It may seem intuitive to believe that working from home has a lower environmental impact, when you think about the energy saved by not commuting, or running office buildings at full occupancy. But that’s not the full picture.

In fact, researchers have found that if the typical British commuter worked at home throughout the year, their carbon footprint would be 80% higher than the average office worker because of the huge carbon emissions produced by central heating in colder months. And the fact that heating a modern office building is much more efficient than domestic systems.

But that is not good enough. Office buildings shouldn’t be merely ‘less bad’ than working from home. They should be much better.

Occupiers need to feel like they are saving the planet by coming to the office. That’s certainly what we’re trying to achieve at TBC.London.

TBC.London is an exemplar post-COVID office building that, by creating space for people to work that is zero carbon in operation, is actually good for the environment.

To deliver on that we’re taking significant steps to reduce the amount of energy required to run the building. By using 100% electric heating systems, sourced from 100% renewable sources, we avoid one of the most common fossil fuel usages in buildings. Optimising insulation materials and installing efficient technologies like heat pumps and air tiles also helps to decarbonise TBC.London.

Together with smart building management tech and efficient lighting and appliances, the result is a low energy intensity building that uses less than 55kWh/m2/year. That’s compared to over 200kWh/m2/year in a typical UK office building.

Our certified renewable, non-fossil fuel energy comes solely from solar, wind, and biomass generators. In addition, we produce power on-site from roof-top photovoltaic panels.

We have also considered how to make your commute greener. Pedal power is increasing in popularity and it is easy to see why – it has a low environmental impact and benefits for your health. TBC.London has 174 secure cycle spaces, charging stations for e-bikes and shower and changing facilities, and is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the ongoing investment being made in new protected cycle lanes.

So when you do decide to work from the office, you can do so with the peace of mind that you are doing something that actively is improving the environment.