Written by Jacqueline Bird

Head of Workplace Consultancy

Jackie is Head of Workplace Consultancy for Crown Workspace, and has over 25′ years management experience within Workplace Consultancy, Change Management and Move Management.

Managing your organisation’s assets can be overwhelming, particularly when juggling a large estate. This is where asset management comes in. Integrating asset management within the circular economy can be crucial for sustainable solutions.

In my latest blog, I delve into asset management and the circular economy, and introduce to you our asset lifecycle tool, LENS, designed to provide you with a clearer insight of the assets within your estate.

Firstly, what is a circular business model, and what does it focus on?

A circular business model focuses on keeping products and materials in use, designing out waste and pollution, and regenerating natural systems. Circular economy examples include refurbishing furniture instead of discarding it, reselling quality items, and donating resources to communities and charities in need.

Asset Management and the Circular Economy

Crown Workspace is committed to embedding the circular economy into the workplace. By following six guiding principles through our Crown Circulate initiative, we ensure your assets circulate throughout and beyond your workplace, creating maximum value for your organisation, the environment, and society. Our first principle, ‘re-evaluate’, encourages rethinking the significance and worth of resources that are no longer needed.

Introducing LENS: An Asset Lifecycle Tool for a Sustainable Workplace

To help manage assets more effectively, we have invested in LENS, our asset lifecycle tool. LENS provides a clearer view of your estate and enable you to rethink and maximise the value of your assets.

LENS is more than an asset management tool; it’s a catalyst for sustainable change. By leveraging the data and insights provided by LENS, organisations can adopt a maximum lifecycle approach to workplace assets,. I’ve listed some of the vital things you need to know about LENS below:

Key Features of LENS include:

• Clear Asset Visibility: LENS tags and catalogues assets, recording details like manufacturer, warranties, location, condition, colour, and style. This tracking ensures accurate information about your assets, enabling efficient management and cost-effective repairs whilst still in warranty.
• Furniture and Equipment Audits: During clearance projects, items are photographed, tagged, assessed and details are captured via a tablet device. This data supports decisions on refurbishing, remanufacturing, resale, or donation.
• Social Values: LENS identifies opportunities for donation through initiatives like the Giving Back Project – our initiative that helps clients donate unwanted office furniture and equipment to local schools, charities, and social enterprises – enhancing social responsibility and community support.
• Sustainability Goals: By rethinking asset value and prioritising reuse, LENS supports a circular business model, aligning with sustainability objectives and benefiting both your bottom line and the planet.

 

“LENS provides you with certainty about the assets you house within your real estate and what there environmental, social, and economic value is. It helps to make informed decisions around reuse of assets through remanufacture, through right sizing existing furniture to fit with the modern-day office.

Many of our clients come to us as they don’t want to buy lots of new furniture anymore, as they are focussed on sustainable solutions. Did you know Office furniture scores extremely high on embedded carbon when delivering a refit/refurb/refresh projects. Designers and Architects want to specify as much reuse furniture in their office designs as possible for this very reason!”

 

Find out more about how we can help you put the circular economy at the heart of the workplace with LENS and the Crown Circulate services that it supports. Together, we can create a more sustainable and socially responsible future.