The SKArating Environmental pillar forms the foundation of SKArating's ambition to become the first interior fit-out and refurbishment assessment and benchmarking system to offer clients a complete triple bottom line framework, integrating environmental, social and economic value outcomes — enabling projects to define, assess and demonstrate sustainability performance in a truly holistic way.

SCHEME AIMS

  • To ensure that every interior fit-out or refurbishment project takes meaningful responsibility for its environmental impact, driving progress towards Net Zero Carbon and 100% Circularity goals.
  • To recognise that environmental sustainability must be assessed across all stages of a project — from design and procurement through to construction and operation — to achieve a genuinely sustainable outcome.

The SKArating Environmental schemes cover impacts across the full project life cycle and extend to all stakeholders.

VALUE OF INTRODUCING THE ENVIRONMENTAL SCHEMES

  • Fit-for-purpose and affordable for average-sized fit-out projects
  • Clear lines of responsibility within project boundaries
  • Fills gaps between existing schemes with no overlap or duplication
  • Consistent methods across all SKArating sustainability pillar assessments
  • Single integrated scheme with coordinated industry progress
  • Market-specific relevance for the UK and EU market



CURRENT SECTOR SCHEMES

Environmental schemes for the Offices, Retail and Higher Education sectors are now live.

The Offices Environmental v2.0 scheme has been updated to align with Net Zero Carbon and 100% Circularity goals. Retail and Higher Education sector schemes are also being updated to meet these same targets — in the meantime, Retail v1.0 and Higher Education v1.0 remain available for use.

Clients can register projects via the SKArating online tool and use the scheme's Good Practice Measures to access any live scheme and undergo an assessment.

Stakeholders wishing to stay informed and contribute to the development of our environmental schemes are welcome to join development workshops and briefing events held for each scheme. A public consultation is also hosted prior to each scheme launch. These activities offer industry stakeholders the opportunity to shape and influence each scheme — reflecting SKArating's founding principle of being created by the industry, for the industry.

OFFICES ENVIRONMENTAL

We've launched Offices Environmental 2.0 and it is now the default Offices Environmental assessment scheme. It is the first scheme aligned to the Net Zero Carbon limits and has increased Circularity performance towards whole life resource optimisation.
ABOUT THE SCHEME

HIGHER EDUCATION (HE&LS ENVIRONMENTAL)

The Higher Education v1.0 scheme is available for project assessments.

This scheme is heading towards an update to align its scope and level of good practice in line with the Offices Environmental v2.0 scheme.

The existing Higher Education scheme is also expanding in scope to cover Life Sciences fit-out and refurbishment projects due to the significant overlap these two sector projects have.

ABOUT THE SCHEME

RETAIL (RETAIL ENVIRONMENTAL)

The Retail v1.0 scheme is available for project assessments.

This scheme is heading towards an update to align its scope and level of good practice in line with the Offices Environmental v2.0 scheme.

The existing Retail scheme also covers restaurants and cafes in addition to general retail projects.

ABOUT THE SCHEME

DON'T SEE YOUR SECTOR SCHEME?

As with all SKArating schemes, new sectors will be brought on board where there is a clear industry interest and need. If you would like to champion a scheme for your sector, we'd welcome the conversation.

SKArating ROADMAP TO 2030

The SKArating Board has published a Scheme Development and Updates Roadmap to 2030 to support industry and market alignment, and to inform strategic decision-making across stakeholders. The Roadmap sets out our ambition to deliver more frequent scheme updates that help drive the market, respond to the pace of industry change, and reflect growing client demand for performance.

Read about the SKArating Roadmap to 2030

CONTACT

If you have any questions or require further clarification, please contact us at [email protected]