Having an environmentally friendly office plays a significant role in representing your brand every day. The office creates the first impression of a company, and your dedication to delivering quality services and products is portrayed in an eco-friendly space.
If you are serving customers from a conventional office, you may require an eco-friendly office refurbishment, and you will be amazed at the difference this will make to you and your business.
The tips below aim to help you in getting started on an eco-friendly office space to last a lifetime.
Lighting
An eco-friendly office needs to be refurbished to allow as much natural light as possible during the day. Eliminating the use of light bulbs during the day will save you a lot of money on energy bills. You can use curtains which allow in enough light, while keeping off direct sunlight that would heat up the office or hinder vision. Well-lit rooms have also been known to boost the morale of the employees and keep them active throughout the day. At night, you need to replace your power traditional incandesce bulbs with the energy saving LEDs or LED panel. Apart from these bulbs saving energy, they also ensure the room maintains its right temperature. While focusing on using light bulbs with low power consumption, you need to create a culture of switching off lights when not in use to further save on your energy bills.
Eco-friendly Material
You may need to draft in the experts for a professional paint job as part of your office refurbishment project, to give the workspace a modern and attractive look. Many professional office refurbishment companies, such as Saracen Interiors, plan ahead to avoid nasty fumes and smells in the office after painting, especially when the company’s operations cannot be paused. The use of eco-friendly paints, free of vinyl, oils and acrylics enable you to continue working in the office immediately after the painting is complete.
For the materials that you use around the office, you can invest in green office stationery and recycled papers. Employees should also be encouraged to print only when necessary to reduce wastage. You may also consider going paperless in the office where the employees use electronics as a medium of communication and saving data. A paperless office will reduce waste while keeping the room clean and manageable in retrieving data.
Controlled Cooling and Heating Systems
The temperature in the office needs to be in the appropriate range for the entire year regardless of the season. During any office refurbishment, you need to invest in eco-friendly air conditioners which automatically control the temperature at the set range. These systems will switch off when no one is using the office and will function only when needed. More so, they come with apps which enable you to control the systems from your mobile devices wherever you are.
A Green or Living Roof
If you are serious about making an eco-statement in your office, then you need to install a living roof on your building. A roof that is entirely or partially covered with plants and vegetation will keep the room insulated during winter and cool in summer. Bringing plants into the office will also help in purifying the air all day long, boost workplace productivity and give the office a lively appearance.
Invest in Laptops
While making changes around the office, the kind of electronics used will determine the work output and the amount of energy saved. Conventional PCs use a lot of energy and you may consider substituting them with modern laptops which have low power consumption. Apart from saving energy from using laptops in the office, your work output will consequently increase as employees can work on unfinished projects from home in the evening or during the weekends.
Waste Management
The first factor to consider before thinking about how to manage the waste in your office is enlightening your employees. Workers need to be made aware of the benefits of reducing waste and the appropriate waste disposal. Having a centralised waste management system will help employees shy away from careless wastage by using individual bins. Employees in the office should also distinguish between containers which hold recyclable materials from those that cannot be recycled to enhance a more natural and efficient recycling process.
Build a Sustainability Team
Some employees in the firm may be reluctant in keeping up with the environmentally friendly office, leading to careless disposal and wastage. Having a team that monitors and creates awareness of the need to have an eco-friendly room will keep them on the ball in ensuring all rules are adhered to. The sustainability team will play a significant role in encouraging employees of the need to have an eco-friendly office as opposed to doing it is as a company’s policy. This team can also create awareness of the essence of cycling to work rather than driving.
All the above works towards crafting an office refurbishment that builds for the future whilst maintaining an ethos of sustainability. The best of both worlds.
