Case Study - Scale Space

Scale Space Nottingham

Company Background

Scale Space is the first workplace dedicated to scaleups. We currently operate in Nottingham and London and bring together venture builders, universities and innovative companies to unlock the potential of UK innovation. Scale Space Nottingham is a buzzing FinTech hub in the heart of town. 

Addressing our environmental impact is fundamental to our purpose and direction as a business and a community of scaleups. Together with our partners and our members, we aim to do our part to help protect and restore the planet’s health.

Overview of the company’s sustainability goals

1. Net Zero Impact on Climate by 2030
   2030. Our goal is a 30% reduction in carbon by 2025 against a 2020 baseline and becoming carbon neutral by 2030. Our goal is to have net zero emissions across all operations by 2030
2. Net positive impact on nature by 2030
   1. This goal would be tracked by the following measures.
   2. We’re aiming to attain good water stewardship and reduce overall water use by 30%
   3. Have zero operational waste, including eliminating single-use plastics
   4. 25% waste reduction from our supply chain
   5. Have 100% of materials sustainably sourced
   6. Have 95% operational waste reused, recycled, downcycled, or incinerated with heat recovery
3. Our third and final goal was to use 100% renewable electricity by 2022, which we achieved ahead of schedule. We set a new plan to start producing all electricity onsite.

Implemented Solutions

In the past two years, we have reduced our: 

• Carbon emissions by 28%
• Waste to landfill impact by 73%
• Total water usage by 18%

4. Monitoring
   1. We monitor all consumption through a dashboard and measure water consumption, and set reductions.
5. Renewable Energy
   1. We have already fulfilled one of our promises - all electricity used by Scale Space comes from renewable sources. We are taking this one step further by working on a five-year plan to generate electricity onsite.
6. Green Partnership
   1. We have a Green Partnership with all vendors.
7. Member and Employee Programs
   1. We are working on educating our employees and people from our member companies on all things sustainability and hosting events for the sustainably-minded, where we can exchange ideas and innovate together.

Benefits of your sustainability solutions

• Energy consumption and water use have been reduced
• We have employed excellent resource and waste management systems
• We equip Employees and Members with sustainability skills and knowledge.

Testimonial

We have ambitious sustainability promises and goals and have already achieved some of these and made a big dent in others. We have set a clear strategy that all employees from the top-down buy into and have an actionable roadmap to follow. 

Outside of the more extensive plans and initiatives, we have made good progress to help others make more environmentally friendly choices every day. For example, we offer no bottled water and provide taps with water filters in our office spaces. We have various plant-based options at our onsite cafe to encourage more sustainable eating and serve our food in Vegware containers. The cafe also offers incentives for using your own coffee cup. To fight food waste and for a positive social impact, we send our leftover food to the Framework homelessness charity.