SKA Rating – for SEDA Research Conference

Promoting Good Practice Fit-outs for Offices

David Somervell, Social Responsibility and Sustainability FuturesDavid.Somervell@ed.ac.uk www.ed.ac.uk/sustainability

• In UK Government's Low Carbon Action Plan, this is an environmental assessment method, benchmark and standard for non-domestic fit-outs,

• Skanska supported initial work (hence name) but led and owned by RICS

• Ska Rating helps landlords and tenants assess fit-out projects and refurbishments against a set of sustainability good practice criteria

• It is estimated that 11% of UK construction spending is on fit-outs and that buildings may have 30-40 fit-outs during their lifecycle.

High Sch Yards – home to ECCI

Project teams interested in fitting out spaces in an environmentally sustainable way can use the SKA Rating method

to:Carry out an informal self-assessment of the

environmental performance of their

fit-out

Commission a quality-assured assessment

and certificate from an RICS-accredited SKA

assessor

Obtain clear guidance on good practice in fit-

out and how to implement it

Benchmark the performance of fit-outs against each other and the rest of the industry

Why a fit-out only system?

• BREEAM in the UK and LEED in USA offer tools for assessing the environmental impact of especially new bigger buildings

• Construction industry sought certification of fit-out, especially on existing buildings, as existing schemes had high costs and low relevance 

How does it work?

• Ska Rating for Offices has 100 “good practice” measures covering Energy / CO2 Emissions, Waste, Water, Materials, Pollution, Wellbeing and Transport

• Guidance is freely available + online assessment tool

• Ska Rating can be informal or for formal certification using an RICS Ska Rating accredited assessor. Assessments can be carried out at three stages:

•design, •handover and•occupancy

Boilerhouse

Options for applying a Ska Rating

• Assessments can be carried out at three stages:

1. Design,

2. Handover and

3. Occupancy

Benefits of Ska Rating

• Supports informed decisions in context of importance of sustainability on corporate agenda and statute book.

• Designed for occupiers but benefits for stakeholders: Landlords Developers Consultants Fit-out Contractors and Companies in the Supply Chain.

Measure sustainability impact accurately Measures 100% of the sustainability of your fit-out and decides what is most important. The rating influenced by what you choose to do, not by what has been done in the past

Manage the bottom lineA decision-making tool ranks different aspects of a fit-out based on what will have the biggest impact on sustainability – helps design team achieve maximum within budget

Follow good practiceHelp achieve a measure of sustainability for fit-outs

Legal / statutory complianceHelps company directors comply with S 172 of Companies Act 2006, and have a “regard to the impact of the company's operations on the community and the environment”

For Occupiers …

Helps with the decision-making processRates what is actually important in terms of sustainability, adds dimension beyond cost and quality to assess fit-out projects

Are you ISO 14001 accredited?A Ska Rating certificate helps ensure that a fit-out project is rated accurately and can be used to support an Environmental Management System

Customer, investor and stakeholder perceptionA Ska Rating certificate shows a company takes sustainability seriously and achieved a standard with a property – can feature in Environmental Reports or be displayed

Staff engagementMore employees place a value on a company's green credentials, and wish to work in high-quality spaces. A Ska Rating can reinforce staff morale & complements CSR activity.

… and for Tenants

For Developers and Landlords• Use to set targets, with assessment to assure standards

are met (certificate shows performance to stakeholders) 

• Benchmark the sustainability of fit-outs across portfolio  

• Use in 'Green Lease' provisions to drive up sustainability of / maintain pressure on BREEAM certified properties  

• Research shows increase in the asset value of labelled low-carbon buildings vs. standard speculative buildings (RICS research into US commercial offices: Doing Well by Doing Good)

• Embed in standard processes to show you follow a sustainable specification and procurement process   

• Use the tool and datasheets to support delivery of professional advice to clients on good practice

• Offer clients certificated assessment to demonstrate sustainable fit-out via accredited assessors scheme

For Consultants

• Use related guidance to make design, specification, procurement and construction more sustainable 

• Demonstrate your credentials to clients / consultants by targeting standards under Ska Rating part of your standard tender process

For Contractors

• Enables you to measure 100% of performance of an office fit-out – does not consider the base build, only what you do to add value to your property

• More than a hundred “good practice” measures e.g. if wooden flooring is stripped out, it should be sent for re-use to a salvage yard not landfill.

• Full lists of measures at Ska Rating for Offices:

How it works

www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/more-services/professional-services/ska-rating-/ska-rating-for-office-fit-outs-/

• Each measure datasheet lists criteria to be achieved, rationale behind it and guidance on how to achieve it

• Scores project only on the basis of those measures relevant to project. These are 'Measures in Scope'.

• Typically 30 - 60 Measures likely to apply to projects

• Score is ranked: Bronze, Silver or GoldThese are reached by achieving 75%, 50% or 25%, respectively, of the Measures in Scope.

Measures in Scope

• Some measures are more important from a sustainability perspective, so the measures are ranked from one to 99, (one is highest / 99 lowest).

• To ensure teams don’t target the easiest measures, project has to achieve a number of high ranked Measures in Scope in order to score

• These are known as Gateway Measures.

What are ‘Gateway Measures’?

Assessment Process 1• As with any fit-out project, the Ska Rating assessment

process is broken into three stages:

1. Design/Planning: Identify measures and issues in scope Client can prioritise measures to achieve / decide on design, cost, programme and benefit to add into scope. This sets standards for project delivery. If spec shows these measures are likely to be achieved, they will be reflected in an indicative rating.

2. Delivery / Construction. Involves gathering evidence from O&M manuals / other sources proving what specification has been delivered / performance and waste benchmarks have been achieved.

3. Occupancy Stage Assessment. Final option is to review how well a fit-out performed in use – against its original brief – a year after completion.

Assessment Process 2 and 3

• RICS operate an accreditation scheme to enable qualified professionals to undertake quality assured Ska Rating certification on behalf of organisations 

• Registers of assessors can be downloaded

www.rics.org/Global/Downloads/Ska Rating Accredited Assessors_ Office V10 Jan 2014.pdf

www.rics.org/Global/Downloads/Ska Rating Accredited Assessors_ Retail V8 January 2014.pdf

Accreditation and certification