3 convenience services that will support your building’s ESG

Buildings across Europe undergo all sorts of works and renovations in order to become more sustainable. The main challenge for all these buildings is to become more environmentally friendly, whilst still offering comfort and luxury to their users. Can this actually be achieved? Of course! Whilst sustainability tends to be portrayed as a goal that requires a certain level of austerity, removing elements of comfort does NOT have to be the way. It takes being clever about what services are needed and obtaining them from the right suppliers. From Smart Point, experts in solutions supporting buildings’s sustainable development goals, we bring you 3 service types that will help you change your building forever.

1. Carbon neutral sustainable parcel reception automation

Last Mile Delivery has become extremely popular during the last few years, especially during the pandemic. So much so, that it has also become the main sector to clog cities worldwide. With a 20% urban traffic attributed to parcel delivery, toxic emissions produced by door-to-door parcel delivery grow on a daily basis, polluting the air and creating all sorts of breathing problems amongst the citizens. 

Thankfully, there are sustainable alternatives to traditional courier services that not only reduce 98% of CO2 and NOX emissions but also enhance the user experience: it is the case of the smart lockers. These allow the users to receive their packages without needing to be home, avoiding failed deliveries, hence avoiding extra journeys and contributing towards sustainability goals. Also, by implementing parcel pooling, one single delivery route using electric vehicles implemented a couple of times a day across the city can result in 600 parcels delivered per hour. 

2. Proximity products and services: local business empowerment

This is not a single service, rather, an initiative to protect our cities’ micro economies. Whilst the tendency is to go online and find chain suppliers, it is worth having a look at what’s around us – our cities are full of smaller shops that offer high-quality specialty products and services that could seriously improve life inside your building. By reaching out to these suppliers, not only do you contribute to your city’s economy, but also you allow the users to shop km 0, which has a great positive impact on the environment and, once again, promoting sustainability across the board. 

The issue with some of these suppliers is that, generally, their online shopping journey and delivery process don’t make up for as great an experience for the user than bigger shops such as Amazon, AliExpress, and similars. However, all you need is to implement a multiservice solution that works with the suppliers and tackles the technical issues for you.

3. Avoiding extra journeys for the user with sustainable services 

We daily travel around individually to take care of our errands and personal administration tasks. That not only produces a lot of unnecessary car journeys but also takes a toll on our free time – and sometimes working time! For that reason, it is a good idea to provide sustainable solutions that allow managing daily errands from within the building. For instance, shoe and clothes repair, key copying, laundry and dry-cleaning, weekly healthy menus and meal services, MOT and car cleaning services, etc. 

Once again, these require a software that liaises directly with the suppliers and gets rid of logistic setbacks in order to deliver the service directly to the user. Some smart lockers and online platforms and apps, collect hundreds of sustainability services in a marketplace bespoke to the needs of each building.