Thirty six per cent of British homeowners would be willing to make environmentally-friendly improvements to their property before selling up to ensure a faster sale, according to a Baxi survey.

Sustainable building practices are slowly moving into the commercial refurbishment and retrofit market, driven by both legislative requirements and good corporate housekeeping considerations. In the final part of a series on sustainable retrofit, Dr Paul K Hatchwell looks particularly at energy issues facing the sustainable offices sector

Environmental consultant Environ’s new premises at Box, near Bath, are in a listed building but that hasn’t deterred it from a range of eco-friendly initiatives. The building now has 100% recycled carpet material,
uses filtered mains water to do away with bottled water in coolers, a cycle-to-work plan, energy efficient lighting and a scheme to recycle old IT equipment. “As an environmental consultancy, we thought it was only right that we should implement initiatives along these lines to play our part and to help spread the green message within our local community,” said managing principal Niall Smiddy.