Project certification fee

by skarating | Nov 11, 2025 | News

Following annual review of our charge rates we announce that the project certification fee is increasing in line with inflation to £900 plus VAT. This increase will take place from Monday, December 8th 2025.

All projects proceeding to certification from December 8th onwards will be paying this rate irrespective of when they were registered.

Any queries on this please email support@skarating.org and our team will be happy to assist you.

It’s here – Offices Environmental 2.0 is live!

by skarating | Sep 16, 2025 | News

We’re pleased to share with you that the Offices Environmental 2.0 scheme officially went live yesterday – Monday, 15th September 2025! The scheme is on the online tool here, and you can download the Good Practice Measures here.

Here’s what you need to know:

• All new offices project registrations will be on v2.0 version only.
• All existing v1.2 projects will continue as normal through to certification.

Want to hear about the scheme?
Online briefing sessions with the development team are now available and ready for you to register onto. Select one or all four events below, to hear about the scheme overview, aims and focused details on major impact categories.

• Tuesday 23/09 at 4-5.30pm – scheme introduction, aims and strategy – register here
• Wednesday 01/10 at 12-1.30pm – scheme introduction and focus on Materials category – register here
• Wednesday 08/10 at 12-1.30pm – scheme introduction and focus on Energy category – register here
• Monday 13/10 at 12-1.30pm – scheme introduction and focus on Resource Management category – register here

All the work undertaken to create this scheme has been done by the industry and for the industry, and forms a defining feature of SKArating and our culture. Leading the SKArating for Offices Environmental 2.0 scheme update were the following SKArating Board members:

Charlie Law – Sustainable Construction Solutions
Dave Wakelin – Gleeds
Elina Grigoriou – Grigoriou Interiors
Joe Croft – Overbury / Morgan Lovell
Iain McIlwee – FIS
 
The SKArating Board is grateful for all the research, resource, verification and rich discussion provided in the scheme research process by the following industry stakeholders, and companies at the time of their involvement:

We also extend our gratitude to all SKArating Assessors and wider stakeholders including developers, occupiers, designers, engineers, contractors, and supply chain parties who contributed in the briefing workshops and public consultation stage and took time to feedback and improve the work.

We can’t wait for you to experience 2.0. For any questions, please email us at comms@skarating.org

Offices Environmental v2.0 going live soon!

by skarating | Sep 3, 2025 | News

We have the go-live date for the Offices Environmental v2.0 scheme!

It is with great pleasure and a sense of serious community accomplishment that we announce the go-live date for the Offices Environmental v2.0 scheme as Monday, September 15th 2025.

Please note the following details in relation to this:

1. All Offices environmental projects registered in the online tool following this date will be registered on v2.0 only. 
2. The last chance to register any Offices project on version 1.2 will be Friday, September 12th 2025 noon UK time. 
3. The online tool will be offline from Friday, September 12th, 12pm to Monday, 15th, 9 am.
4. All projects registered under version 1.2 will be normally processed in this scheme version until their handover stage certification and the occupancy stage assessment certification.
5. All existing projects will stay under the users accounts as normal.

We received over 80 individual comments to the Offices v2.0 public consultation, all of which have been helpful and constructive. The comments and the team’s response to each is now publicly available on the SKArating Hub consultation page. Overall, the scheme has received very positive feedback and the market is ready to lift standards up again.

The updated and final Offices Environmental v2.0 Good Practice Measures are going to be issued close to September 15th, they will also be uploaded to the main website for general access before they also become integrated to the online tool. 

Why is the tool going offline?

The tool is going offline to ensure a smooth switch over with the new and improved Online Tool which includes the new the Offices v2.0 scheme. There will be a phase 2 development coming soon to refine and give more value to all users.

Launch briefing 

Briefing sessions with the team behind its development will be published around the launch of the scheme, so please do keep your eyes open for the date and registration.  The events will give you an opportunity to hear about the drivers, aims and key features of the updated scheme. More details to come soon! 

Training for the Offices v2.0 professional roles

There will be training for all Offices accredited professionals to undertake on the scheme update details. This will be available from mid September in line with the scheme launch date. More details to follow soon! For those wishing to become SKArating Competent Professionals or Assessors, now is the time to start with the SKArating Foundation course to then be ready to move onto the updated training as soon as it is launched. Details for the Foundation course can be found here.

