Applying circular economy principles to our reimagined workplace

Applying circular economy principles to the design of our workplace at No.1 Martin Place in Sydney helps us reduce carbon by material reuse and target fitout waste reduction.

Our reimagined workplace extends across three connected floors, offering us multiple modes of working and great places to come together to collaborate and innovate.

Level 20 is our Business Hub which acts as a welcome point for our customers, partners and guests. Level 19 is our Social Hub, the very heart of our space for our people. Level 18 is our Innovation Hub, a place for collaboration and creative thinking as well as workshops, learning activities and pitches.

Historically, expanding the space we occupy could have meant adverse sustainability consequences, but by focusing on what we could re-use instead of send to landfill, we avoided 147.5 tonnes of CO2e overall. That’s the equivalent of a 53 percent reduction in embodied carbon, compared to a typical fit-out. To achieve this, we re-used 70 percent of our original furniture, with the remaining 30 percent donated to social enterprises. We also reused 70 percent of our carpet and internal partitions, and nearly 50 percent of the joinery. Timber from one floor was reused as flooring on the connecting stairwell, and marble was reused in the Boardroom furnishings.

Our workplace also embeds sustainable practices through energy efficient lighting and low water use fittings. At a national level, we have also procured 100 percent grid-supplied renewable electricity for our corporate workplaces.

We wanted our new workplace to reduce its impact on the environment and positively contribute to our people’s well-being. Aligning with the WELL Building Standard we addressed access to water, nutrition, a microgarden, as well as extensive indoor planting and strategies to avoid sedentary behaviour - Natalie Devlin, Chief Experience Officer, Charter Hall