1. Resource use and GHG emissions of an office fit out project
Carolina LILJENSTRÖM, Tove MALMQVIST
KTH, Dep. Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Technology,

2. Background
Building LCA:s rely on use stage scenarios – but how representative are these for real impacts?
Redecorations of premises common for new leases
Particularly attractive office locations with high turn-overs of clients – but also housing
Circular economy gaining increased interest

3. Study purpose
To better understand the potential environmental impact of redecorations/fit-outs in a life cycle perspective and to identify potentials for resource savings in buildings in-use:
Investigate the type and quantity of demolition waste generated and material resources used in an office fit-out project, and to quantify the cumulative energy demand (CED) and global warming potential (GWP) associated with the fit-out.
This is done in order to provide a basis for further discussions on resource savings in fit-out projects and to better understand the relative importance of fit-outs compared to the other life-cycle stages of the building.

4. The case study building
Property owner: Vasakronan
Location: Central Stockholm
Year of construction: 1940
Major renovations: 1985, 2005
Certification: LEED EB:OM Gold
This study is carried out for an office fit-out project, typical for large property owners and attractive office premises, in an office building in central Stockholm, Sweden.
138 working places in the studied fit-out project encompassing two floors of the building.
Retail area
69 m2
Other services (restaurant, reception, common conference area)
1 756 m2
Number of floors
8 (fit-out project in 2 floors)
Heated floor area m2
Leasable office space in the studied fit-out project
2 234 m2

5. Office fit-out project in 2014
Demolishing and reconstructing the interior walls
Changing floor and ceiling finishes
Constructing an internal stair case
Changing doors and glass walls replacing sanitary porcelain and kitchen equipment
Changing ventilation and electrical installations
Project initiated by a new tenant At Vasakronan, the length of a lease is typically 3-5 years, and fit-outs of varying size are carried out in between leases. While extensive projects such as this one are common, they are carried out less often, at 15 year intervals, for the main reason that interior decorations look old and out-dated. In this office for example, doors and kitchenettes dated back to the 1980s. While the interior walls did contain blue concrete, the primary reason for reconstruction was that there are other noise standards than when the walls were originally constructed. Vasakronan would have preferred to construct an open office and to not rebuild the walls; however, the tenant required a cell structure due to its type of organisation. New interior walls were therefore constructed more or less in the same place as the old ones.
Different reasons for carrying out projects but still quite representative for fit-out projects according to project leader at Vasakronan.
before
after

6. Covered fit-out activities
The fit-out project included demolition of the old interior decorations, and new construction. Here are the activities which were included in the calculations. Direct energy use for demolition and construction processes was excluded as no specific measurement of energy use was made by the sub-contractors. According to them no significantly energy intensive processes or equipment was used. It is therefore assumed that the exclusion of this energy use would not significantly influence the results of the study.

7. Data inventory Demolition New construction
Documentation on quantities of waste types and waste facilities
On-site inventory of origin of wasted materials
New construction
Bill of quantities on new, including excess material
Estimations based on room descriptions, drawings for kitchen equipment and furniture
Calculations of materials for auxiliary products based on building product declarations
Transport distances based on factory locations
Data sources: EPD:s in accordance with EN15804 complemented with data from Ökobau (modified to exclude carbon storage)
During demolition the waste had been divided into the following waste fractions: asbestos contaminated material, blue concrete, concrete, electronic waste, landfill, metals, and mixed waste. The sub-contractors provided the quantity of each waste fraction, except electronic waste for which no data could be retrieved. It was therefore assumed that the amount of electronic waste sent to waste treatment was the same as the quantity built in to the new office. Waste management of the furniture used by the previous tenant was not included in the calculations since it was unknown.
Transportavstånd beräknades utifrån att vi fick reda på var olika fraktioner lämnades. No energy considered for sorting or for further transportation. No benefits considered for recycling (module D)
Bill of Q innehåller ej kitchen equipment and furniture. This was estimated based on room descriptions.
When necessary, densities were gathered from information sheets for the specific products that were used. The weight of kitchen equipment and furniture was estimated based on common products currently sold in stores. The main products excluded from the calculations of the total weight were wall sockets and switches, pipes for cables, lamps, a kitchen island, and benches and cupboards in the kitchen. Particularly exclusion of kitchen decorations could influence the result as they are expected to be quite heavy.
Typical office furniture – desk, desk chairs, and book shelves – were included as they are believed to be rather standardised in terms of material choices. Other types of furniture, such as chairs and tables in the kitchen and conference areas were excluded. Exclusion of furniture and kitchen equipment could have a potentially significant impact on the results of the study. Type and quantity of materials needed for the ventilation components were calculated based on data in the building product declarations that was available for each product.
The transportation distances were calculated based on the location of the factory in which the component were produced, and the location of the office building. The majority of the building components were manufactured in Sweden, with a few produced in other European countries. The building components manufactured in Sweden represent 85 % of the total weight. The arithmetic mean of transportation distances for all components was 430 kilometres. As it is not known exactly how the products are transported to the building site, it was assumed for all products that the transportation took place with a diesel lorry with a weight larger than 32 tonnes, regardless of where they were produced
EPD:s main data source. All EPDs are made in accordance with the standard EN 15804, except from the EPDs on plaster boards and furniture. When an EPD was not available, the database Ökobau (reference), which is compatible with the standard EN for building products, was used first-hand. Carbon storage was not accounted for. Carbon uptake is taken into account in Ökobau. In the database it is explained how much CO2-uptake that is accounted for per kg of wood; this figure was therefore added.

