The new K&H treehouse

Three summers ago, Microsoft opened a treehouse office in Pimlico Gardens in London. It was set up as an experiment in giving employees the freedom to choose where and how they worked, and also as a test bed for mobile and wireless technologies (MOOF – Mobile Out Of Office).

This set me thinking that a treehouse might not be such a crazy idea after all. Business is growing, staff numbers are increasing, and our vegetable plot is taking over an increasing part of our garden area. And a treehouse ties in with our ‘green’ credentials and aspirations, as well as being a lovely idea.

And so, here we are, with our very own treehouse in the largest tree in our car park, tailor-made to our specifications by a client who just happens to be a joiner and carpenter.

The plan is that we will use it as an overflow office – for meetings, and for any of the team who want to work undisturbed and undistracted. We’ll be able to ‘connect with nature’, and perhaps think more freely as a result. In the summer, staff will be able to eat their lunch in the treehouse, if they want to avoid the breeze or the sun,

In time, we may even extend upwards, who knows? The sky’s the limit.

Having just recovered from Christmas and come back to work, one of the first tasks of the working year is to take down the decorations. The tinsels and baubles will be packed away to be reused next year, the Christmas cards will be recycled, and the tree will go on our compost heap.

As far as green resolutions go in 2010, at K&H we will be looking further into reducing our energy use and finding more about ways of carbon offsetting.

We tend to think that it is the small changes that we can all make that help to create a better world. If you would like to make a difference, here are some ideas for business resolutions:

• buy recycled products (e.g. paper, envelopes, pencils)
• encourage working from home to reduce emissions from commuting
• start a cycle-to-work scheme
• drive a car with low emissions (less than 120g/km)
• order supplies in large amounts to reduce packaging and deliveries
• use energy-efficient lighting
• turn off computers, monitors, printers and other machines at night
• switch off monitors at lunchtime or when away from your desk for any length of time
• print double-sided
• drink tap water rather than bottled

If you have any other ideas for being greener at work, I’d love to hear them. Email me.

Susan Kemish
Operations Director

The way this works is by showing a constant display of the cost per hour of the electricity being used at any time. We have been using an energy monitor for a few weeks now, and this has shown that we tend to use between 80p – £1.55 during the day and this drops down to around 40p per hour at night and at weekends.

It has made a difference in that we are more conscious of whether lights or equipment need to be switched on.  Once you become aware of how much energy you are using you automatically start to look for ways of cutting down.

Find out more about how an energy monitor could save you money.

If you would like to share your green ideas with us, please contact add a comment below.

To aid their cause, Kirkpatrick & Hopes have introduced 5 different recycling bins in the kitchen for compostables, paper, foil, aluminium and plastic. Staff have been switching their cars for low carbon emission models, cycling to work and even using the firm’s gardens to plant and harvest vegetables.

In addition, they now switch off computers, monitors and printers at night, use double sided printing whenever possible and buy milk directly from the milkman to make sure that they are re-using the empty glass bottles.

Susan Kemish, Operations director of Kirkpatrick & Hopes said; “We have taken individual and collective responsibility to do all we can to reduce carbon emissions and make our working life more environmentally sustainable. These measures are just the beginning of a much greener future for Kirkpatrick & Hopes “.

We now get out milk from the milkman – we think its better to be re-using the empty glass bottles than recycling the plastic ones, or even worse letting the plastic going to a landfill site.

Cycling to work – Four of the K&H team have cycled to work at some time this year – admittedly some more often than others! Two of the team have done this on a very regular basis, and this brings it own rewards, not just in reducing co2 emissions, but also money saving & health benefits. Andrew Gray is one of the converts, and finds that it takes either the same or less time to cycle than it does to drive to work, and is also improving his health and saving money at the same time. You can make this even more financially attractive for your team by joining the Government sponsored Cycle to Work Scheme. Find out more.

Our garden – We started this a bit too late in the year, so the benefit is a bit limited, but we have been growing a few vegetables outside. So far we have harvested a few radishes, French beans, some rocket, and our most prolific crop has been lettuce. We also have a compost bin to collect kitchen waste and are hoping to put this to good use next summer and grow even more!

Here at k&h we try very hard to be green, for example we have 5 different recycling bins in the kitchen for compostables, paper, foil, metal and plastic and we continue our green efforts throughout our offices. We want to promote environmental awareness among our clients and associates, and how better to do it than on our website, no paper or print costs and easy and cheap to update.

The Green Office

The software provider, Access, can provide, free of charge, an add-on to its accounting software to enable users to easily measure their carbon footprint. Find out more about the software.

While this is obviously a step in the right direction (how do you know you have improved if you don’t know where you started from?), don’t forget that it is actually taking action which will reduce your carbon impact.

These are some things that we have started to do here at K&H:

• Switching off computers & monitors at night (we also have an unwritten rule that it is OK to switch off someone else’s machine if they have forgotten)
• Turning off printers at night – these still use quite a lot of power even when they are on standby
• Double sided printing – we have one double sided printer which means we can halve the amount of paper needed for printing accounts and other long documents (As other printers need replacing these will also be updated with duplex machines)
• Choose lower emission cars – Whilst we don’t have the luxury here at K&H of Company cars, the last 3 people here to change their cars have all considered the CO2 emissions & chosen very low emission cars. It is not just what we do as a business but our personal choices which make a difference to our impact on the environment.

For information on company car emissions visit Comcar.

Business Link have an interesting survey online that can help you identify areas where you can be greener and save money, such as improving waste disposal, improving energy use and setting up an environmental management system. Try the survey.

For those of you who are passionate about going green, as we are, here are links to some websites I would recommend:

• Business Green
• Business Link
• Green England
• Guide Me Green