Green Office Makeover Winner

Novex Solutions, a specialist in commercial interior design, won Surrey´s green office competition to promote best environmental business practise. The prize was for sustainable design guru and TV star Oliver Heath to design a purpose-built, dedicated recycling unit, which was unveiled at its offices in Chertsey on 10 July.

Oliver´s project comes courtesy of the 3Rs campaign from Surrey County Council on behalf of Surrey´s local authorities.

Novex Solutions was chosen as the winner for its outstanding commitment to greener practices and its determination to pass on the green knowledge gained from this groundbreaking project to its interiors clients. They beat off stiff competition from Pelican Buying, a company providing purchasing services to a range of public and private sector clients, and Roffe Swayne, a long-established accountancy firm based just outside Guildford.

The unit´s designer Oliver Heath explained that the concept will help employees to think and act greener. "People are now used to being greener around the home and I wanted to bring this thinking to the workplace. This easy-to-install station is the perfect way to get people talking about all things eco, and thinking about the way their community - both in the office and in the surrounding area - can help them operate more sustainably. I hope this green office transformation will create an atmosphere which encourages employees to do their bit for the environment and feel really good about it."

Kathryn Barber, MD of Novex, commented: "It was fantastic to be named as the winners of this competition. Increasingly our clients are asking us to incorporate environmental considerations into our commercial interior designs and office refurbishments.

Having our own green office unit designed by Oliver Heath will help us to share our experiences with clients as well as help Novex and our employees reduce, reuse and recycle as much as we can.

We will closely monitor the success of our own 3Rs campaign at Novex and share the results with businesses across the country."