BCO Media, Author at BCO - British Council for Offices

Building accreditations create a universal language for best practice within the construction industry, providing a road map for conscious design which centres around the ESG agenda. With the climate crisis looming ever larger and central government not currently enforcing new design standards, building accreditations are filling the gap by making our industry more sustainable.

Historically considered burdensome, sustainability concerns were passed around with the handover marking a final shift in responsibility from developer to contractor to occupier. The emerging suite of building accreditations means this will no longer be the case, and the industry is adapting accordingly. It is an exciting, challenging time in construction — as an industry we will have to pull together in an unprecedented way to deliver targets which are increasingly vital to the wellbeing of people and the planet.

New entrants to the market from across the globe are driving innovation across the industry

There are a host of new building accreditations on the market, brought in from across the globe. The American contingent includes WELL, FitWel, Wired Score, Smart Score and LEED, while Australia has brought NABERS to the table. Each encourages innovative solutions from developers, which push the market forward in specific ways.

These accreditations focus on a range of sustainability criteria thereby encouraging innovation. Indeed, using all available accreditations as a guide, developers are being prompted to consider the wider scope of their potential impact. This broad scope is motivating a more holistic approach to construction which places the emphasis on longevity and drives an end-to-end approach.

As designers and clients are getting to grips with these new accreditations, conflicts are beginning to emerge. These raise questions and spark creative solutions. For example, if smart technology is introduced on a project, how will it impact operational energy and carbon? If openable windows are installed – which have been shown to improve employee wellbeing, how will that balance with the additional embodied carbon required for the opening mechanism? While it is clear that these accreditations are beneficial from an ESG perspective, the challenge is figuring out how best to optimise their potential.

Together, this roster of new accreditations is changing the conversation around sustainability, and ultimately raising the bar across the industry.

The main driver in creating a culture of accountability in construction is the emergence of data transparent accreditations. This will encourage cross-industry collaboration towards a common end goal — building sustainably.

These accreditations mainly use three forms of scoring mechanisms: checklist, design consultation, and data driven – or a combination of the three.

BREEAM remains the industry benchmark because it is enforced through the planning process, but ultimately it is data-focused accreditations, such as NABERS, that are driving a complete overhaul in terms of how the industry regards building accreditations. The formerly dominant checklist approach, which ends at the point of handover, is no longer enough. Clients expect a more thorough consideration of green building practices, which extend throughout a building’s lifecycle.

BREEAM is still the bottom line, but by incorporating a cross-section of new accreditations, designers and developers can create more comprehensive outcomes. Capitalising on the availability of data that accreditations provide enables developers to produce buildings that continuously adapt to and deliver on sustainability goals.

It is clear that data driven accreditations provide a much more transparent, and therefore influential, overview of operational impact — which is ultimately what matters. Only when we capture and monitor this data are we going to be able to drive tangible improvement as an industry.

Accountability from end to end is what clients now expect, prompting an industry-wide paradigm shift towards a more holistic approach, which fits the ESG agenda.

With data-driven accreditations such as NABERS, ratings can only be achieved when meter readings are taken a year after occupancy. This kind of transparency completely shifts the goalposts, widening the scope for continual improvement which involves everyone and lasts long after handover.

Hard data offers a much clearer insight into the true sustainability credentials of a building by continuous monitoring over its operational lifetime. This is assessed year on year, which means there is no longer a clear division of responsibility. Designers and developers need to create something which is truly efficient; contractors need to deliver on that; and occupiers and asset managers have to maintain and improve on operational performance throughout the duration of the building’s life.

The availability of data will also directly affect asset value, market recognition and market reputation, which will be an incredibly powerful catalyst for change from a business perspective. Transparency of data effectively means that there is nowhere to hide — which will ultimately define the next phase of accountability in pursuit of genuine green buildings.

Moving forwards, there is — rightfully — a sense of constant monitoring which is a direct result of accreditation related data collection. No one will be exempt from this, because green buildings can’t exist without conscious investment and improvement at every stage, from every angle. The pursuit of sustainability is a constant process of improving operational performance to optimise a building over its lifetime, and data transparency means that everyone has to deliver because the facts are laid bare. This visibility holds people and businesses to account, and in turn, that accountability will raise the bar across the industry — ultimately shifting the market. Everyone will become more involved: investors, developers, clients, contractors and occupiers, end to end.

