How flexible offices are supporting ESG: Q&A with Runway East

As part of our series to find out how flexible office providers are addressing ESG (Environmental Social Governance) within their spaces we caught up with Natasha Guerra, CEO at Runway East to find out more.

Tell us a bit about your business / offer

At Runway East we've been fighting against boring offices since 2014, and are now active across 9 locations in London, Bristol and Brighton. Each site has a combination of private offices and dedicated desks, with plenty of meeting rooms, phone booths and breakout spaces to provide a wide range of creative environments to suit all types of teams. We give our members good reasons to come to the office, from specialty coffee, Cake Wednesday to the Friday Beer Trolley + regular evening socials (we’re really good at throwing parties).

Are you addressing sustainability in the way you operate your business, and if yes what does this include for you?

At Runway East, sustainability is at the core of our operations, and we’ve been a certified B Corp since 2022. We are committed to minimising our environmental impact by using 100% renewable electricity and implementing smart thermostats to optimize energy usage.

Additionally, we actively promote recycling and composting of food waste to reduce our carbon footprint. Our focus on sustainability extends beyond our premises, as we prioritise local suppliers and offer free events space to community groups for their activities.

We maintain a strong commitment to our workforce's well-being, being a living wage employer for all employees, including temporary staff, cleaning and maintenance. Our inclusive hiring process incorporates blind hiring and a comprehensive DE&I policy, ensuring a diverse and equitable workplace. Furthermore, we foster a culture of giving back, with proceeds from our honesty bars supporting charities, matching employee charitable donations up to £500 and giving all employees two paid charitable days each year.

Are you addressing environmental, social and governance issues equally or focussing more on one of these areas?

We address ESG issues with equal emphasis, and the B Corp certification covers all three pillars. We have achieved some great successes in the social pillar, down to us providing a wide range of perks and benefits for our employees, including paid sick days, private healthcare, life insurance, and half-price gym membership.

We have also made great progress on the environmental side, and our next goal is focused on minimising our environmental impact by calculating our full carbon footprint, including scope 3 emissions.

As a part of your work on sustainability, have you set a net zero target? If yes what does your commitment include and what have been the main challenges so far?

We’re aiming to become net zero by 2030, and are currently calculating our full carbon footprint with the help of Xtonnes, a member in our Aldgate East space who specialise in helping businesses to calculate their carbon impact. With their insights, we can ensure that the targets we set are authentic and driven by a quantifiable action plan.

Our biggest challenges have been ensuring we have good quality data, the ambiguity around the definitions of net zero within the industry and how to square achieving net zero with being a fast-growing company.

We’re happy that we’re taking on the challenge to voluntarily track and monitor our emissions, and particularly going the extra mile with scope 3 for a company of our size in the industry.

Is consideration of sustainability affecting your long-term strategic planning e.g. site selection?

Absolutely. Our goal is to ensure that we occupy buildings that are both only energy-efficient but also align with high BREEAM certification standards where possible. Moreover, we prioritise sites where space is being repurposed or reused, rather than occupying buildings that require demolishing others to create space, as we’re conscious of the impact of embodied carbon during the construction process.

In line with our commitment to reduce waste and promote circular practices, we explore opportunities to reuse elements from previous fit-outs in our designs, ensuring perfectly good materials find new life. Following the circular economy principles, we design our spaces with end of life in mind, ensuring we use materials built for the long term. This helps to eliminate waste and re-circulate products and materials whilst maintaining their value. Energy efficient heating and lighting systems also ensure our occupants feel comfortable and enhances their well-being.

Are any of your clients/occupiers asking you about sustainability? If yes what are they asking about?

Our clients and occupiers are consistently engaged with our ESG manager, seeking insights and solutions to understand their portion of energy usage. They often ask about our journey in becoming a B Corp as well, eager to learn from our experience and gain valuable hints and tips as they aim for accreditation. We know as well that our sustainability credentials directly impact our members’ reporting, so we’re incentivised to maintain them at the highest standard.

The fact that we've achieved B Corp certification also holds significant importance for potential members, and it's a common topic of interest during tours and discussions, quickly becoming a key consideration for pretty much everyone who visits our spaces.

Do you think sustainability has been fully embraced by the flexible office sector? If not, what do you think are the barriers?

Sustainability has certainly made significant strides within the flexible office sector, with many providers, including us at Runway East, embracing B Corp certification. However, there are still barriers to overcome, similar to those faced by the construction industry as a whole. The nature of the industry often leads to wasteful practices, with an estimated 11% of UK construction spending going towards fit-outs and buildings going through 30-40 different fit-outs during their lifecycle. This constant demand for “new” can result in the disposal of perfectly usable materials neglecting their environmental impact.

Nevertheless, operators like Runway East who prioritise and champion their sustainability credentials have had a positive impact on SMEs. By setting an example and leading by action, we have influenced and inspired SMEs that traditionally take flexible office space to adopt more environmentally responsible practices. This ripple effect contributes to a more sustainable and conscious approach across the entire industry.

What more can be done?

Sustainability is not something anyone can “complete”, and there will always be more to do. We are publishing an Impact Report for the first this year, which will be an annual document demonstrating the positive impact that we have made over the past 12 months as well as setting targets for the future so that we can hold ourselves accountable.

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