As governments crack down on emissions, waste and carbon, can the fit-out sector do more?
By Chris Wheal
July 10, 2024
Using electric vehicles is a good start on the road to sustainability
Fit-out firms must do more for the planet. That’s easy to say and harder to do. But the evidence suggests not all fit-out firms are driving the sustainability agenda.
Just looking at driving itself sums this up. International electric vehicle (EV) campaigner The Climate Group is pushing for the EU to force firms with fleets of vehicles to switch to EVs.
Zero emissions
“We strongly call on the European Commission to develop zero-emission corporate fleet targets for light, medium and heavy-duty vehicles, based on a thorough impact assessment. These targets shall be complemented by enabling conditions to allow businesses to fulfil the mandate, including sufficient supply of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) and consistent deployment of charging infrastructures across the EU,” it said last week.
The new Labour government in London has committed to decarbonise the electricity grid in the UK by 2030. An early appointment was Chris Stark, former chief executive of the Climate Change Committee, to head a new Mission Control “tasked with turbocharging the UK to clean power by 2030”.
Electric vehicles
The Climate Group has a long-running EV100 project encouraging businesses to switch their fleet cars to EVs. Looking through the firms taking part for construction companies is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.
One firm heavily involved in fit-out, Willmot Dixon, has signed up. Its initial target was to: "transition its fleet of nearly 500 company cars to EV and install charging at its offices and construction sites to support EV uptake by staff by 2030”. In the latest EV100 report covering 2023 Willmot Dixon reported it had moved 82% of its target 574 vehicle to EVs already. This is on top of using renewable energy at all its offices and sites.
These small steps should be supported. But why are so few in the building trades involved in these initiatives?
Rip-out fit-outs
It’s not just transport. Waste is a huge problem. In April this year architect Allford, Hall, Monaghan, Morris (AHMM) produced a report called Fit Out – Rip Out. It calculated that the habit of ripping out the interiors of building and replacing everything from new was huge.
Previous calculations from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) had assumed construction products remained in place until the end of their useful life. Rip-out fit-outs mean the actual carbon cost is about two and a half times greater than RICS suggested, AHMM reckons.
“These findings suggest that our industry's approach to fit-out not only has a marked impact on upfront carbon, but that the influence this has over the lifespan of a building is greater still. The results illustrate that while design strategies can help reduce potential life-cycle carbon, it alone cannot fix this issue, and that attitudes of stakeholders across the industry need to be challenged,” the AHMM report says.
Waste reduction
There are initiatives to reduce waste and boost sustainability in fit-out. In the UK the FIS is the trade group for the fit-out sector. It has specific projects for flooring, plasterboard and ceilings. It tries to make clear that savings could be made. Firms spend more getting rid of waste plasterboard than they spend on buying the brand new plasterboard in the first place, it claims.
The AHMM report makes clear that clients need to come on board and accept, or even want, a more environmentally friendly fit-out that might look a little different to current expectations.
But in the meantime, it’s clear fit-out firms could do more.
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