Conservation Council Sustainable Office Report 2013 ... · post-consumer waste and has process chlorine free bleaching status. ... reintroduction of manufacturing ... Conservation

Sustainable Office 2013

Conservation Council ACT Region Sustainable Office 2013 | 1

OVERVIEW The Conservation Council ACT Region office move has been a 6+year project that has involved continuous work and support from the community, the ACT Government, board, staff and member groups. In July 2013, the Conservation Council successfully moved to its new sustainable office, that has a number of key features helping to promote sustainable and environmentally friendly work practices, including;

-‐ Sustainable design features implemented based on advice from various consultants such as Northrop, including use of open plan areas and north-facing solar thermal elements;

-‐ Sustainable and environmentally friendly materials and products used throughout the office, including recycled timber and plywood floors and energy efficient LED lighting;

-‐ Ethical sourcing strategies for office supplies, food and other materials; -‐ The encouragement of active transport through the creation of a transport guide, use of

bus, cycling and walking paths to the office; -‐ Office energy management strategy through manual control of thermostat and sensors; -‐ Office waste, water and compost management strategies based on the waste

management hierarchy “reduce, reuse, recycle”; -‐ Flexible, healthy and productive workplace practices, including ‘standing desks’.

Acknowledgements Principal Sponsors/Supporters Australian National University – The Conservation Council acknowledges the generosity and hard work of the ANU Facilities and Services team for their major role in assisting the Conservation Council new office project. In particular, we thank Harry Stephenson, Lisa Brown, Kathy Mackay, and David Lamont.

ACT Government – We also acknowledge the ACT Government for its generous financial support towards the fit-out of the Conservation Council new office.

Community support

The Conservation Council would like to thank member groups and individual community members who donated their time, money and in-kind services to help us move to a new sustainable office.


1. Planning and Design 1.1 The plans

The final plans for the Conservation Council sustainable office are shown below.

Earlier versions of these plans included additional private offices and dimensions at the front (north-facing) of the office which were removed to ensure maximum utilization of natural light for energy saving purposes.


1.2 Key design features

During the planning phase, we made some key decisions regarding the layout of our new office to ensure that we made maximum use of natural light for energy efficiency purposes. Members of the Conservation Council Board were invited to visit the new office space prior to the plans being finalized to comment on the design features. Several suggestions regarding making maximum use of the north- facing elements of the office by using open plan areas were taken on board. As a result, we eliminated two private offices from the front of the building and replaced with a large open plan work station area intended for volunteers and member groups to utilize. This opened up the whole space to let more natural light inside the space, reducing the need for lighting and heating of the area.

1.3 The use of environmentally friendly and energy efficient materials

In regular consultation with the building contractors, Winna Parker, we also made key decisions with regard to the materials used in the office fit-out to ensure that the office utilized energy efficient, sustainable, recycled, low VOC and environmentally friendly materials at every opportunity.

1.4 Green Star Pathway

Although we have made the financial and timing decision not to pursue any formal sustainability ratings on the fit out, we had a sustainability workshop with consultants Viridis and used this time to discuss the sustainability inclusions that we could target on the project. Some of the sustainability measures assessed where we gained credit included items such as the selection of low emissions paints and composite boards, and the inclusion of indoor plants to improve the indoor environment quality and the selection of reused furniture and certified timber to reduce the environmental footprint of the fit out materials.


2. The Fit Out

2.1 Energy Efficient Lighting

LED lighting was chosen for use throughout the office as the most energy efficient way to light the office. These LED lights were purchased with the help of a generous ActewAGL Sustainability Grant.

2.2 Flooring

Choosing the material to use for the flooring of the office was a major one that involved consulting a range of different experts, including Jigsaw Housing, HEAT, and the builders Winna Parker.

Originally, our preference was for the floors to be made from insulated polished concrete due to its ability to maximize solar gain and reduce energy costs of heating the office. However, we identified a major concern with this option in that there already existed a substantial amount of concrete in the building foundations underneath our office that would impact the ability of the concrete flooring to retain heat in winter. One option to remedy this was to use extruded polystyrene as a thermal break between the concrete floor and the foundation concrete below. However, it was determined there was not enough space for this.

Therefore, the next option was to create the office floors using sustainable and recycled plywood with insulation.

