Earth Conscious, Cisco’s month-long worker celebration of sustainability and the planet can also be an opportune time to give attention to inexperienced buildings. However first, what’s a inexperienced constructing?
By definition, a inexperienced or sustainable constructing is a constructing that, due to its development and options, can keep and even enhance the standard of lifetime of the atmosphere during which it’s situated.
Inexperienced buildings preserve assets
There are a number of options which might make a constructing inexperienced, together with:
- Environment friendly use of vitality, water, and different assets
- Use of renewable vitality, resembling photo voltaic vitality
- Air pollution and waste discount measures, and the enabling of re-use and recycling of supplies
- Good indoor environmental air high quality
- Use of supplies which can be non-toxic, moral, and sustainable
- Consideration of the atmosphere in design, development, and operation
- Consideration of the standard of lifetime of occupants in design, development, and operation
- A design that allows adaptation to a altering atmosphere.
Any constructing could be a inexperienced constructing, whether or not it’s a house, workplace, college, hospital, group middle, or different construction, supplied it contains among the options listed above.
Inexperienced buildings enhance our high quality of life
Inexperienced buildings cut back or remove detrimental environmental impacts whereas additionally creating optimistic impacts for each individuals and the atmosphere. It’s price noting that people spend over 90 % of their time indoors, so that point must be spent in probably the most wholesome area as doable. Inexperienced buildings have been related with worker advantages, resembling mitigating stress and burnout.
Easy steps, like enhancing air high quality, rising pure gentle, and introducing greenery may also have a dramatic affect on the underside line, by enhancing worker productiveness and decreasing absenteeism, employees turnover, and medical prices.
Sometimes, organizations prioritizing their workers’ wellness and environmental sustainability within the development of their buildings will comply with third-party certifications, resembling LEED, WELL, BREEAM, and FitWEL. These certifications give attention to tangible and quantifiable sustainability measures, like decreasing the consumption of vitality, water, and different assets; but additionally, the intangible advantages, resembling bettering format and noise, indoor air high quality, thermal consolation, and lighting.
What is Cisco doing?
Earlier than the pandemic, 17 % of our actual property area was licensed by means of a inexperienced constructing commonplace (LEED, WELL, or equal). Now, we’re at 19.5 % licensed by means of a inexperienced constructing commonplace. These are nice steps ahead, however we’re all the time searching for methods to do higher.
Whereas most of our workers have been working from dwelling in 2020 and 2021, Cisco determined to pursue a brand new inexperienced constructing ranking referred to as the WELL Well being-Security Ranking. This new ranking was developed to assist organizations and companies undertake evidence-based measures that promote the well being, security, and well-being of their occupants. It contains 22 methods to:
- Maintain areas clear and sanitized
- Present important well being advantages and companies
- Talk your well being and security efforts
- Assist everybody put together for an emergency
- Assess air and water high quality
As of January 2022, 55 of Cisco’s largest and/or latest buildings in San Jose, Analysis Triangle Park (North Carolina), Chicago, New York Metropolis, Bangalore, and London have been licensed to this commonplace.
Now that our workforce is starting to return to the workplace, Cisco has determined to pursue the WELL Constructing Commonplace and LEED certification for brand spanking new, massive constructing tasks. By pursuing each certifications, we all know our buildings can be excessive performing, vitality environment friendly areas that positively affect the individuals inside them.
Highlight on NYC and Atlanta
The renovation of our workplace in New York Metropolis is full. This new area is designed to realize LEED Silver certification and contains applied sciences resembling Energy over Ethernet (POE) related lights, desks, and blinds. The workplace is designed to devour seven % much less vitality and 27 % much less water than the native code requires by means of low circulate bathroom/sinks and vitality environment friendly lighting (LEDs). Our Atlanta workplace would be the second accomplished LEED and WELL licensed constructing in our portfolio (after Chicago) and can embody Cisco know-how that measures indoor air high quality scores in every room, wholesome break room choices, reflection rooms, and curated train programming like yoga lessons.
What about our headquarters in San Jose?
We all know hybrid work is right here to remain. We developed our first collaboration hub in San Jose as a spot for individuals and groups to come back collectively for conferences, occasions, and volunteering alternatives. The constructing contains options that promote worker well-being, resembling therapeutic massage chairs, creativity zones, and reflection rooms, mixed with psychological well-being choices and curated occasions for groups. For instance, one workforce may select honey tasting and psychological well being coaching. One other may select a giving again exercise and a yoga class. Groups can select what they do with their time from a listing of choices. And sure, it will likely be WELL building-certified as properly.
In abstract, we have now a chance by means of our actual property to give attention to extra than simply how our buildings carry out, but additionally how they affect individuals’s well-being. We sit up for increasing our inexperienced constructing portfolio, to make sure that our areas are secure, wholesome, and sustainable.
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