End-to-end requires a collaborative approach to building accreditations

Alongside changes in accreditations’ measurement, there is also a stronger focus on the full lifecycle of a project. Historically, assessment mechanisms have been static but the industry is beginning to adapt to working in a way where accreditations are a constant presence. This requires a collaborative approach — as the drive towards building sustainably gathers momentum, developers, contractors and occupiers will increasingly need to work together across the full lifecycle of a project.

Because accreditations are now end-to-end, it is no longer acceptable for developers to tick a box and move on, effectively terminating responsibility at the point of handover. Increasingly, a culture of early contractor involvement is arising which extends from consultancy through to occupation, and there is a significant change in how we approach the aftercare of assets. Clear-cut transfer of responsibilities are ceasing to exist. To maintain a presence and enact a force for change through handover requires an industry-wide overhaul from the design phase through to contractor and asset manager involvement.

While sustainable building design is already a priority, there is as yet no requirement to enforce sustainable practices past the point of handover. It’s not clear if this will need to be realised on a contractual basis or whether the market will shift more naturally towards green practices — thereby fulfilling client expectations organically. Arranging Green Leases with tenants is a potential avenue towards creating more sustainable buildings, i.e., explaining how occupiers should use the building in order to minimise operational energy as part of the lease agreement. It is also entirely possible that as people become more aware of the climate crisis, tenants will use buildings in a more consciously green way, thereby negating the need for a contract that stipulates the terms of use. It remains to be seen but will have to be monitored and assessed continuously.

The culture of accountability and collaborative approach created by the new wave of building accreditations is what will deliver lasting change in the industry. The incremental, intentional, collaborative progress they engender will ultimately drive the industry towards a more sustainable future.

With greater accountability and a more end-to-end approach, we’re on the right path as an industry

There is a question mark over how best to proceed in terms of building efficiently for the longer term, and as of yet we don’t have all the answers. What matters is that by using the many accreditations available as a road map, we are on the right path as an industry — intentionally making the design and operation of our buildings more productive, green and inclusive, consciously building a better future.

Deadline 29 July: a final reminder to have your say.

British Council for Offices proposes changes to Guide to Specification key design criteria to reflect recent unprecedented external influences and lower occupancy rates

The British Council for Offices (BCO) has released a position paper proposing updated key design criteria, as part of its most recognised publication, the BCO Guide to Specification.

We are asking our members to join the discussion by providing their comments and feedback on the criteria proposed in the position paper so that we can consider any fine-tuning required before we incorporate the new criteria into the digital version of the guide.

The guide, which is normally published every 4 or 5 years, provides expert best practice advice on how to specify office space, helping industry practitioners provide space that meets the needs of occupiers, helping them to conduct their business in safe, healthy, comfortable, and productive workspaces.

This selective update comes ahead of schedule and is in response to significant changes to the office sector since its last publication in 2019, with the pandemic drastically transforming the way in which we work and use the office.

The intention of this update to the BCO Guide Key Criteria is to reflect changes in design thinking over the last three years, taking in the climate crisis, the drive towards net zero carbon (NZC), COVID-19, moves to hybrid working, changes in occupational density, changes in regulations, and improvements in equipment performance.

A copy of the paper can be downloaded here. Please send any comments to research@bco.org.uk.

The deadline for receiving comments is 29 July 2022.

Belfast is a city full of ambition, optimism, and above all, energy. It is a modern, compact capital city packed with history and world-class culture.

As a talented, competitive and connected city, it is the second fastest growing knowledge economy in the UK, with excellent digital infrastructure and thriving clusters of high growth companies in the likes of financial technology and cyber security. It is one of the youngest cities in Europe with over 40 percent of its population aged 30 years or younger and has been recognised as the world’s most business-friendly small city by the FT.

Led by the BCO Northern Committee this one day event will provide the opportunity to understand and engage with the Belfast Office Market and it’s leading occupiers, developers and business leaders.

Photography Competition

The BCO’s photography competition is back, with fantastic cash prizes for the lucky winners! If you are joining us in Manchester this June, you could be in with a chance of winning by entering your best photographs from the event.

