On this page we describe our environmental impact and efforts to reduce it.

Environmental Impact Overview
Our Green Office

Environmental Impact Overview

ACCSR’s actions to minimise our direct environmental impact:

• We reduce the amount of office materials going to waste through office recycling systems;
• Printers are default set to double-sided printing.
• Our preferred choices for office supplies are either recycled, recyclable or have low-embodied energy content; and,
• We minimise energy consumption of office equipment by switching off appliances and utilities when not in use. This includes air conditioning and lighting.

Despite these measures, our environmental footprint suffered from being a small tenant in a large building. As a tenant, for instance, at 1 Queens Road, our ability to recycle waste was constrained by the fact there were no building recycling measures in place. Cardboard and paper wastage was frequently taken home by staff to be put into domestic recycling. Usage of potable water was also constrained by the fixtures, fittings and measures put in place by the building owners.

We have overcome some of these limitations by moving to 10 Yarra Street where we have aimed to minimise the environmental impact of our office by following protocols published by the Green Building Council of Australia.

An ongoing issue remains greenhouse gas emissions from air travel, related to attendance to clients in other states or speaking at inter-state events. We will continue to minimise travel wherever possible, however, some travel is essential for business growth and development and client fulfilment. In these cases, we will invite clients to off-set the carbon emissions where applicable or purchase offsets ourselves.

Our Green Office

The challenge of being green

When planning our new office at 10 Yarra Street, we initially sought advice from Sustainability Victoria, who referred us to engineers and architects familiar with environmentally sustainable office design and codes and encouraged us to work within the established environmental building codes.

Committing to the construction of a 6-star green star office fit out under the Green Building Council scheme and a 5-star rating under the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating scheme has been an enormous undertaking for ACCSR. Given our net lettable area is only 80m2, ACCSR has faced a huge challenge to complete a sustainable office fit out according to guidelines established to meet the needs of much larger fit outs, in most cases at least 100 times larger. Where economies of scale can be realised in larger fit outs, making the economic argument for incorporating sustainable design for a smaller tenancy has been considerably more difficult. The economic basis for our decision is a very long-term view of the investment.

As an example, a six star rating would require us to have one cycling rack per 10 employees, separate shower facilities and separate lockable clothing storage. With only three employees and no cyclists on staff this seems unnecessary. Should we employ cyclists in future, cycling racks are available as part of the base building and there are showers on each floor combined with the disabled bathrooms. These do not meet the Greenstar requirement for separate, dedicated facilities. Greenstar suggests that if we do not wish to aim for points for cycling facilities, we should target other available points. This seems a sensible approach, but it also effectively reduces the likelihood that a small office can ever achieve the highest possible environmental rating without using unnecessary materials or incurring unnecessary expense.

Now that we have completed our ‘green office’ fit out we can say on reflection that the environmental features listed below have not been achieved easily. We were particularly disappointed by our failure to secure a partnership with Sustainability Victoria under the Commercial Building Environmental Innovation Initiative (COBEII). We are exploring alternative approaches to a partnership with Sustainability Victoria.

We have registered our fit out with the Green Building Council of Australia. We encourage the Green Building Council of Australia and the Australian Building Greenhouse Rating Scheme in the strongest possible terms to hasten development of environmental building and fit out guidelines for small businesses premises.

Our choices about being green

Some of the features of ACCSR’s new office include:

• Materials selection, such as paints, carpets, adhesives, sealants and composite wood products, based on achieving low VOC (volatile organic compounds) and formaldehyde content, and low-embodied energy;
• A sustainable procurement policy for the selection of all office related materials and furniture including workstations and storage units, flooring, chairs and tables;
• Equipment (including lighting for daylight dimming and motion detection; and air conditioning with zero ozone depletion potential and an energy reclaim heat exchanger), requiring less energy input whilst also promoting improved OH&S outcomes;
• Installation of a dedicated exhaust system to minimise harmful emissions (VOCs, ozone and particulates) from the use of printing and copying equipment;
• Creation of a dedicated in-office waste collection area for the proper recycling of office waste, and management procedures for the disposal of that waste;
• An office layout which maximises outside ventilation rates (150% above the minimum outside air rates set by the Building Code of Australia) and superior infiltration of natural light to 100% of workstations;
• Sited close to public transport (rail and tram), and includes bicycling facilities for staff;
• Incorporates indoor plants to improve internal air quality and aesthetics;
• Uses LCD screens and laptops to reduce the tenancy’s IT-related energy usage;
• Incorporates separate light and power metering to ensure adequate monitoring of energy use, thereby promoting early intervention to reduce consumption (if the need exists), and,
• Is managed in a way that assists in the ongoing capture, control and minimisation of environmental impacts.

Our submission to Greenstar is still not complete while we wait for suppliers to provide documentary evidence required as part of the submission.

This process has been tough, but we are now well settled into our attractive, ergonomic and environmentally friendly office which we expect to make a positive, and productive, contribution to ACCSR and our future. Some photos of ACCSR’s new office are below.

Our new seminar room

Our light-filled, environmentally friendly office

Interior Designers: Melbourne DesignInc
Photographer: David Hannah