8. Results total total Results
Production of new material dominates totally both total CED and GWP.
For both categories production of new materials is dominated by Furniture and the constructin of new internal walls
Category Included in the category
Construction, of walls, floors and ceilings Steel profiles, plaster boards, plywood, insulation, sealants, plaster, concrete, glue
Painting Paint, (spackle)
Floor coverings Parquet, wall-to-wall carpet, linoleum carpet, glue, (spackle)
Tiles Tiles, sealants
Sanitary porcelain Sinks, WC-chairs
Ventilation Ventilation components
Electric installations and control Cable ladders, cables
Interior decorations Glass wall, doors
Kitchen (Fridges and freezers, dishwashers, microwave ovens)
Furniture Desks, desk chairs, book shelves (conference tables and chairs, tables and chairs in the kitchen area)

9. Comparison to numbers in LCA building case
1 fit-out project in entire case study building:
GWP: 62 kg CO2e/m2 heated floor area
CEDtotal: 1,4 GJ/m2 heated floor area
Indicator
Unit
Modul A1-5
B2, B4 B6
C1-4
Production
(A1-3)
Construction
(A4-5)
GWP
kg CO2-ekv./m2 heated floor area
296 55 61
301 23
CEDtotal
GJ/m2 heated fl area 4 - 21
kWh/ m2 heated fl area
1 080
5 830
Scaling up the fit –out to the entire building we come to these results.
Is it much or not?
Compare the actual numbers to building LCA:s. This is a building LCA performed by myself and colleagues which makes a comparison more valid, is on a multifamily building in concrete but gives an idea of the proportional impact of fit-outs. For ex. three fit-outs on the entire building case study building, exceeds the replacements needed during 50 years for this building (Modules B2, B4).
Not same system boundaries for B4 but numbers calculated in the same way.
This kind of exercise also indicates that fit-outs definitely cause environmentla impacts of significance.
Reference study period: 50 years
Liljenström et al (2015). Byggandets klimatpåverkan. Livscykelberäkning av klimatpåverkan och energianvändning för ett nyproducerat energieffektivt flerbostadshus i betong. Report nr B

10. GWP from fit-outs – comparison
Simplified comparison with operational energy use (3 scenarios) for the building during 50 years.
To get some kind of understanding whether the calculated numbers reveal that fit-outs is of concern or not when dealing with climate change mitigation for buildings, we made this comparison which compares two hypothetical cases of fit-outs occuring during 50 years in this building compared with the CO2e emissions for operational energy use.
The scenario with 3 fit-outs during the 50 year period represents a low-resource scenario based on what the property owner of the building expressed that this type of major rebuilding of the interior takes place approximately every 15 years. It can thus be assumed to align quite well with a scenario built on technical life times of components and surface materials.  
On the other hand it can be assumed that at least furniture are changed more often due to the typical high turnover (3-5 years as expressed by the property owner) of tenants in similar buildings. The 10 times scenario in this sense may represent a high-resource scenario, probably more typical in terms of furniture exchange rate, but less typical in terms of the rest of the fit-out impact. Nevertheless it provides an indicative span regarding the extent of impact caused by redecoration of attractive office spaces.
Operational energy use is also given in a span – high renewable energy mix, low renewable and the current situation regarding energy supply for heating, cooling and electricity in this building.
(Electricity 8 g CO2e/kWh, District heating 126.) Current mix is electricity based on renewables but district heating with (for Swedish conditions high share of non-ren).
This comparison displays that for the current situation only 3-fitouts still stand for 20% of the operational energy use during 50 years, high ren. (which is probable in around 2050 in Sweden) – 20%. And 25, 40 % respectively for the intense fit-out scenario. Probably the real scenario lies a bit in between which we can conclude then is a not negligible share of the emissions over the life time of a building.
Operational energy use kWh per m2 Atemp and year
Property and tenant electricity 47
District heating 89
District cooling 59
Operational energy use: 194 kWh/m2 heated floor area and year.

11. Implications Environmental impact of fit-outs is not negligible
Points to the unrealized potential of a more efficient resource use in buildings in-use
So, env impacts not negligible which points to the unrealized potential of a more efficient resource use in buildings in-use. This is an area in which very little has been done so far and not been targeted much.
Rather, existing policy in many ways discourage efficient resource use in terms of interior decorations, fittings, furniture etc.
Two examples, in Sweden house and apartment owners can receive tax reductions when renovating interiors which has led to a much higher replacement of for instance kitchens than earlier. Another example, I am currently involved in the planning of a new office for my department. We have struggled hard to be able to use reused furniture. However the current procurement Act in many ways hinders us to buy reused furniture, for ex because warranties cannot be given and since our school doesn’t have no contracts with suppliers of reused furniture.
However, it is likely that some parts are replaced more often than others. For example, floor coverings, tiles, and interior decorations are likely replaced more often than electric installations and ventilation.
Design for flexibility, adaptability since components and parts are connected to each other, replacement of one part commonly also affects others.
However from discussions with the property owner of the case study building, the tenants´ desire for modern, light and fresh office space appeared as one of the largest obstacles for more resource efficient fit-outs. Different actors have possibilities to influence different parts of the project. Ultimately, it is the tenant who decides what measures they want to take, and they therefore have a large influence on the outcome of the project.
We hope that this type of study can stimulate a discussion among the actors and provide the property owner with an argument in negotiation with their tenants, fit-out consultants and also tenants to better consider these issues.
Circular economy

12. Thankyou Tove.malmqvist@abe.kth.se Acknowledgement:
Swedish Energy Agency
Vasakronan