The workplace almost never appears in the ESG reports of the companies that occupy it. Yet it affects all three dimensions: the consumption of the building, the quality of life of the people who work there, the efficiency with which the company manages its real estate assets. Bringing space into the ESG strategy requires measuring it – with tools that already exist.
The three dimensions, each with its own indicators
On the Environmental front, space contributes through the energy consumption of the building, material choices and certification paths such as LEED. On the Social front, the relevant indicators concern people's comfort – thermal, acoustic, visual – and the perceived quality of the workplace. On the Governance front, transparency in design decisions and efficiency in the use of floor area come into play, the latter being a measurable quantity. None of this data emerges on its own: it has to be gathered systematically.
Measuring wellbeing: interviews, surveys, usage data
The Social pillar of ESG is about people. But "employee wellbeing" is a statement. To make it measurable you need structured interviews and surveys: with our survey we reconstruct the typical day of each team, gathering quality of comfort, fit between spaces and activities, expressed and latent needs. The result is a set of data that captures the current state and can be repeated over time to measure progress after a project. That same data feeds the sizing of work settings and the choice of the desk sharing ratio.
Efficiency and governance: the BOMA standard
How many people does this space really hold, relative to its floor area? The answer depends on how the areas are measured. The BOMA standard (Building Owners and Managers Association) provides shared criteria for measuring areas – distinguishing work areas, support areas and common spaces – and makes it possible to compare the efficiency of different spaces on an objective basis. Applying it means having clean data on the use of real estate assets, useful in sustainability reports and in space optimisation decisions that bear on the Governance letter of ESG.
ESG in production too
ESG goals also run through production buildings: consumption, materials, the quality of the working environments on the shop floor. A sustainable, well-managed industrial building is part of the strategy. See Industrial architecture: the industrial building as a project.