Initial Engagement

Initial engagement is the first real interaction between the owner and the potential occupier. This may arise through direct contact, a site visit or via a lettings agent seeking information on behalf of one of the parties. It is key that the importance of sustainability is highlighted early in this engagement process.

Considerations

At this stage owners should consider:

  • Asking the occupier for a Requirements Brief.
  • Providing details of the building’s sustainability credentials and features that might not have been present within marketing material and those that can support Occupier Benefits.
  • Using the opportunity to capture information that will help them to understand the aspirations of the occupier.
  • How to include any features that are raised but not currently promoted in future marketing.

At this stage occupiers should consider: 

  • Writing and sharing a Requirements Brief, which should form a basis for the discussion.
  • Requesting details of how the building can support the Occupier Benefits of a sustainable fit-out. 
  • Highlighting key aspirations for the chosen space.
  • Involving an architect or designer at this early stage to help identify the opportunities and limitations of spaces under consideration.

1. Identify Mutual Opportunities and Requirements

Part of the initial engagement process include identifying and discussing mutual opportunities and requirements. A Requirements Brief should form the basis of these discussions and be linked to Owner Benefits and Occupier Benefits. Discussion topics that can be used to support this process are outlined below. The BBP Transactional Agents Sustainability Toolkit will also provide additional useful information at this stage.

Topics to identify key opportunities

1. Owner / Occupier Aspirations

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  • Owners and occupiers respective commitments to sustainability and associated targets.

2. Ratings & Certification

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Any existing building ratings or desired ratings of any fit-out. For example:

See Rating Tools for more information.

3. Accessibility & Local Amenities

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  • Accessibility e.g. Walk Score, local transport hubs, cycle routes and on-site cycle storage and showing facilities.
  • On-site and local amenities e.g. gym, canteen, access to outdoor/green space. 

4. HVAC, Controls & Metering

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  • How the space is heated, cooled, ventilated and the level of control occupiers have.
  • Level of sub-metering provided / required.
  • Billing arrangements for power, heating and cooling.
  • Availability of data and compatibility with aM&T / monitoring software.

5. Health & Wellbeing

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Building attributes that could impact on health, wellbeing and productivity of occupants. For example: 

  • Indoor air quality and ventilation rates
  • Levels of daylight and artificial lighting systems 
  • Views of and access to outdoor/green space.

6. Operational Factors

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  • Estimated operational costs and service charges.
  • Historic operational energy and waster use in comparison to the BBP Real Estate Environmental Benchmark.
  • Best-practice management standards e.g. ISO14001, ISO50001
  • Details of the waste management regime and recycling provisions.
  • Any recent activity by on-site management team to improve the environmental performance of the building. 
  • Details of on-site renewalbe / low-carbon energy generation plant, including details of management responsibility and how benefits are apportioned. e.g. PV array, Ground Source/ Air Source Heat Pumps, CHP. 
  • Details of good water management practices e.g. rain water harvesting, water recycling, efficient equipment. 

7. Occupier Engagement

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  • Existence and activity of a building management group
  • Communication modes of building management to occupiers
  • Results of any recent Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) or occupier satisfaction survey
  • Review of building log e.g. number and nature of recent complaints.

Solutions Scrapbook

Pre-Move Survey

In January 2017, Landsec completed the move to its new headquarters at 100 Victoria Street, London. The project is the first workplace in the world to achieve both WELL CertifiedTM Silver and BREEAM Outstanding, setting a global benchmark for healthy, sustainable office space. To inform the design process, Landsec carried out a pre-move Leesman survey which flagged dissatisfaction with lighting, air quality, comfort of work stations and technology. These factors informed design principles, for example:

  • Activity-based working.
  • Collaborative working.
  • Connected working.

WellBriefing Tool

ATKINS WellBriefing Tool puts people’s wellbeing at the heart of building design as part of its Human-Centred Design approach. 

“Wellbriefing™ uses an interactive web-based survey to engage with a broad spectrum of building users and commissioning teams to establish their specific priorities relating to wellbeing. The data collected forms a set of Wellbriefing™ indicators and is used by ATKINS’ inter-disciplinary design teams to make informed and timely decisions that promote and embody the values of health and wellbeing. This encompasses everything from building layout and plan organisation through to environmental design solutions, materials and specification of systems.”

Sustainability Aspirations

Five sustainability aspirations were set as part of the project brief. These aimed to ensure that the new space helps improve the health, wellbeing and productivity of staff, as well as minimising the impact on the environment during fit-out and operation. The five aspirations were: 

  1. Engage to improve. 
  2. Act to minimize energy, water and GHGs. 
  3. Use sustainable materials and reduce waste. 
  4. Optimize the indoor environment.
  5. Design spaces for productivity. 

In order to achieve each aspiration a number of aspects were identified along with corresponding actions required for success. Many of the actions were linked to the good practice measures within the Ska Rating system and it was decided that the project would target the highest rating of Gold. The project was managed by GVA Acuity, GVA’s specialist end-user / occupier project manager.

Early Engagement 

British Land and managing agent Broadgate Estates, worked in partnership with occupiers during the fit-out of 201 Bishopsgate and The Broadgate Tower, with all parties agreeing to use a single waste contractor. Following meetings with all parties, to discuss British Land’s proposed approach to fit-out waste management, the team put policies in place to formalise the agreement, setting out standard building practices that all occupiers would be required to observe regarding waste management practices. British Land and Broadgate Estates worked with each occupier to understand their needs and ensure that the partnership would help them to achieve their corporate objectives, whether these were to improve environmental performance, control costs, manage the fit-out efficiently and safely, or a combination of all of these.

Key to the success of this building-wide waste management strategy was timing, ensuring relationships with occupiers were established from an early stage, before they had even moved into the building. Find out more here. 

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