Reconfiguring workspace configurations for a sustainable future

Abstract

Climate change is advancing at an unforeseen pace, with the built environment responsible for 40% of global emissions. With the acceptance of climate risk as a financial risk, market participants bear the responsibility of mitigating this problem. Office real estate plays a crucial role as a sustainable workspace is also crucial in its retention of talented workforce. With hybrid working expected to become a non-negotiable fixture of the workplace ecosystem, the office of the future is very different. The relationship between employees and the workspace continuously shifts due to changing occupancy patterns that stem from these evolving working processes, which in turn impacts the energy consumption of a building. This thesis attempts to understand the impact of hybrid working processes on the energy consumption of workspace environments using a quantitative research design to answer the following research question: How is the energy consumption of the workspace environment impacted by hybrid modes of working? The methodology includes data from a literature review, synthetic data simulations and occupancy and energy data from two case studies. The results demonstrate that there are benefits from employing a hybrid working model, provided offices are equipped or retrofitted to ensure their energy usage can respond to the dynamic occupancy levels. Furthermore, workspace design should reflect and cater to the diverse habits and preferences of the end user to ensure efficient use of space. However, these benefits are not equitably distributed as the energy saved is offset onto the end user thereby widening the existing inequalities in place. Future design and policy should consider user, building, campus and city scale solutions to create a balanced and sustainable outcome that benefits society as a whole. A system mapping identifying the different impact areas of hybrid working and their interdependencies has been formulated to support improved management of building assets for real estate professionals and business.