many companies today have robust environmental policies in place, emphasising the need to minimise environmental impact, source sustainable products, and manage waste through recycling activities. They also understand the importance of reducing energy consumption, through energy-efficient lighting and optimised heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems.

However, when it comes to refurbishing office spaces, these principles often take a back seat. This oversight is likely due to the infrequent nature of refurbishment projects, which occur once a decade or less, and fall outside the realm of day-to-day operations.

Ignoring these principles during refurbishment represents a missed opportunity to make a substantial impact to reduce resource use and your organisation’s environmental footprint.

There’s a simple yet profound concept: the most sustainable purchase is the one you don’t make.

While some organisations make efforts to source sustainable or recycled materials during refurbishment, they’ve already missed the chance not to buy or replace items. Refreshing a building doesn’t mean that everything has to be replaced. Reusing products and materials that still serve their purpose prevents waste which is the optimal outcome – even better than recycling. Some products may require cleaning, repairs, or refurbishment, but are still perfectly usable.

Getting started with sustainable office refurbishment

When considering sustainable office refurbishment, circular economy principles serve as an important and useful guide. The circular economy is a term used to describe an alternative way of thinking and living, both for consumers and businesses. It is a model based on 3 key principles:

• Eliminating waste and pollution: the circular economy seeks to eradicate the concept of waste entirely, striving for a world where resources are used efficiently, and pollution is minimised.
• Keeping products and materials in circulation at their highest value: Instead of the traditional “take, make, dispose” model, the circular economy aims to maintain the value of products and materials by prolonging their usefulness through various strategies.
• Helping nature regenerate: This principle acknowledges the importance of nurturing our natural ecosystem and working in harmony with the environment to restore and regenerate what has been depleted.

Elements of the circular economy manifest in various activities, including:

• Waste prevention: The circular economy starts at the source by preventing waste generation and reducing waste production, reducing the need for disposal.
• Reuse: It encourages the reuse of items, allowing others to benefit from products even after the original owner has finished using them, reducing the demand for new resources.
• Repair and refurbishment: Rather than discarding broken items, the circular economy advocates for fixing and refurbishing them, giving them a new lease of life, and reducing the need for replacements.
• Remanufacture: This involves remaking or rebuilding items using original or replacement components, some of which may have been repurposed from similar items, extending their useful life.
• Renting and servitisation: Instead of owning products outright, individuals and businesses can choose to rent products or services, reducing the overall demand for new items.
• The sharing economy: By making products available for others to use when they are not in use, the sharing economy promotes resource sharing and minimises redundancy.
• Industrial symbiosis: The concept involves utilising waste or surplus materials from one process as the feedstock for another, reducing and optimising resource use.

Familiarising yourself with the various circular approaches to office refurbishment will allow you to identify opportunities to make your own refurbishment as sustainable as possible.

Benefits of sustainable office refurbishment

The benefits of sustainable refurbishment are substantial:

Optimised resource use and longevity: sustainable refurbishment maximises resource efficiency and extends the lifespan of existing assets.

Waste minimisation: It minimises waste generation, reducing your organisation’s overall environmental impact.

Carbon footprint reduction: By avoiding the generation of greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable refurbishment contributes to achieving your organisation’s sustainability goals.

Resource resilience: it shields organisations from disruptions relating to material scarcity, logistics issues, and fluctuating energy prices.

Talent retention and attraction: Staff are more likely to work for a company with a strong sustainability policy evidenced by what is done in practice.

MullenLowe’s office refurbishment

MullenLowe, an international advertising agency headquartered in London, is part of the Interpublic Group, one of the world’s largest advertising agency holding companies. Green Element has been working with MullenLowe since 2012, helping them to drastically reduce their environmental impact through implementation of Environmental Management Systems and ISO14001 accreditation.

MullenLowe’s environmental policy aligns with waste hierarchy principles of waste prevention and reuse of resources, and a procurement policy that ensures minimising environmental impact. Their objectives include measuring procurement emissions as part of the overall strategy of achieving greenhouse gas emission reductions in order to achieve reduction targets .

With these principles in mind, MullenLowe embarked on a project to refurbish employee meeting and dining/event spaces, aiming to achieve a fresh look while retaining, refurbishing, repurposing, and reusing existing fittings and furniture. They embraced four circular economy approaches:

MullenLowe retained:

• Seating
• Lighting
• Perimeter desk surfaces
• Floor tiles
• Kitchen equipment: fridges, ovens, sinks, work surfaces

MullenLowe refurbished:

• Boardroom chairs

MullenLowe repurposed:

• Office desk pedestals repurposed as seat cushions

MullenLowe reused:

• Hot taps from another part of the building and chairs from another group company

MullenLowe’s goal was to refurbish their employee meeting and dining space with minimal waste, low carbon impact, and cost-effectiveness while achieving a fresh, modern look. They achieved these objectives by:

• Avoiding disposal of items
• Reducing the carbon impact of new purchases, including packaging and transport
• Realising cost savings by reusing existing items

Outcomes: reduction in environmental impact for MullenLowe

With the help of Green Element, MullenLowe conducted a   carbon footprint assessment to quantify the greenhouse gas savings of their approach. For everything reused, greenhouse gas emissions were calculated for an equivalent new item. For refurbished items, deductions were made to reflect any replaced elements.

These calculations used DEFRA conversion factors to express emissions in kilograms of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (KgCO2e). Where precise product manufacturer information was not available, calculations were based on comparable products and using estimates of weights, material composition, and percentage component contribution to the overall product.

There are emissions associated with waste disposal. While this aspect was not included in our calculations, it is worth bearing in mind that the impact of reusing these items and not throwing them away is in fact even greater than the savings illustrated in this example.

By adopting a sustainable approach to their refurbishment,  MullenLowe achieved estimated savings of over 8.5 Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (TCO2e).

MullenLowe’s sustainable office refurbishment serves as an inspiring example of how organisations can significantly reduce their environmental impact while creating a fresh and inviting workspace. Embracing sustainability not only benefits the planet but also enhances resource efficiency and resilience for your organisation. It’s a win-win approach that every organisation should consider when embarking on office refurbishment projects.

With thanks to Jonathan Williams, formerly of MullenLowe, for his work on the Town Hall project which inspired this blog, Leila Dunning Projects (architect), and Lucie Goddard, Kings College London MSc intern at Green Element, Daniel Crockatt, Junior Climate Analyst at Green Element, as well as Phillip Parrott, former Junior Climate Analyst at Green Element, for their work on the carbon footprint calculations.

Resources:

If you’re looking to find out more about the circular economy and how to embed circular and sustainable practices into your business, then check out these helpful resources:

Blog: Making the Linear Circular: a short guide to the circular economy | Blog (greenelement.co.uk)

Podcast: The Circular Economy: How to Incorporate it into your Business (greenelement.co.uk)

Podcast: Making housing more sustainable – Retrofit or Rebuild | Podcast (greenelement.co.uk)

Warp It: Warp It is a platform for office furniture, equipment, and other resources for those looking to find, give away, lend, or borrow. The website templates make it easy to use. Rates depend on the size of your business, with reduced rates for charities and not-for-profits. Already very popular with schools and universities, this is also a good tool to consider for large organisations with lots of different offices or subsidiary companies. While intranets and advertising boards (real and virtual) can work, platforms like Warp It is ‘plug and play’ and can be set up to operate exclusively within the company (if preferred), avoiding the need to create and maintain an internal platform.

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