Hot desking specialist urges firms to shut that floor

The UK could slash carbon emissions by an estimated 25 million tonnes a year, simply by consolidating unused office space, according to one of the companies attempting to encourage firms to take a more intelligent approach to flexible working.

RNM Systems, which as a provider of software designed to help firms manage workspaces and flexible workforces admittedly has a vested interest in highlighting the issue of unused office space, used government figures on office occupancy to extrapolate the scale of carbon emissions resulting from empty desks.

Jonathan Cutting, Head of Workplace Strategy, explained that according to recent research from the Office of Government Commerce, office occupancy rates across the public sector run at just under 50 per cent.

He added that this low occupancy rate was replicated across much of the private sector, which suggested, given that the current carbon footprint of UK office buildings stands at around 50 million tonnes a year, emissions could be cut by up to 25 million tonnes simply by optimising the use of office space.

"The rise of flexible working has crept up on a lot of organisations, but you only have to look at the number of empty desks in offices at any one time to realise it has become a huge problem," he said. "If you have half the desk space empty then the potential is there to halve the heating and air conditioning, as well as the energy costs and carbon that go with that."

Cutting urged office managers to undertake an occupancy study and work out whether it was possible to close some floors in an office simply by consolidating empty desks or introducing a hot desking system where flexible workers share desks.

He added that such initiatives could deliver significant cost and environmental benefits, noting that the average cost of running a 10m square desk in the UK currently stands at £6,000, while desks in the West End of London typically cost £14,000.

Cutting admitted, however, that attempts to consolidate office space can face resistance from workers who feel that without their own desk they are not part of an organisation. But he argued that with a recent government study suggesting public sector office space could be cut by 30 per cent by optimising occupancy rates, there was a strong cost and environmental case for undertaking such initiatives.