If you have any questions on the above, please contact us: support@skarating.org

SKArating Offices scheme update – Strengthening Resource Management and driving Circular fit-outs

by skarating | May 27, 2025 | News

This is a technical note relating to the Offices v2.0 scheme update and forms part of a series of related technical articles. To read the previous post on Energy & CO2 please follow this link, and to read the post on Materials & Ecology please follow this link.

SKArating is stepping up its approach to resource management with significant updates that prioritise reuse, traceability, and shared responsibility across the supply chain and supply cycle. This change is also demonstrated by the category renaming from ‘Waste’ to ‘Resource Management’.

The standout shift? A firm requirement for design for disassembly and traceability. Every product or material must now be removable without contamination, and installed or moved on with data traceability, enabling safe future reuse. Reused materials must also come with circularity data or if possible a material/product passport to ensure traceability and performance integrity.

The revised Resource Management measures also introduce new benchmarks for levels of circularity, following the trajectory started in the Higher Education scheme in 2016. These benchmarks are drawn from high performing products, from supply chain sector performance and the elements’ nature and features themselves, aligning ambition with achievability for good practice levels.

Data can support circularity and increase safety and performance. It is recognised that in non-integrated projects or projects and teams where new process systems are being introduced, this is likely to add resource to current businesses and project sizes. This change is a forward investment for clients, suppliers and nations and ensure we start retaining more of the value created in fixed assets.

Together, these changes represent a more systemic, practical and data-driven scheme — one that builds confidence, reduces greenwashing, and helps the industry and market move forward with purpose.

A joined up and practical approach – RMPT process

The refinement of the RMPs (now RMPTs) and SWMP documents and processes is the most notable starting point for the category. The Resource Management Plans are now refined to act as a wider umbrella process that focuses on the active planning of assets onto or off the site, and helping teams track, manage and measure. The measure is removing the need to create long word generic documents that are not helping teams actively in project decisions, to a predominantly schedule-based tracker which includes planning decisions specific to each item. The start of the resource management planning at the design stage, and the need for updates along key project milestones by respective teams, is also another key change that will support the original aims for this measure and the overall category.

The renaming of the title to add the word ‘Tracker’ is done to highlight the actively tracking focused nature of this measure rather than it being a word document that few refer to. At least, we hope so as this issue needs support based on past project demonstrations.

Resource management begins right at the start of the project, before design starts. The introduction of the pre-refurbishment survey into the Offices scheme aims to inform design teams of the resource they have available as soon as they on-board the project. The role of dilapidations must not be sidelined and it is hoped that pre-refurbishment surveys can form part of this asset stage in the very near future and link-up with resource management.

Whole life and In Use scheme drivers

The re-named and updated ‘D60 Designing out Waste’ measure to now focus on whole life thinking and optimising the resource’s use as long as possible, also aligns with the SKArating strategic direction to include whole life thinking of projects. The lift of the aims for this measure from reducing waste to increasing circularity is also reflecting the lift of benchmarks and performance to reflect current good practice.

Of note is the new measure ‘D84 Fixed asset tagging register’ which looks to take part in the relay of information from the project delivery team to the facilities/asset management team and then onto the next project team or material supplier or processor. Projects are gathering a mine of information during the design and delivery stage on products and materials and this does not find its way forwards, or forwards in an accessible and tagged way. It is hoped this is the first step to support product passports and fixed assets becoming the norm and retaining for longer the resource value.

A Systemic approach

The resource management measures are part of a system of steps, some of which are also found in the Materials and Project Delivery categories. For example;

1. Materials measures start with the requirement for disassembly before they move onto the additional criteria to be achieved.
2. The Project Delivery new measure ‘D88 Project Delivery Programme’ looks to raise the issue of time and project sequencing to enable the systemic changes that support circular economy and resource management in practice.

The Offices v2.0 Public Consultation is now open, find out more and how to provide feedback below.

SKArating Offices scheme update – Transforming Materials in SKArating: What’s Changing and Why It Matters

by skarating | May 12, 2025 | News

This is a technical update relating to the Offices v2.0 update and forms part of a series of related articles. To read the previous post on Energy & CO2 please follow this link.

The updated SKArating Offices scheme is driving a major evolution in how materials and embodied impacts are addressed in interior fit-out projects. Moving beyond merely requiring the presence of EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations), the new scheme version harnesses the data within EPDs to benchmark performance, shifting from “do you have one?” to “what does it tell us?”

