SOCIAL & WELLBEING Schemes HOME

SOCIAL & WELLBEING SCHEMES

SKArating's Social & Wellbeing Assessment Schemes for the Offices and HE&LS sectors are entering the development phase and will focus on providing a practical framework for evaluating the human impact of fit-out and refurbishment projects. Designed to drive meaningful improvements in the health, comfort and experience of building occupants, our schemes help clients, designers and contractors make informed decisions that prioritise people at every stage of a project. Developed by the industry, for the industry, these schemes sit alongside SKA Rating's Environmental and Economic & Value assessments — together forming a comprehensive toolkit for responsible, forward-thinking fit-out.

The introduction of the Social & Wellbeing pillar marks a significant step in 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 person engaged in or impacted by an interior fit-out or refurbishment project receives equal consideration and care for their health, comfort and wellbeing.
To recognise that health, comfort and wellbeing encompass all three dimensions of human experience — physical, emotional and cognitive — and that all three must be addressed for a project to achieve a genuinely sustainable outcome.

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

VALUE OF INTRODUCING THE SOCIAL & WELLBEING 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

INITIAL SECTOR SCHEMES

There are two sector schemes currently under development; for the Offices and Higher Education & Life Sciences. The aim is to address impacts on occupant health and wellbeing, alongside local community, social and supply chain impacts, across office fit-out and refurbishment projects, higher education estates, and life sciences workplaces. The scope of the schemes’ measures, criteria, and ranking system will be developed to reflect current good practice in social impact and wellbeing.

This scheme is currently under development. Its aim is to address impacts on occupant health and wellbeing, as well as local and wider community outcomes and supply chain impacts across office fit-out and refurbishment projects. The scope of the scheme’s measures, criteria, and ranking system will be developed to reflect current good practice in social impact and wellbeing.

This scheme is currently under development. Its aim is to address impacts on occupant health and wellbeing, as well as local and wider community outcomes and supply chain impacts across higher education estates, life sciences workplaces, and the fit-out and refurbishment of such spaces. The scope of the measures, criteria, and ranking system of the scheme will be developed to reflect current good practice of social impact and wellbeing issues.

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

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.

ENGAGE WITH OUR DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY

As part of the schemes’ development Exploration Phase, we held a series of industry workshops to help shape the brief and ensure the schemes respond to real market needs. These took place during Q3–Q4 2025 and brought together industry professionals to collaboratively inform the development of these new, fit-for-purpose schemes. You can register for and catch up on the recorded sessions below. Further events will take place as the schemes move towards final development, including a public consultation and a series of briefings to share updates as they progress towards launch in Q1 2027. To hear about these activities, as well as general updates on the SKArating schemes, we recommend registering for our newsletter or following our social channels for opportunities to attend and take part.

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]

SKArating Foundation 2025/26 - On Demand

The SKArating Foundation On-Demand course provides a detailed introduction to the system's philosophy and methodology and a high-level overview of all the environmental sustainability issues related to non-domestic fit-outs.

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