BCO proposes design standards to future-proof offices
The British Council for Offices has issued design guidance to future proof offices, including minimum sustainability rating targets and allocated spaces per person.
The BCO said it has updated its Guide to Specification document in response to trends created by the pandemic, as well as the UK’s net-zero ambitions.
Recommendations include the adoption of 10 sq m (107.6 sq ft) space per person, compared with a former allowance of 8 sq m per employee. The BCO said it will provide “greater scope for the variety of workplace settings needed to support hybrid working”.
The British Council for Offices has issued design guidance to future proof offices, including minimum sustainability rating targets and allocated spaces per person.
The BCO said it has updated its Guide to Specification document in response to trends created by the pandemic, as well as the UK’s net-zero ambitions.
Recommendations include the adoption of 10 sq m (107.6 sq ft) space per person, compared with a former allowance of 8 sq m per employee. The BCO said it will provide “greater scope for the variety of workplace settings needed to support hybrid working”.
The guide also proposes minimum BREEAM Excellent and five-star NABERS UK targets for new buildings.
Aspirational targets should also be set for operational and embodied carbon use to meet net-zero carbon goals.
Other measures include increased levels of outdoor air supply, more efficient lighting installations, reduced power and cooling loads, higher performance facades and more flexibility in the range of structural spans for office spaces.
The BCO said that market trends have “fuelled a desire to create flexible, relatively column-free, open-plan offices”, but that structural solutions can be carbon-intensive.
BCO chief executive Richard Kauntze said: “The 2023 update will drive the decarbonisation of the office sector, enacting change to help the industry deliver on the UK’s net-zero by 2050 target.”
Neil Pennell, chair of the BCO’s technical affairs committee and head of design innovation and property solutions at Landsec, said: “There is a clear imperative to adopt a whole-building approach to decarbonise the sector which needs to start with the design and specification of new and refurbished office space.”
The BCO Guide to Specification update was developed in consultation with a range of industry professionals including agents, investors, occupiers, and developers.
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