Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
This article was written by Heidi Frasure for Work Design Magazine.
When I stepped on stage at the CoreNet Global Summit in Anaheim last month, I had one goal: To show corporate real estate leaders that circularity isn’t just a sustainability trend—it’s a smarter way to design and manage the workplace. And the good news is, they’re already working toward these outcomes.
After years in the business of workspaces, I’ve seen the same story play out: perfectly usable furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) abandoned in empty spaces. It’s wasteful and it’s a missed opportunity.
At Green Standards, we’ve built a circular model that helps companies reuse, donate, resell, and recycle surplus assets. The outcome? Lower costs, stronger community ties, and measurable impact results, all by design.
To illustrate these benefits, here are the Five Circular Benefits for corporate real estate:
1. Recoup Costs Through Resale
When Indeed decommissioned its Austin office, we helped the world’s top job site resell 100 tons of furniture in less than a month. This is what we do for clients around the world, helping them get the best price for everything that can be resold. Of particular interest to our attendees were their warehouses, which we half-jokingly call above-ground landfills. The fact is, if you’re paying rent on a storage space with no immediate plans to use those assets, it may be time to find the next best use for those items. Based on what our clients have done in the past year, the average warehouse cleanout can pay for itself in six months.
2. Become Hometown Heroes
During Georgia-Pacific’s modernization of their 520,000-square foot Atlanta headquarters, more than $300,000 worth of furniture went to 64 local nonprofits. The Salvation Army renovated offices, cafeterias, and learning spaces, while Zoo Atlanta received over $10,000 in furnishings to support their staff and conservation-focused operations.
“By designing donation into the transition plan, the pulp and paper company turned an operational project into a civic investment.”
3. Align Workplace Strategy with Corporate Values
When AXA XL relocated its Manhattan office, circularity was part of the plan for the specialty risk division of global insurer AXA. Their Roots of Resilience strategy was a finalist for CoreNet Global’s 2025 Sustainable Leadership Award, recognizing outstanding achievements in sustainability and social impact. By eliminating landfill waste and donating to four local schools, AXA XL reinforced its CSR strategy while avoiding the pitfalls of greenwashing.
4. Measure What Matters
Charles Schwab’s Bay Area project showed the power of tracking every asset—whether resold, donated, or recycled. That visibility led to smarter decisions and more accurate impact reporting that made metrics that much more meaningful. As an example, donated furniture enabled Foothill Community Health Center to redirect their budgets to what they do best: Providing free healthcare, in this case for 150 low-income patients.
5. Build Systems That Scale
Expedia Group started its circular journey in their Bellevue, Washington headquarters. Today, the model has scaled across Europe, supporting more than 100 nonprofits and achieving 98% landfill diversion. Circularity works best when built as a repeatable system — not a one-off sustainability gesture.
“Whether it’s called adaptive reuse, risk reduction, efficiency, or responsible business, circularity has quietly become a proven business strategy for corporate real estate.”
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At Green Standards, we’ve seen this firsthand: Our clients have diverted more than 120,000 tons of surplus material from landfill, trusted us with over 100 million square feet of workspace transitions, and generated $40 million+ in charitable donations. Operating in 40 countries and collaborating with 25,000 nonprofits, 300 resellers, and 500 recyclers, we work with CoreNet Global members to turn decommissioning projects into measurable sustainability achievements. Behind the metrics are real outcomes: at the national non-profit Tahirih Justice Center, for example, donated furnishings helped create comforting spaces that support survivors of violence. It’s a reminder that corporate real estate decisions can have lasting community impact.
For CoreNet professionals, circularity represents the next evolution in portfolio strategy. It’s not just about waste diversion; it’s about designing smarter systems that extend the life and value of workplace assets. The path forward is clear: leverage existing inventory, empty warehouses, donate locally, measure impact, and scale what works. Circular practices now define how leading occupiers manage space transitions, bridging sustainability and business performance. The future of corporate real estate is circular, and it’s already taking shape.
