Sustainable Office Design: 5 Best Practices for 2024

The topic of sustainability continues to dominate conversations in the flexible workspace industry. According to The Instant Group, the built environment accounts for around 40% of global carbon emissions – an astonishing figure exemplifying the urgency for making better choices around workspace design, particularly in reaching net zero targets. From opting for circularity in sustainable materials to making buildings greener, and utilising more energy-efficient technology, this article looks at the best practices for sustainable office design in 2024.  

1. Circular office furniture 

Companies benefit from more flexible, shorter-term leases in today’s workspaces. But what happens to furniture and equipment when a company moves on? Sadly, a staggering 300 tonnes of office furniture is thrown into landfills each day, says Paul Nellis, managing director at Koba (a sustainable workspace operator). 

As operators take on greater responsibility for people and the planet, circular solutions are being considered. For instance, BCorp Certified Huckletree (a Nexudus customer) “pledges to ‘prioritise transparency across our operations and to be accountable to community people and planet (not just shareholders).” Rather than throwing away its office furniture, Huckletree recently gave away some used office furniture to a local school. 

Equally, MCM – a BCorp-certified design consultancy for the workspace sector – is committed to designing a low-carbon office that can be taken apart once its lease ends. Its talented design team either builds its office furniture, or sources vintage pieces (which suppliers later repurchase).

2. Sustainable materials

After witnessing the sheer amount of office furniture wastage at WeWork (while working there in a Furniture Director role), Dean Connell went on to launch his own interior design practice promoting circularity in design that’s “more in harmony with the natural systems.” But, circularity in office furniture isn’t just about repurposing. 

Connell urges operators to consider sourcing office furniture that can return to their natural state once their use is up, such as manufacturing with wood. But, not all wood is created equally –  and responsibly sourced wood must be checked for FSC and PEFC certification. Likewise, bamboo is commonly believed to be a sustainable material for its fast-growing properties, but isn’t typically grown in Europe so the supply chain may increase its carbon footprint. Meanwhile, cork is environmentally friendly and native to Portugal and, according to The Ecologist, “a tonne of cork produced retains 73 more tonnes of weight in CO2 in retention.” 

Cork is used for building cladding and as a furniture material, as used by Irena Ubler – a sustainable designer and the founder of COMO (a modular cork furniture company). Ubler says that cork production contributes to its eco-friendly properties because it doesn’t require cutting the cork tree down, and the material is extracted from the exterior. She develops and tests her research at Portugal’s first fab-lab (fabricating laboratory) – Opo’Lab. Workspaces like these support designers and researchers who are making huge contributions to the future of the built environment.

3. Green buildings

Many flexible workspace operators understand the urgency for sustainable practices, with several either having or striving for BCorp certification. Another accreditation is BREEAM – “the world-leading sustainability assessment method for the built environment and infrastructure.”

But it’s not just the activities within a workspace that promote its sustainable practices. For example, FORA’s The Black & White Building is hailed as a “boundary-pushing sustainable workspace,” for being completely constructed from timber. In fact, the building uses “over a third less embodied carbon than comparable six-storey structures due to its (mostly) mass-timber construction.” It can also be taken apart and reused for future use. 

The Black & White Building is also powered by 100% renewable energy – an ambition for many operators, such as The Generator Hub in Exeter, which plans to “run on 100% renewable energy by 2030,” says its Business Director, Liz Finnie. The Generator is located at a Grade-II listed warehouse that once stored French onions. Repurposing existing buildings is recommended over building from the ground up, as the building process is less energy-intensive.

4. Energy efficient tech

However, existing properties tend to bring in more drafts and rely on older, less environmentally friendly heating and cooling processes. That’s where energy-efficient technology comes in handy – to gather data and report on the sustainable performance of a building or workspace. 

80-90% of our time is spent indoors. Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) sensors and intelligent Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems are helpful to install within a workspace to oversee the space conditions. It informs of exposure to any dangerous pollutants, which can increase the “risk of respiratory and cardiovascular illness, cognitive impairment and certain cancers.” Indeed, its benefit is twofold – improving the planet, but also people’s health, and well-being. 

Likewise, a space with ample natural lighting is highly beneficial for wellness, boosting happiness, improving circadian rhythms, and producing Vitamin D. But, where a space can’t emit natural lighting, due to design constraints in older properties or because of the ever-changing weather (particularly in the winter), artificial lighting is necessary. However, it’s highly energy intensive. It’s recommended that LED lights be installed on a sensor so they only come on when the space is in use (and not left switched on when the office is empty). 

5. Zero waste initiatives 

Sustainable practices can trickle down into your community, through all of their activities. For instance, coworkers can be incentivised to turn off lights and energy sources when they leave the office in the evening through adding signage in your workspace and design cues.

Equally, most workspaces come with kitchen facilities, which are better shared amongst several companies rather than having one kitchen per office or customer. Not only does the kitchen provide a point for social interaction, but the amenities within that space can purposefully reduce energy consumption, by sharing a dishwasher or refrigerator amongst a larger group of people, for instance. 

Eliminating single-use plastic in workspaces is also being considered, especially in a capacity where you’re hosting or catering events. Some operators partner with organisations that support them in this process, such as SUPER NGO. Many coworkers chose your workspace because your values around sustainability align. Making a collective and conscious effort to benefit people and the planet not only brings people closer together, but you can all practice what you preach as a community.