New Index Will Show Flex Office Users If Their Space Is Sustainable

The Instant Group has launched a new index to provide flexible office occupiers with information to assess how their building owners and operators track sustainability data. 

The company said its sustainability index will provide data on building performance, helping operators and occupiers make decisions about the sustainability of their workspaces. 

Instant is owned by flexible workspace giant IWG and provides a digital marketplace of flexible offices across the world as well as advising clients on their flexible workspace needs. 

Instant said more than 3,000 workspaces globally are included in its sustainability index. Over 20,000 landlords, flex operators and investors use Instant’s global digital marketplace, it said. 

Landmark, a UK-based flexible workspace operator with more 20 sites, has adopted the sustainability index as a founding partner.

The index covers any type of flexible workspace and collects site information such as address, floor area, the total number of desks and occupancy, and consumption data for electricity, gas and renewable energy. It also offers evidence of consumption, including invoices.

Data provided is submitted for processing and validation by Instant’s sustainability consulting team.

The index is meant to ensure that flexible workspace providers can offer key data points for sustainability reporting in line with best practices. The data is vital to occupiers’ reporting and compliance needs, Instant said.

An index badge of Sustainable Data Provider status is awarded to flex space providers that meet certain criteria, differentiating them for occupiers in search of sustainable workspace partners.

“Sustainability has unquestionably become a business imperative,” Instant Head of Sustainability Sam Pickering said in an emailed statement. “With companies working more flexibly and real estate accounting for between 28% and 40% of carbon emissions globally, we believe that flex space forms a significant part of the net-zero strategy for the built environment.”