4 minute read
Sustainability in the work place is a challenging goal!
Interior Designer Fi Thomas discusses steps for businesses towards an eco-friendly practice
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“‘Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. (United Nations, 1987)” Can sustainability be achieved in work spaces with base building regulations and processes, office fit outs to match work requirements, tight budgets and staff who may or may not care about sustainability? The topic is huge with multiple accredited green organisations involved each with their own set of codes. Therefore this article will provide a brief overview only and showcase activities we can participate in to help a business work towards a better and ecofriendly practice.
The Built Environment
Many architects and designers are encouraged to create sustainable buildings for the future. They seek to obtain a higher Green Star rating. “Green Star is a comprehensive, national, voluntary environmental rating system that evaluates the environmental design and construction of buildings and communities.”
REFERENCE :: FROM GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL AUSTRALIA WEBSITE Work Place Practice
Interior Designers when creating new fit outs already adopt a sustainable approach when they utilise activity based and hot deskwork practises. In the past all staff whether part time or full time might be allocated a desk, now there might be 250 staff but 220 desks. Another common work style is to rent a chair or space within a shared office. This sustainable approach to space, systems, processes and resources means that overall less energy and paper are used. Interior Design
Sustainability in the work place is definitely something that we all have a responsibility to work towards. A designer can encourage clients along a particular direction.Floor plans and spatial layouts can be orientated to increase the amount of natural light and ventilation, reducing energy expenditure. I can also specify low VOC workstations, furniture, carpets and paints can also be specified. A vertical green wall not only looks striking it serves a purpose of filtering the air quality. Wall panelling can be a noise absorber, assist in climate control as well as a decoration element of a fit out. This sustainable culture has been demonstrated in fit outs such as Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Centre and Google.
Instyle Life Sustainable Textile Collection on a screen system
Workplace Furniture and Workstations Traditionally office fit outs and renovations create a huge amount of landfill when furniture and workstations are discarded. There are some companies that resell workstations or reupholster seating to minimise the environmental impact. Responsible manufacturers like Workspace will offer stewardship agreements, where products will be accepted back at the end of their life for refurbishment and reuse, or any disassembly and recycling, to dramatically reduce landfill problems.
Workstations A workstation constitutes a large proportion of the furniture within a work place. Workspace Commercial Furniture has a sustainability policy in place. During the development of the Track workstation system, all materials and processes to be used in its manufacture have been assessed for their environmental sustainability. “We source our flat panel materials, including low emission E0 and E1 rated products, from certified suppliers and we can supply many certified screen fabrics from Australian sources. “Therefore, the Track system meets the stringent requirements of certification programs such as GECA, Eco label and AFRDI Green Tick, assisting building companies to work towards Green Star building accreditation. The good news is some fabrics for workstation screens are sustainable products. GEO Screen on workstations from Instyle is made from 100% Tencel cellulose and is part of their LIFE Sustainable Textiles collection. Furniture Part of the Green Star rating program previously mentioned, is that the furniture should be environmentally certified. AFRDI Green Tick Certification confirms to specifiers, architects and designers that a piece of furniture meets a robust yet realistic level of sustainability requirements.
Unfortunately there are not many pieces of furniture that have this provision at this stage. Task chairs such as the Tempo Chair from Workspace have opted for the Green Tick certification. Designers can specify Conclusion Sustainability or eco-friendly work places are becoming more and more common with governments and large corporations having expectations that they need to deliver on this. Architects and designers are introducing the concept and the products to clients for their fit outs. Sustainability is a hard goal to achieve in the work place but not impossible and not without benefits.
Improved Animal Welfare
No Mulesing and Reduced Pesticide Use: EthEco® wool is sourced from farms that have ceased mulesing, which is the practice of removing skin from a sheep’s hindquarters.
Most Merino sheep in Australia are mulesed and without it, these sheep are highly susceptible to flystrike. INSTYLE sources from specialised Merino sheep that, unlike traditional merinos, are free of skin wrinkling and naturally resistant to flystrike, therefore mulesing and insecticidal treatments are generally not required. The absence of skin wrinkles means that the sheep can be easily shorn without inflicting shearing wounds. EthEco® wool is sourced from sheep that are naturally resistant to pests, reducing or eliminating the need for pesticides. EthEco® wool contains zero or negligible pesticide residues and meets the EU Flower ecolabel requirements. fabric for upholstery in eco-friendly fabrics such as GLIDE. The upholstery shown in the task chair below is made from 100 per cent EthEco wool (low pesticide wool from non-mulesed sheep raised on holistically managed farms) and is part of the LIFE Textiles collection from Instyle.
IMAGE :: INSTYLE :: GREEN TASK CHAIR UPHOLSTERED WITH INSTYLE FABRIC
Fi Thomas www.fithomas.com