As an inclusive competition, open to all conference attendees from all disciplines and skill levels, we’ve made it easier than ever to take part, with a choice of three entry options:

• Instagram with the hashtag #LeadingLightManchester
• The conference app (available soon)
• Or, by e-mailing mail@bco.org.uk

Take a look at some Instagram inspiration from around Manchester:

Amy Leech, tp bennett (Chair)
Francesca Harrison, Ryder Architecture (Vice Chair)

Tom Giddings, Rider Levett Bucknall
Joseph Lazell, Atelier Ten
Danielle Ford, Dalbergia Group
James Thorneycroft, Arup
Jamie Risner, Arup
Molly Macaulay, Overbury Plc
Charlotte Wild, Bruntwood
Richard Mitchell, Savills
Emma Bramley, Cartwright Pickard Architects (photo coming soon).

The BCO’s photography competition is back, with fantastic cash prizes for the lucky winners! If you’re attending the BCO’s annual conference in Manchester this June, you could stand a chance of winning up to £1000 by entering your best photographs from the event.

As an inclusive competition open to all BCO Conference attendees, from all disciplines and skill levels, this year we’ve made it easier than ever to enter, either via:

Meet the esteemed panel behind the competition, as they share what they’ll be looking out for in your submissions:

Patricia de Isidoro is a Spanish artist and architect based in London, where she has been residing since 2005, developing her art practice and producing a number of large art installations. She has also led the design of a number of complex, large-scale architectural schemes and has worked on international projects in Madrid, Milan and London.

Both an artist and architect, the perception of space is a fundamental aspect of Patricia’s practice. Perhaps the epitome of her work is 245 Hammersmith Road, a large commercial office building that she not only helped to design as an architect, but she also created a site-specific artwork installation – with the client commissioning her largest work to date ‘3000 threads 3000 hands’ which crowns the main reception space.

Patricia’s ethos towards creativity lies in her belief in the ‘synthesis of the Arts’. Her curiosity in the creative process and her playful approach to experimentation leads her to a multidisciplinary approach in her practice. To her, there are no boundaries between disciplines, only opportunities to expand the work without limits.

Through her art and the act of storytelling, she hopes to evoke powerful feelings in and inspire a deeper connection with the observer by communicating the poetic aspect of life.

Mark Kowal, RIBA, Partner, Sheppard Robson, BCO President, 2022 Manchester Conference Chair

Mark Kowal has over 25 years of experience designing offices. His expertise covers speculative and headquarters buildings, as well as both new-build and refurbishment solutions. He recently worked on 245 Hammersmith Road, which integrates a series of new public spaces, Building 2 at the Future Works development in Slough, and on the Siemens Middle East Headquarters in Abu Dhabi.

Having been recently appointed to the role of BCO president, Mark is well-placed to observe the great disruption and change that office life is going through. As such, he understands the need to re-think or re-set the office of the future – the focal point of this year’s conference.

For this year’s photography competition, Mark decided to put Manchester, a cosmopolitan modern powerhouse, in the spotlight with the ‘Leading Light Manchester’ theme. He hopes that participants will share their unique perspectives on the city’s architecture, vibrant arts and culture, and capture Manchester’s distinctive essence in their submissions.

“A pointer I would give to anyone thinking of taking part: Look for a unique angle in order to tell a story – go beyond the individual photograph in order to communicate Manchester’s relationship with space and time.”

Robin Brodie Cooper, Director, Gleeds, BCO, immediate past president

In his capacity as the BCO’s long-time Treasurer and previous president, Robin Brodie Cooper has built a deep understanding of the office industry. He has been with Gleeds for almost 35 years now and has risen to become an Equity Partner, holding numerous directorships within the company.

Focusing on the commercial aspects of the City of London, Robin has recently worked on delivering 52 Lime Street (also known as The Scalpel) and 10 Fen Court, celebrated for its rooftop public garden. Robin is the Honorary Treasurer of The City Architecture Forum.

While Covid disrupted the 2020 BCO Conference, Robin chaired a virtual – or partly virtual –conference later in the year which explored the future of the post-Covid workplace. A keen ‘Instaman’ himself, Robin has an appreciation for artistic still life photography and joins the panel this year eager to see which buildings entrants will select and how they take on the challenge of showcasing the structure’s most aesthetically pleasing parts.

