FOCUS SUSTAINABLE WELLBEING
ROUNDTABLE
Q: How can other wellbeing factors such as
ventilation, acoustics and lighting increase
wellbeing?
FM providers on the panel reported that clients are
increasingly asking them to install room sensors
to help measure occupancy and air quality. These
vendors are also working on research programmes
that provide a link between C0 and room
ventilation. Many organisations have also installed
some fairly sophisticated air filtering equipment.
For instance, bipolar ionisation, using filters to clean
the air, and UVC systems which clean the surfaces of
washrooms and welfare rooms.
When it comes to noise our panel reports that
the top two requirements for supporting sta
coming back into the o ice are in creating more
collaboration spaces and specific spaces for Teams/
Zoom calls. “When it comes to cutting down on
desking and increasing collaborative space, we
keep in mind the acoustics so include more private
booths and smaller telephone rooms. That space
where you need to go to do your teams call.”
However, a panellist admitted: “Our building
is equipped with a lot of hybrid working areas
but utilisation is low as most people prefer the
convenience of using their desks to have their
Teams calls.”
Pre-pandemic, some of our panel had already
been looking into designing their o ices to make
sure meeting rooms were in the centre of the
building, thus giving sta more access around the
parameter to increase their access to natural light.
But more recently they’ve also been “changing from
strip lighting to using light panels which seems to
make quite a di erence”.
30 JULY 2022
Outside access became quite the trend during the
pandemic and it seems its appeal hasn’t dissipated.
Many employers have installed roof terraces with
pergolas where people can work outside or meet
for lunch.
“We can’t develop buildings the same way
anymore if we want them to come back,” said
a panellist. “We’ve got to improve the level of
amenities so for example we’re providing biophilic
solutions, such as green walls to give people a green
space. We see it as the only way we’ll succeed in the
future by being a bit more radical.”
Q: What role can technology play in helping to
deliver a sustainable workplace?
Zip’s Ferguson reports: “What we saw during
the pandemic was that people stopped talking
about sustainability and focused on hygiene – so
developing hands free was something we developed
to bring to the market. As people have come back
into the workplace it’s not wanted as much but it’s
become something they’re now used to having.”
Hands free is no de rigueur for many
organisations. “We carried out a study on the things
you touched, which included handrails, li buttons,
so we invested in all the key things we could change,
and as a result the toilets are now all hands free.”
Touch free is also linked to sustainability, so
it prevents things like washroom taps being le
running. Simi Gandhi-Whitaker revealed that Mitie
has been doing a lot of data and analytics around
cutting carbon by better monitoring of assets. “If
FMs can prove that just looking at those assets you
can adjust temperatures and BMS controls you can
save energy. As FMs if we can give that data to our
client organisations, it’s within our gi .”
Technology also extends to the adoption of
apps for employees to encourage the adoption
of healthier habits, from taking more steps to
reminding them to drink more water.
Said Zip’s Johnson: “We’ve got future products
coming which are going to tell people how many
litres of water they’ve drunk which will help them
monitor their own wellbeing without someone else
reminding them. We also have a system in place to
monitor the taps, which takes the onus o someone
having to remember to check. This technology drive
is coming across all industries and the more people
feel a need for it, the more suppliers and FMs are
going to have to gear their strategy towards it; so
we need to deliver it, otherwise we’re not going to
progress.”
Q: Does there need to be more investment by the
C-suite in helping FMs achieve sustainable health
and wellbeing?
Our panellists felt that their Boards were: “More
focused than ever before on investing on the
services that you provide for the wellbeing of the
sta and service users – this does require a higher
budget initially, but the long terms gains will be
significant.”
However one of the panelists said: “Investment
is required and when I think about what has been
done across our facilities over the last two years –
end of route facilities, wellbeing lounges, acoustic
battens, biophilia – it all costs money, so you
also need a strategy which helps you secure that
investment and put positive changes in place.”
Another totally agreed, “In our organisation
the senior management is very engaged in
sustainability and wellbeing which makes our lives
easier.”
As a supplier Johnson said: “Reinvestment is
required but so is determining value added, because
it isn’t what it was five years ago. Both the two go
hand in hand, and if you don’t do the two together
you won’t get the best outcome for your customers.”
FM’s still have some convincing to do said another
of the client side FMs: “Our C-suite is saying all the
right things but the task for property is working out
what we’re going to do with our estate now and
release funds from that to reinvest.”
As a FM provider said Gandhi-Whitaker:
“Investment is key, but it’s also having a clear
strategy on what we are doing, what are the reasons
and what are the perceived outcomes, and it is here
that data and analytics give you the facts around
whether you’re saving energy or getting people
back into the workplace – so not just doing it for the
sake of it.”
Concluding the discussion, Ian Baker of EMCOR
summed up the challenge: “We know that 90
per cent of an organisation’s cost is people, so if
you spend even a tiny amount in improving their
performance and productivity that ROI speaks for
itself and for me wellbeing is the one area that
has to be the most authentic or everyone will see
through it and think it’s a tick box exercise.”