Sustainable Office Fitouts: Eco-Friendly Materials and Green Design Solutions

Fitting out an office presents opportunities in several ways. It is a chance to increase efficiency and profitability, a convenient time for reorganising groups and teams, and just as importantly, an opportunity to do something positive for the environment.

The first two on that list are relatively easy: people have been doing these things – or telling themselves they’re doing these things – for decades, if not centuries. You’ve got the mandate, so it’s your project, and you’ve got the budget, or some sort of budget to work within. It’s a challenge but it can be done, with a bit of imagination and a keen eye for a bargain.

Doing a good job for the environment is another matter. Again, you will have a budget to cope with, but you will also have serious responsibilities, because people don’t just talk the talk now: we have to walk the walk. Which brings us to a major consideration: carbon footprint.

How far is what you’re buying for your fitout going to have to travel? Not just from the showroom, but from where the material was grown or found before being made into what you’re about to use?

Use Local Materials When Possible

If you look at the stone buildings in most towns, there is one common type. That is not for effect, it’s because the stone was quarried nearby, which made it a lot easier to bring to the site. Today we’re using the same principle, but not so much for cost and convenience as for the avoidance of using fuel on ships and planes as well as road transport.

Alternatively Recycle or Repurpose

If it is not possible to use furniture and fittings made of materials found locally, consider using furniture that is not brand new. Increasingly there are stores stocking used furniture, often in excellent condition. If you don’t have a place like that near you, search online and see what is on offer.

It is often possible to find desks, chairs, cupboards and shelves in this way, and if they do not match exactly, that tends to happen over the years anyway, when you want to add to a matching set, but they don’t stock it anymore. If you are doing this for ecological reasons, you can be proud of your collection.

For items such as carpets, which are not generally reused for hygiene reasons, it may be possible to find new ones made with recycled materials. Or perhaps go for a wooden floor, buffing up the one you’ve got or using recycled timber.

Choose Your Paint Carefully

‘A lick of paint can make all the difference’, people say, and it’s true. You can transform a room with the right choice of colours. Bu there are good paints and bad ones from an ecological point of view, so bear that in mind. The same with wallpaper; recycled can be every bit as good as new.

Don’t Forget to Introduce Some Nature

Having green plants in the workplace is good psychologically as well as playing a role in providing fresher air. Choose big, cheerful plants with Ultimate Fitout Group today and watch them transform the ambience.