Storey is British Land’s flexible workspace solution. As we launch our latest offer at 201 Bishopsgate, Broadgate, I’m proud of how sustainability constantly leads our design choices, with each project taking lessons from the ones before. We’re moving the dial every time.

Taking sustainability seriously

There’s real customer demand for sustainable space. Even organisations taking only 20–50 desks still have sustainability requirements when choosing workspace. Customers of all sizes find comfort in coming to a provider who takes sustainability seriously.

Storey seeks to lead the way in sustainable fitouts. This is not only the right thing to do, it’s also good for our bottom line – reusing materials and improving energy efficiency – and supports British Land’s decarbonisation targets and shows best practice for their occupiers.

Retaining and reusing
At 201 Bishopsgate, the fitout we inherited had a lot of travertine stone, which we’ve retained and reused. Customers really like learning how we reuse materials, rather than removing and buying new, which is often the industry norm.

In the lift lobby, we retained the existing travertine, honing it to a matt finish for a more contemporary look. In areas where the tiles didn’t fit with the new layout, we removed, recut and reused them in kitchens and corridors. This saves carbon, as we’re extracting and transporting fewer new materials – and it looks good!

Storey at 201 Bishopsgate shows that we’re able to deliver the best quality workspace, while introducing reused furniture and recycled materials. For example, the curtains and upholstery are made partly with offcuts, carpets in some areas contain recycled plastic, some flooring uses recycled rubber and focus booth tables are topped in compostable linoleum.

We also encourage customers to choose more sustainable options in their personalisation works, discussing this during onboarding and sharing a sustainable furniture brochure for those personalising their space. For our next project, we’re exploring a furniture rental scheme, where items can be refurbished at the end of their life.

Always learning and improving

We’re constantly looking for new ways to improve, reacting fast to trends, customer demand and the latest sustainability opportunities.

At 201 Bishopsgate, we completed an upfront carbon assessment of our fitout, measuring embodied emissions and identifying opportunities to reduce them through design and materials choices. We’ll now take improvements to future projects and share learnings across British Land.

Across Storey, one of our early innovations was running mechanical and electrical systems for meeting rooms along a ‘spine’ so that room sizes and layouts can quickly be changed to customer requirements, adding flexibility and saving carbon, as there’s no need to rip out and redo. At 201 Bishopsgate, we refined this to save more carbon, after reviewing what previous customers opted for.

Environmentally and socially conscious

Once customers move in, they continue to benefit from our sustainability focus. In many locations, our My Building smart platform allows us to better manage spaces and rooms in line with how customers are using them in real time, saving energy and carbon, while creating the most comfortable and productive environment.

Customers also welcome our social initiatives – from paying London Living Wages to bringing customers together through our DE&I network and community fund, sharing ideas and collaborating on events such as International Women’s Day, Pride Week and Black History Month.

We’re now over 90% occupied across Storey. It’s fantastic to be widening access to high quality city buildings and everything British Land’s campuses have to offer to smaller customers seeking more flexibility, with sustainability and customer demand at the forefront of every decision.

We welcome conversations with customers to identify and explore opportunities of how we can achieve our sustainability goals together. If you are interested in our approach to sustainable fitouts please contact our Sustainability team at [email protected].

Contact the team today at [email protected] or visit the Storey website to find out more.