Enterprise Rent-A-Car, part of the world’s largest car rental group, has opened its new SKA Gold-rated EMEA HQ in Egham, Surrey, designed and delivered by office interiors expert, Area Sq.
The new EMEA headquarters at Melburne Park, Egham, now houses nearly 300 Enterprise head office staff, who had previously been spread over several locations in the town. By incorporating sustainable design elements along with a community engagement programme, Enterprise and Area Sq are proud to have achieved the SKA Gold rating accreditation from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
SKA rating is an environmental assessment and accreditation that’s led and owned by RICS, which aims to improve the environmental standards related to office redevelopments. The rating also measures the environmental factors associated with the fit-out of an office building and then gives the building an environmental rating, depending on how well it has performed.
Working in partnership with environmental consultant Alphacello, the new office achieved SKA Gold, the highest accolade possible in the rating, and is now one of just a handful of workplaces to achieve the accreditation. SKA Gold rating was achieved in Enterprise’s new EMEA headquarters by incorporating enhanced wellbeing facilities for staff, diverting 98 per cent of waste away from landfill, maximising natural lighting, using a high proportion (80 per cent) of recycled and recyclable materials, and by having a strong community engagement programme. All emissions relating to the project have been offset, making it a carbon neutral redevelopment.
As part of the community engagement programme, local business and design students from Strode’s College and Royal Holloway, University of London, were given tours of the building to gain an in-depth understanding of the building’s design and sustainability credentials.
Jim Burrell, Senior Vice President of European Operations at Enterprise, says: “Our company was founded on the principle that if you take care of your customers and your employees first, then the profits will follow. It is this ethos which has inspired our new headquarters, which will eventually be home to more than 500 employees. From a strategic perspective, the work done here will support the development of the business in Europe. With the help of Area Sq, we have been able to create a positive space for our staff while minimising our impact on the environment.”
The opening of Enterprise’s new European headquarters comes in the company’s 20th anniversary of operating in the UK and at a time of expansion throughout Europe. Enterprise has wholly owned operations in Ireland, the UK, Germany, France and Spain. It also operates the Enterprise brand through franchise partners in Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Greece, Croatia, Turkey and Bulgaria. Later this year, Enterprise will start operating in Switzerland, Turkey, Poland, Czech Republic and Israel.
Gary Chandler, Managing Director at Area Sq comments: “Enterprise’s new SKA Gold-rated EMEA HQ is a ground-breaking project in terms of sustainability. When designing the offices, we focused specifically on being environmentally responsible by promoting the project to the local community and providing training and education to all site workers and subcontractors. We are of course delighted with the SKA Gold rating the project has received, as this was always the end goal we had in mind. We were also very pleased to secure a Bronze 2014 Considerate Constructors Scheme National Site Award.”
