SPOTLIGHT
Building a better environmental future
MNP Winnipeg office built with pre-engineered reuseable components.
Having a large team and a mid-market approach means we need numerous locations spread across every part of the country to work in and meet with clients. Over the last decade, we’ve taken a critical look at the environmental impact of the real estate we use, using the reduce, reuse, recycle tagline as guidance. It may be a simple phrase, but our team found it useful to direct our focus and achieve meaningful, measurable outcomes.
One of the foundations of our real estate approach is leasing spaces in buildings that meet efficiency standards in commercial and residential sustainability. As we have grown as a firm, we continuously look at our needs and find new spaces that help to reduce our environmental footprint.
Start with reduction
The first strategy in any environmental approach is to reduce consumption. With ambitious Firm growth targets, our leadership team knew we needed to step back and take an intentional approach to reducing our environmental impact before we started expanding. Making changes on the margins would not be enough.
We have actively reduced the amount of space we occupy per person and are currently reviewing next steps on the digital workplace and its potential for both increasing cultural workplace satisfaction while reducing our overall footprint.
Sustainability is at the core of our construction projects. Commercial construction waste is one of the leading contributors to landfills. MNP deploys a pre-engineered kit of reusable components (walls, power, data, ceilings, lighting, glass, doors, power, data flooring, millwork) with no cutting and trimming and no large waste containers as part of our construction process.
Making a difference
Over the last three years, our sustainable approach to MNP construction projects has diverted over 53,000 kilograms of drywall waste from entering landfills and prevented the release of thousands of kilograms of greenhouse gases and toxins from drywall decomposition.
Our approach uses recyclables like aluminium for wall frames and cotton-demin for insulation, and no-formaldehyde wooden tiles finished with VOC-free paint. Nearly all the packaging materials from construction are reused or recycled to help further reduce our impacts. All our projects are precisely designed and managed to optimize materials use to lower wastage and sourced locally to minimize transportation.
Uncovering opportunities to reuse and recycle
Finding the right office space is just one component to managing our environmental impact. Our rapid growth presents unique challenges as we’re constantly re-engineering our spaces to fit our evolving needs. The firm has made a conscious effort to reuse the same components to reduce as we make changes to our spaces.
MNP’s reusable kit of parts enables our premises to be re-configured as our needs change without demolition and very minimal waste. Raw materials that go into the components from our supply chain is increasingly recyclable and we continue to work with our suppliers to improve their ability over time. Our top priority is to re-use our kit of construction parts when we renovate or change configuration, but when that is not possible, we know a large portion of our components can be recycled.
MNP Vancouver office featuring recycled cotton denim insulation and aluminium wall frames