SUSTAINABLE OFFICE
Response to YouGov survey – poor office design impacts health
T
he recent survey results published by YouGov, that stipulated how poor office design can make you unhealthy, are very much in line with the analysis we have been doing at Morgan Lovell for many years. As part of our workplace consultancy approach, we have identified the importance of worker wellbeing and how this can have a severe impact on the success of a business. “For example, ‘sick building syndrome’, or SBS, has been used previously to describe situations in which building occupants experience acute health effects and discomfort that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, yet no specific illness can be identified. To add to this, in 1984, a World Health Organisation Committee report suggested that up to 30% per cent of new and remodelled buildings worldwide may be the subject of excessive complaints related to indoor air
quality (IAQ). Often this condition is temporary, but some buildings have long-term problems. However, it would now seem that the biggest issue we face, as per the YouGov research, is no significant changes seem to have been made since then.
“This begs the question, why not? Well-thought out and sustainable office design is proven to deliver higher performance in energy and other resource use, and higher productivity in human terms. People simply work, see and think better in offices that have more natural lighting, fresher and cleaner air, and where they have more control over their immediate lighting or temperature levels. “Fresh air is also probably at the top of the list of things all office designs should consider. Maintaining or improving air quality and thermal comfort can have a striking effect on staff health, alertness, well-being and productivity as it can
From Sam Sahni,
Head of Workplace Consultancy for Morgan Lovell
maximise individual control, reduce heat gain, and increase natural ventilation and air purification. In addition, there are obvious cost-saving advantages. For example, more daylight or natural light can reduce the need for artificial light which will cut energy use and the demand for cooling. “By considering wellbeing in the workplace, you’re not only investing in your employees’ welfare, but in the life span of the company as well. Your business will ultimately thrive from having happier, healthy employees and your chances of retaining your staff for extended periods of time will also increase.”
www.morganlovell.co.uk
Remanufactured furniture survey finds equivalent quality most important feature
recent survey into re-manufacturing of office furniture found that providing an equivalent quality product mattered most when choosing reused furniture over new. The survey carried out by sustainable workplace solutions provider, Premier Sustain, at Resource this month polled 150 visitors to the circular economy event. Asking them to rank how important they found particular benefits of reused office furniture, 93% of respondents said that equivalent quality is of high importance or extremely important, 73% financial savings, 69% environmental savings, 65% equivalent warranty and 25% shorter deliver times. Ann Beavis, Head of Sustainability, Premier Sustain says: “When we first opened our remanufacturing facility, the Renew Centre, our clients were largely driven by the environmental benefits of our services. As budgets were squeezed the financial savings, which can be as much as 80% compared to new furniture, have become increasingly important. We were interested to see that equivalent quality has
A
come out as mattering most to our respondents but we always knew that if reuse and the circular economy were to become mainstream, our products needed to match the quality, and also warranties, of new furniture. This has been an interesting survey which we will look to repeat over time to help ensure that the benefits of our sustainable furniture solutions match our markets’ requirements”.
The findings of the survey were echoed by Andrew Neale, Head of Facilities at Premier’s long standing client Tesco in his joint presentation with Ann as part of the Resource conference programme. Andrew talked about the business case for remanufactured furniture , sharing case studies showing the financial savings and environmental savings experienced at the same time as receiving quality furniture from Premier that was ‘as good as new’ and that extended the life of existing resources. The survey also found that 41% of respondents had reused refurbished, repaired or remanufactured furniture in their offices.
At the Resource Show, Premier Sustain an- nounced that the company had remanufactured and refurbished over 6,900 items of furniture at its Renew Centre in 2014, representing a five-fold increase on the previous year. The rise follows the launch of the remanufacturing facility last year which due to increasing demand is facing its fourth expansion in the two years since it opened in 2011.
www.premiersustain.co.uk
PSS MAGAZINE • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015
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