Alex Lawlor, an Associate Director at Faithful+Gould, works within the corporate real estate sector delivering office fit-out and refurbishment projects for clients and occupiers across London. With an array of nominations and accolades under her belt, she received the Atkins’ President’s Award in 2018, was a finalist for BCO NextGen Rising Star L&SE in 2019, and was awarded the Faithful+Gould’s Employee of the Year in 2019. Her diverse qualifications in project management, structural engineering and architecture, coupled with a personal interest in photography, make her the perfect panelist for this competition. She has a keen appreciation for creative design and an eye for detail.

Vasiliki Bowler is a Senior Project Manager at Faithful+Gould. She represents their Corporate Real Estate Forum and digital services and specialises in client and stakeholder management, building prosperous relationships around her. Having recently been awarded the CIOB Rising Star Award, she now acts as a mentor and supports professional development within Faithful+Gould as an APC supervisor and guest assessor. Vasiliki has always had a passion for the arts including visualisations, graphics, and photography, appreciating its power to generate emotion and dialogue.

Giles Martin joined WilkinsonEyre in 2004 and has since led a number of the practice’s high-profile commercial projects. He is inspired by precise construction detailing and material technology and is intrigued by the possibilities of developing these themes on large, complex urban developments.

At the heart of Giles’s design approach is the use of contemporary systems and new materials to add an important dimension to the design repertoire – one that results in enhancing the experience of architecture in people’s lives.

Giles took home the 1st place prize at the last BCO Conference photography competition with his winning entry of Maersk Tower whilst exploring the architectural views at the conference in Copenhagen. The 2019 panel praised his photograph’s composition, calling his entry ‘visually delicious.’

As our Annual Conference in Manchester nears, the NextGen are excited to invite you to an evening of drinks and dancing at Manchester’s Freight Island on Tuesday 14 June from 8pm onwards.

Whilst the conference is now fully booked, all NextGen members – delegates or not – are invited to attend the NextGen ‘After party’, which will be a fantastic opportunity to meet and mingle with friends and colleagues.

We will provide a few drinks, food, and entertainment, just bring yourself and enjoy a taste of Manchester’s vibrant night life!

Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to connect with your NextGen community, get your tickets here and come celebrate this past year’s achievements with us.

One of the most-quoted statistics on the impact of embodied carbon in the built environment is that 80 percent of the buildings we’ll need by 2050 already exist. This provides a clear rationale for the reuse and retrofit of existing buildings; however, as the redevelopment of city office buildings continues at a rapid pace, there are many examples where keeping existing buildings isn’t seen as a viable option – whether that’s for financial, structural or various other reasons. This conflict leads to fierce debate and friction between carbon and commercial aspirations and priorities.

The principles of circularity may provide a resolution to this debate. When viewed from a circular mindset, existing buildings have much to offer, and by designing adaptable, demountable structures, we have an opportunity to sustainably extend the lifespan of buildings and their materials.

To further understand and explore these opportunities, BCO Nextgen brought together a panel of industry experts working at the forefront of circularity. These included Rachel Hoolahan (Sustainability Coordinator at Orms), Steve Gilchrist (Project Director at Grosvenor), Andrea Charlson (Commercial Manager and Built Environment Lead at ReLondon), and Laura Batty (Structural Engineer and Associate at Heyne Tillett Steel).

Rachel Hoolahan set the challenge at Orms to aim for at least one deep sustainability assignment on each project. This design-research mentality is leading to innovation that unlocks circular economy opportunities. During the panel discussions, she raised the challenges and questions brought to light during the redevelopment of 160 Old Street, a former Royal Mail sorting office.

The project achieved a 70 percent uplift in net internal area through a reconfiguration and extension, while retaining 76 percent of the existing structure, saving nearly 3,000 tons of CO₂emissions. The key challenge, however, was ensuring the additional floorplates were flexible and of a high-quality, as expected in a new building. Although the retention and extension of the existing structure had the biggest carbon savings, it was in the selection, specification and design of new elements that needed the most challenging. Hoolahan gave the example of the ceramic sinks in the washrooms, which could be “easily uninstalled, disassembled and reused in the future, [while opening] up the opportunity to source reused sinks as the initial specification.”

While this is just one example of a ‘deep assignment’, by implementing this circular mindset both at a large and small scale, the materials and the building are ensured for long-term, flexible and sustainable use.

