Oktra, a leading office design and build company, has partnered with Material Index, a circular economy platform, to reuse office materials rather than sending them to waste.
The partnership comes as sustainability becomes a growing part of how businesses plan their workspaces, with planning and accreditation requirements placing more weight on what happens to a building’s materials, not just how the finished space performs. This partnership gives Oktra a new way to support businesses through that shift.
From excess waste to a new workspace
Construction produces over 60% of all UK waste and accounts for 12–14% of global CO2 emissions, yet only 1% of building components are currently reused. Meanwhile, an estimated £60bn of valuable building assets across the UK and US were reclaimable last year alone. It is this gap between waste and opportunity that Oktra’s partnership with Material Index is designed to close.
Under the partnership, materials removed during a fit-out or refurbishment – carpet and ceiling tiles, desks, chairs, appliances and flooring, often still in good condition are catalogued, assessed for reuse and given a second life rather than sent to landfill, redeployed via Material Index’s marketplace of 300+ trade partners. The same principle works in reverse: when specifying materials for new projects, Oktra can source reclaimed and refurbished materials through the marketplace, rather than defaulting to new.
Material Index has already audited over 10,000 sqm of floor space across 6 sites in just two months on behalf of Oktra, identifying over 3,000 tonnes of material available for reuse, with an associated carbon saving of 1,000 tonnes (tCO2e).
An industry looking to go circular
As sustainability credentials play a more central role in workplace design, developers, designers and workspace providers are shifting towards circular principles.
City planning requirements and building accreditation schemes like SKA and BREEAM are placing greater emphasis on waste reduction and reuse, while standards such as the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard are pushing the industry to reduce embodied carbon. Together, they mean the design and build industry is increasingly expected to account for what happens to materials long after a project completes, not just how the finished space performs.
Jamie Firman, Head of Sustainability & Environmental at Oktra, said: “”A well-designed office doesn’t need to mean brand new. Reuse can become part of how a space’s identity and character are built, rather than a constraint. By extending the same thinking we already apply to workspaces to the materials themselves, we can give furniture, flooring and fittings a life beyond a single lease.
As companies look for their office to say something authentic about their values, being able to point to considered, second-life materials adds a genuine layer to that story. Every move or refurbishment is an opportunity to unlock value from existing assets that might otherwise be waste, and reclaimed materials are often more cost-effective and quicker to source than new, adding welcome security to a volatile supply chain.”
Of the partnership, Rob Smith, Managing Director of Material Index, said: “We have been working with Oktra now for over 1 year, so it feels good to formalise the relationship with this license agreement. It will bring consistency and structure across the two organisations, allowing Oktra the autonomy to carry out site audits themselves using the MI AI-enabled audit tool, push materials to our marketplace, or bring Material Index in for additional support at a discounted price.
Oktra have demonstrated a willingness to embed the circular economy within their organisation and recognised the commercial benefits of doing so. We have run several workshops with the Oktra team, and they have an appetite to start including reclaimed and excess materials in their fit-outs, starting with their Headquarters. Hopefully, with top-tier contractors like Oktra leading the way on reducing waste, others will follow.”
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