If money is no object, reducing the carbon footprint of your business is reasonably simple. However, things are much less straightforward for a company which turns existing buildings into office spaces for charitable organisations.
The Ethical Property Company is working to reduce its carbon footprint by ensuring they refurbish premises as environmentally as possible, carefully monitor their energy usage and also educate and encourage tenants to reduce the footprint of their buildings over time.
As you might have guessed from its name, The Ethical Property Company sets itself the highest standards in every area of activity, and that certainly includes its approach when it comes to the environment and sustainability.
However, as the provider of serviced offices for charities, money is tight and there has to be a clearly demonstrable benefit when costs are being incurred in the refurbishment of their buildings.
Regional Manager, Janine Woodward, says they take great care to fully research green opportunities before decisions are made. They are not in a position to simply invest in state of the art equipment.
"On the whole we invest in existing buildings rather than being able to start with a modern design on a blank piece of paper. That means we are sometimes limited in what can be achieved by the nature of our premises. We are also restricted in the amount of money that can be spent."
Number one priority is to reduce their carbon footprint by focussing on reducing the big cost elements of heating and ventilation. They achieve that by a two pronged approach - installing the right equipment and then educating the people who use their buildings to minimise their energy and water usage.
"We put systems in place which mean that it is difficult for tenants to crank the temperature up or set the ventilation at too high a level. That's less draconian than it sounds, because we make every effort to ensure our tenants fully understand the reasons for the policy. It's probably something to do with the kind of people we work with, but there is generally enthusiastic support for what we are doing," said Janine.
The business may be ethical, but they are no soft touch. They keep close tabs on costs and produce regular charts to show how much energy tenants have been using.
"At the outset a service charge is set when an agreement is signed. However, we make it clear that if people use energy excessively the level of that charge will be re-assessed and it may go up. You could see this approach as part stick and part carrot, organic of course !" she added.
The Ethical Property Company was formed in 1999, with the aim of providing organisations in the social change sector with the services and premises needed to grow and strengthen their operations by offering reasonable rents, and the help of a benign and supportive landlord
They also aimed to provide a welcoming place from which to work and the chance to share premises and resources with a range of like-minded organisations.
"Many of our buildings offer open plan space which is much more efficient than having to heat and ventilate individual offices. We think that is not only good for the planet but it's great for the individual organisations because it gives them a chance to meet and work with other similar groups and people. Occasionally there are fears about security and a lack of privacy, but those can usually be overcome," explained Janine.
The Ethical Property Company is constantly looking for ways in which they can reduce their use of energy and water. They have set themselves two sets of targets for energy use - by total consumption and per building.
They had previously committed to a target of 3% each year but in order to reach increased national targets they realise that will need to rise still further to 3.5%.
The company also takes care to compare energy use against targets for each of their buildings, which vary depending on the type of heating, cooling and electrical equipment. The targets are based on the benchmarks established by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) but they are regularly updated and tailored to reflect the building stock.