By Steve Taggart
Climate change has become one of the major issues facing the world in recent years. To this end, many businesses across the globe are now making a concerted effort to ensure that their main office buildings are as environmentally friendly as possible.
To celebrate National Work Life Week this month, online furniture retailer, Clever Clicker have compiled a list of five of the most green offices from around the world. So here we go..
1. The Bullitt Centre in Seattle, Washington, USA
This list is not strictly ranked in order, but if it were, this innovative building in Seattle would surely be at number one. Christened the world’s ‘most green’ building, this amazing structure has been purposely designed to maximise natural energy resources. The huge array of solar panels ensures that the Bullitt Centre actually creates more energy than it uses. All of the water used in the building is collected from rainwater, which is stored in a vast tank in the basement.
2. Gummo in Amsterdam, Netherlands
The main offices of advertising agency, Gummo in Amsterdam are a lesson in recycling and reusing as much as possible. The majority of the furniture is actually second-hand, obtained from various sources such as charity shops, eBay and left-overs from the building’s former occupants.
3. IPEVO in Taipei, Taiwan
The Taiwan office of computer peripherals company, IPEVO is truly unique. The foyer and waiting area, known as Central Park, is as natural as you can get. The walls and cupboard doors are constructed from dried Taiwanese grass lawns, while recycled camphor tree trunks form part of the amazing interior decor..
4. One Shelley Street in Sidney, Australia
Home to the Macquarie Group, each floor of this impressive ten-storey building is linked by aerial staircases. The reduction in the use of the lifts, along with other environmentally friendly features, such as zone-controlled lighting and chilled beams, has seen overall energy use cut in half.
5. Fondation Nicolas Hulot in Paris, France
A company which works on behalf of nature and humankind should perhaps be expected to be based in headquarters which are naturally sustainable and friendly to the environment. Recyclable materials were used to construct the walls, and natural linoleum covers the floor. However, the most striking aspects of the building’s interior are the amazing walls covered in live plants.
How green is your office? As some of the offices in the list above have shown, it doesn’t have to cost the earth to be eco-friendly, but it could save the Earth.
