Sustainability is on every fit out company’s website and in almost none of their contracts. That is not cynicism, just the state of the market: the intent is usually real, the measurement usually is not. Three labels are the exception because they are audited by someone other than the firm claiming them.
B Corp
B Corp certification is awarded to a company, not a project. It measures the whole business across governance, workers, community, environment and customers, against a published standard, with an audit and a recertification every three years. A fit out firm with B Corp status has had its employment practices, its supply chain and its environmental management examined by B Lab and has committed in its articles to consider stakeholders beyond shareholders.
What it tells you: the firm is likely to be a stable, well run employer with a supply chain it can account for. What it does not tell you: anything about the carbon footprint of your particular project. Three firms in the directory hold it and it is shown on their cards.
SKA rating
SKA is the RICS environmental assessment method for fit outs specifically, which makes it the most relevant of the three. It rates a project, not a company, against measures covering energy, waste, materials, water, pollution, wellbeing and transport, and awards Bronze, Silver or Gold. The assessment is done by a trained assessor and is specific to the fit out scope, so it can be applied to a 5,000 square foot Cat B as easily as a headquarters.
What it tells you: this project was designed and delivered to a measured environmental standard. Ask a firm how many SKA rated projects it has delivered and at what level. A firm with trained SKA assessors in house can run the process without an external consultant.
BREEAM
BREEAM is the building level assessment most people have heard of. It is applied to new buildings and major refurbishments and drives the landlord’s decisions about the base build far more than the tenant’s about the fit out. There is a BREEAM fit out and refurbishment scheme, but in practice SKA is more common for occupier projects in London.
What it tells you: the building you are moving into was designed to a measured standard, which matters for energy costs and for EPC compliance under the minimum energy efficiency rules. Ask the landlord for the certificate.
What to ask a fit out firm
Whether it has delivered SKA rated projects and can show the certificates. Whether it reports waste diverted from landfill per project, and what the last three figures were. Whether it can reuse the existing ceiling, floor and furniture rather than replacing it, which is the single biggest carbon decision on most refurbishments. And whether the sustainability language on its website is backed by any of the above, or is simply language.
The best office refurbishment companies list includes every B Corp certified firm in the directory as one of its three tests, precisely because it is a label that has been checked by somebody else.
