RICS and AUDE meeting to discuss the development of the RICS Ska methodology for the HE sector

26th March 2013

This would be a positive development for the sector as it would provide a methodology for embedding sustainability measures into small and medium sized refurbishment projects which are undertaken.

Summary
"The Ska Rating scheme has been developed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) to assess the environmental impact of refurbishments (particularly small scale projects) and fitouts and is therefore complementary to BREEAM.

Most use to date has been for offices and retail but UCL and City University have used it on a number of projects and found it to be effective but also simple and low cost and therefore recommend it to other universities.

The Ska framework (which has 104 measures in its Office version) can be used for self-assessment without cost, but UCL and City have sent internal staff on RICS training courses to become accredited assessors. Neither has applied for Ska certification. Hence, staff time is the main expense for both.

Neither City nor UCL feel that Ska has added capital cost and both believe that it has encouraged operating savings. It can also be an effective means of educating suppliers on university requirements.

UCL is also piloting a ‘mini Ska’ checklist for very small scale refurbishments and a prototype ‘Ska-Labs’, with the latter being based on best practice guidance from S-Lab and a framework supplier.

There is scope for HE/education specific Ska measures, but these would require some funding for RICS."