Grosvenor has been exploring circularity innovations across several projects, both in terms of practical applications and the long-term implications of them. They see materials reuse as an opportunity to balance their materials across a range of sites. But as project director Steve Gilchrist explained, circularity can be a wide-ranging topic, so you need to be focused to create any meaningful change.

He explained that during a recent project, in collaboration with Orms, Grosvenor paused the design to slow down and focus on the long-term impact of the building. Steve said,“We want [the design team] to learn about the building now, [and] think about how things could be done in the future,” before rushing into the design.This thinking, combined with Grosvenor’s ambition to explore the full process of implementing circularity, meant the design team could engage with detailed building surveys and thoroughly understand the materials within the building, and whether they could be reused. The team also worked with lawyers on warranties, to ensure these ideas could be implemented in a commercially sustainable way.

In demonstrating to supply chains that reusing materials from existing building stock can be viable, Grosvenor are paving the way for more detailed circular material models in future.

While the private sector is making tremendous progress, the public sector is critical to the successful adoption of circular economy strategies across the industry. ReLondon, a partnership between the Mayor of London and the London boroughs, is on a mission to revolutionise London’s relationship with products and waste. As Andrea Charlson put it, ReLondon are “helping London waste less, reuse, recycle, repair and share more.”

One of ReLondon’s focus areas is the inclusion of circularity in The London Plan. The policy around reducing waste and supporting a circular economy has four key elements; a requirement to collaborate, promote a more circular economy, produce innovation, and adhere to targets around waste diversion from landfill and reuse. However, the most significant element for most large developments is the requirement for referrable schemes to submit a circular economy statement as part of the planning process. Two of the most interesting components of embedding circularity in the planning process is the need for a pre-demolition audit – if the site’s being demolished or redevelopment – and the post-construction requirements that show how a building can be adapted and reused in future. Where this is implemented, it is expected that we’ll see a real-world reduction in the use of virgin materials across the whole life of a project, leading to a reduced carbon budget.

ReLondon is part of a consortium of 31 organisations across 4 cities (London, Copenhagen, Hamburg and the Helsinki region) who are working together on the Horizon 2020-funded ‘Circular Construction in Regenerative Cities’ (CIRCuIT) project. Through the project, they are aiming to reduce the yearly consumption of virgin raw materials by 20% in new construction, and show cost savings of 15% – something that can only be achieved through collaboration. ReLondon are also trying to improve the quantity of data available, and the accessibility of existing data, while providing tools to access it – all of which will help ReLondon, and fellow organisations, achieve this collective goal of reducing waste and carbon.

By pushing for policy change in the public sector, ReLondon are steering the local industry, and indeed a global city, in the direction of circularity.

While the opportunity and scalability of circularity offers the potential to revolutionise the construction industry and reduce our impact on finite resources, there are also easy wins that all projects can, and must, start actioning. Not every project will have a reusable structure, and not every project team has access to a materials bank, but through early design decisions, we can make new buildings easier to adapt, reuse and disassemble in the future.

Laura Batty runs the internal research and development department at Heyne Tillett Steel, where they’ve been exploring the principles of circular design and disassembly on various projects, including their new offices at 16 Chart Street. She says the opportunity to extend the lifespan of the things we use is important, and by creating structures that are “designed to be disassembled and reused at a higher possible value, [we are] eliminating waste and pollution, avoiding things being designed to be thrown away, and designing instead to facilitate reappropriation and recycling.” Designing structures that can be disassembled using bolted connections and exposed steelwork, for example, makes the process of disassembly more achievable when the building’s functional life is over.

By factoring the end of a building’s life into its design, we can redefine the life cycles of buildings and establish a framework for a circular industry.

It’s clear from the panellists that circularity cannot be achieved in isolation – it needs to be a collaborative process, between internal teams, developers and designers, and the public and private sectors. Circularity looks set to revolutionise the workplace life cycle and reduce the sector’s impact on the environment, but only if everyone involved is willing to move beyond the standard models of design, procurement and occupation, and shift towards closing the loop instead.

We wish to thank our panellists for their unique, expert perspectives on the challenges and opportunities of circularity in practice. To listen to the full discussion, click the link here.

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Latest news

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