2.3 Windows and Blinds

Honeycomb Blinds and doubled glazed windows were chosen to ensure the solar thermal aspects of the office were utilized. The blinds were supplied by Kresta Blinds http://www.kresta.com.au/ and we thank them for their generous support of our new office.


PHASE 3: Sustainability in the Office

3.1 Active and public transport

The Conservation Council strongly supports and advocates for active and public transport in Canberra. Our employees and volunteers are encouraged to use public transport or active transport (walking or cycling) to reach our office. We have developed a transport guide, shown below, that features bus stops and bike paths close to our office to assist staff, member groups and the community get to our office by environmentally-friendly means. The new office has access to the ANU Lena Karmel building bike storage facility and bike racks. We have also included a changing facility and cupboards in our new office bathroom for staff to easily change into and out of work clothing after riding or walking to and from work.


3.2 Flexible, Productive and Healthy Workplace Practices

The Conservation Council fully supports workplace flexibility for our employees and supports the ‘right to request’ flexibility provided in the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). Workplace flexibility is about when, where and how people work and are increasingly an essential part of creating an

Above: Conservation Council staff members getting active out of the office in their lunch break. effective organization. Flexibility enables both individual and business needs to be met through making changes to the time, location, and manner in which an employee works to ensure that both the individual and the business benefit and increase productivity. To encourage both a flexible, productive and healthy workplace environment, the Conservation Council supports its staff and volunteers to take part in group exercise sessions such as Yoga and Pilates during their lunch breaks. The Conservation Council also takes part in community events such as the Canberra Times Fun Run, and does running training together once a week to keep fit and healthy as well as build a healthy workplace culture that ultimately results in increased workplace productivity.


3.3 Energy Management

We use a variety of measures to save energy in the office, including:

-‐ We make maximum use of natural light to minimize on lighting energy by using our open plan space as a working and meeting area;

-‐ The use of LED lights, purchased through an ActewAGL Office Sustainability Grant; -‐ Our trombe wall seat acts as a thermal mass and heats the open plan area in cooler

months; -‐ Shutting off monitors and/or manually sending our computers into energy-saving modes

(standby or hibernate) when not in use, and we turn them off at night; -‐ We have sleep mode enabled on all copies and all printers after five minutes inactivity; -‐ All lights are turned off when not in use during the day and at night; -‐ We send, or will send, an email to our staff and member groups before holidays and

breaks containing an energy-saving checklist; -‐ We have control over the thermostat settings in our office, and we set out temperatures

and fan speeds at appropriate levels during both the heating and cooling season (ie we do not overheat or overcool the office);

-‐ All other office appliances are turned off at the end of the day.

3.4 Sustainable and Ethical Sourcing

We source materials, stationary, kitchen and other office supplies from ethical and environmentally-friendly providers (Rainforest certified recycled paper, fair trade coffee and tea, for example).

Wherever possible, for events, meetings and other special occasions we use local and sustainable produce, and prepare the food ourselves.

Stationary supplies

We will be using Staples as a preferred supplier of stationary, utilising only their Sustainable Earth or Earthsaver range of products. These products can have one or more of the following characterisitics:

• Non-toxic • Recycled content • Remanufactured • Have end of life management e.g. compostable, recyclable • Have a low ecological footprint e.g. organic • Be from a sustainable source e.g. FSC • Use less energy/greenhouse emissions than similar products


One of our main purchases is paper. We will have in place strategies to continue to reduce paper use e.g. duplex/reduce printing, electronic filing. The paper we will be using is Nautilus 100% recycled content paper. Nautilus is made in Austria and is imported and distributed by Canon Australia. It is made from 100% recycled post-consumer waste and has process chlorine free bleaching status. The best recycled paper for office use is not made in Australia. This is not bound to change until consumer demand compels Australian paper makers to stop sourcing their pulp from native forests and stop chlorine bleaching it, as well as embrace the necessity of making paper from post-consumer waste. Post-consumer waste has been used at least once by consumers, collected and reconverted to pulp to make paper again. It is distinguished from pre-consumer waste, which is the reintroduction of manufacturing scrap (such as trimmings from paper production), back into the manufacturing process.

Above: World Environment Day Dinner 2013, made by Merici College hospitality students from locally sourced sustainable produce.


3.5 Waste Management and Recycling

The Conservation Council uses the waste management hierarchy “reduce, reuse, recycle” to improve our environmental footprint in the office.