With the development of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard and a newly developed and aligned archetype model, SKArating now introduces embodied carbon limits for most material categories such as partitions, furniture, finishes, and ceilings. These limits are informed by the near-top performing products in the market, triangulated from sector-leading supplier data sources in the UK market, and Materials2050 and OneClick LCA data.

Another key addition is the mandatory requirement for (most) elements to be designed for disassembly, setting a new baseline that enables reusability and circularity, and reducing legacy problems.

Options of Compliance for Projects

The new criteria have followed the SKArating system philosophy of incentivising good practice and making sure the scheme aligns with current good practice and not standard or best. Following this, the research team has responded to an ever widening band of good practice in the industry which veers close to best practice. A project that falls in line with current Net Zero alignment, and achieves close to 100% Circularity, as best practice. As a consequence, the criteria is providing multiple options for compliance, some veering more towards best practice and Net Zero aligned, and some at good practice and not necessarily aligned to Net Zero aligned performance. SKArating is always aiming to move the industry and market more widely than one or two parties and thus creating a more sustainable system change. With the proposed criteria, project teams can opt if they wish to target and achieve the Net Zero aligned criteria, labelled as such, or one of the other good practice levels in the list.

When projects achieve both the annual embodied and operational limits of the UK Net Zero Building Standard, they will be able to certify as a SKArating Net Zero aligned project. This will set them on a path to comply with the UK Net Zero Building Standard itself.

Ranking What Matters

Each issue in SKArating is ranked by its environmental impact relative to each other, and following the SKArating Philosophy this prioritises direct real impact over potential change in the future. There is also a reflection of the scheme’s aims and priorities from the brief which reflect current critical issues and priorities – Net Zero alignment and 100% Circularity being the two top issues. Following this, the Materials and Resource Management categories are of the highest ranking measures in the scheme. Hierarchy within the Materials category has been allocated following the embodied data and office sector patterns of design. The highest embodied impacts and quantity measures are found at the top with Joinery and many of the furniture measures, some of the newest MEP related measures are found at the bottom due to data quality and challenge of implementation in the current market.

MEP Embodied Impacts

Embodied impacts related to mechanical and electrical elements have started being addressed with three new measures covering some key mechanical, electrical and light fitting items. Because of the lack of progress for the MEP embodied impacts there is some way to be made before their accountability and positive impact can achieved. We will be reviewing closely the take-up and implementation of the new measures and refine accordingly into other schemes and revisions but initial industry engagement has been very positive.

Reducing Greenwash Risk

By using more available industry and market embodied impact data through an increase of EPDs and project LCA modelling, SKArating supports everyone involved reduce risks of using misleading claims and targets. Clients can ensure the performance they require will be more closely targeted and delivered, and architects and designers are supported by the provision of good practice knowledge through the good practice measure criteria benchmarks.

This marks a major step in aligning environmental and design decision-making with real-world lifecycle impacts, bridging the gap between targets and practice.

Measures of note:

1. New – D89: new measure requiring the target and modelling of upfront embodied carbon in line with the limits of the UK Net Zero Building Standard.
2. New – Chairs – Soft seating: splitting the chairs measure into task and soft seats to support the achievement of either/both and reflect each’s target limits of upfront carbon.
3. New – M30 HVAC equipment: covering embodied impacts for heat pumps, heat recovery units and AHUs
4. New – M31 cables, pipes, ducts and light controls: % of project scope to comply with one of the criteria, and expanded criteria for larger projects.
5. New – M31 Light fittings: integrated lamp light fittings to align with one of the criteria, driver for re-fabrication of recently installed fittings, and expanded criteria for larger projects.
6. New – M32 Decorative and other light fittings: requiring half of the fittings to comply with one of the criteria and covers main types of decorative fitting types.
7. Updated – Measures M03 to M23 have been updated in their criteria and refined scoping sections.
8. Combined measures such as Partitions; solid and glazed.
9. Removed the overarching Materials measures, and M05 Hardwoods.
10. Removed measures that are deemed standard industry practice or where regulations have been lifted.

Ecology & Timber

Moved D20 Timber to the Ecology impact category that has been added to the scheme. The move of this measure to Ecology reflects more accurately the impacts which responsible management and sourcing of timber and timber containing products has. Embodied impacts from the logging, processing and transporting of timber are included with all other elements in each of the Materials measures. If a project targets any Materials measure, they will also need to comply with the criteria of D20 Timber as in previous scheme versions.

The Public Consultation is now open, find out more and how to provide feedback here: https://ska-rating-training.thinkific.com/pages/offices-public-consultation