Above: Waste and Energy Management Signs used in our office and members of our staff team taking part in Clean Up Australia Day 2013 activities in Canberra.

Reduction

-‐ We print or copy to both sides of a page whenever possible. Double-siding is set as a default on our office computers and we place a visual prompt on our copy machine to remind members to double-side whenever possible;

-‐ We also double check before pressing print, that we have not accidently requested multiple copies of a document;

-‐ When printing newsletters or other publications, we are careful to make sure we only print copies that are needed and that are realistically going to be utilized;

-‐ We reduce paper margins on documents in order to decrease the length of documents we may print;

-‐ We encourage board members to bring their computer or iPad to meetings and utilize electronic agenda papers rather than printing;

-‐ When we cater for events and meetings, we avoid buying food and drinks that come with extensive packaging;

-‐ Before any large event or project, we write a one-page waste reduction strategy;


-‐ We have a friendly note at the end of our email signatures, to remind people to “think before you print this email”.

Reuse

-‐ In order to save paper when printing and copying, we reuse paper that has text on only one side whenever possible and appropriate. We keep a scrap paper pile near our printer and/or copier and we use scrap paper for taking notes and writing daily to-do lists;

-‐ We have a designated area in our storeroom for sharing office supplies that can be re-used (file folders, binders, pens, paper clips, etc);

-‐ There is at least one reusable bag in the kitchen for our staff to use in place of plastic bags when shopping or buying lunch, supplies, etc;

-‐ For events, we use cutlery and crockery that can be reused or recycled; -‐ When we go for coffees, we always take our reusable “keep cup” that the baristas

become familiar with!

Recycling

-‐ There are recycling bins in all common areas where trash bins are present, such as in the kitchen, bathroom, storeroom, and individual offices;

-‐ In our office, recycling signs are clearly posted on or near recycling bins; -‐ We spent time reviewing proper recycling practices at a recent staff meeting to ensure

that all members of our office are aware of the rules and had their questions answered; -‐ We provide recycling bins at events and meetings sponsored by our office; -‐ When disposing of old office furniture and equipment, we first place outside the office

for members of the community to salvage for free, or we recycle them by taking them to a second-hand furniture store;

-‐ Each workstation in our office has a desk-side paper recycling bin; -‐ When we have electronic waste, we liaise with ANU Facilities and Services and

ANUgreen to recycle properly; -‐ We recycle inkjet cartridges from our printer by giving them to our provider.

Composting

We use a compost bin in our office called a Bokashi. This composting system involves an anaerobic fermentation process that breaks down the organic food waste used in the office. We partner with others in our building such as the ANU Food Coop to use our compost to fertilize the Lena Karmel rooftop organic garden.

3.6 Water Management

Water heating and cooling In the design phase of the office fit-out, we eliminated the need for a water cooler and heater in the kitchen – choosing instead to use the fridge and kettle. This resulted in a substantial


energy and water saving. We discourage the purchasing of bottled water in our office and for events.

3.7 Office Cleaning Non-toxic cleaning Canberra Green Clean has been appointed as the preferred supplier for cleaning services to provide non-toxic, healthy, environmentally responsible cleaning services. Specifications are as follows:

• Microfibre technology • Vacuum Cleaners endorsed by the national Asthma Council • 100% biodegradable, zero waste cleaning product range that is hypo-allergenic and

free of palm oil • Bio+Green Crystals Cleaning Range contain no chemicals known to be harmful to

human health and is a healthy alternative for people with allergies and respiratory conditions

3.8 Appliances

In choosing new appliances for the office we consulted Ecospecifier to find out what products were the most energy efficient for our needs. 3.9 Indoor Plants and other Living Features

The Conservation Council engaged horticulturists Luke and Sally Viekkanen from local group Green Bean Horticulture to provide us with recommendations for living features in our new office. Green Bean gave us some innovative ideas for creating living walls (plants suspended by wooden structures onto the office walls) to promote a sense of wellbeing and productivity in the office environment.


Above: Conservation Council Executive Director Clare Henderson meeting with Green Bean Horticulture in the new office. Links: http://greenbeanhorticulture.com.au/

3.10 Ongoing Operational Reporting

Documents

Conservation Council Sustainable Office Report 2013 ... · post-consumer waste and has process chlorine free bleaching status. ... reintroduction of manufacturing ... Conservation