Ramesh Kumar, Senior General Manager and Head-Facility Management, DS Group
DS Group’s Headquarters houses the corporate office, R&D centre and manufacturing facilities for confectionery, flavours & fragrances and edible gold & silver embellishments. It has been awarded LEED Platinum certification under the USGBC existing building: Operations & Maintenance programme version 4.0. It holds the leading position worldwide among all green buildings certified under this program. Ramesh Kumar, Senior General Manager and Head-Facility Management, DS Group of the campus shares the processes followed.
DS Headquarters campus is spread over eight lacs square feet area. 50% of the area is devoted to landscaping and native plantations. We strictly follow USGBC parameters for converting built infrastructure into the most energy-, water- and resource-efficient green buildings.
We have a dedicated team of engineers and professionals from the hospitality, F&B, agronomics, data analysis and safety sectors who are responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of our state-of-the-art high-end facility. We harness technology to run and atomise Corporate Facility Management and Administrative Services to support the business dynamics using analytics, value creation and sustainability.
There are specific guidelines issued to all our service providers, down to the smallest product that is to be used at the campus. Some of the initiatives include use of eco-friendly chemicals, recycled paper, FSC-certified furniture, use of digital checklists and more. There is a constant process review and SOPs are created from time to time, based on the advice and recommendations of our consultants and feedback from end users.
With over 1,100 employees working in this space, indoor air quality is an important component from the standpoint of sustainability, employee health and workplace experience. We are one of the few corporates to implement a commercial air purification system to treat 500,000 CFM of air in a single facility. We have also installed technology to reduce viral load in the building.
We have used advanced water saving techniques to make it a zero discharge building. A few areas of the building are being covered with the help of mechanised and robotic machines to achieve operational efficiency and reduced human intervention.
We are engaged with multiple vendors for specialised jobs. For example, the entire campus has a lot of Italian marble flooring that needs to be maintained and polished. The internal glass façade also needs upkeep and regular cleaning. The same goes for a few water bodies and planters maintenance.
The building’s internal plan is to become carbon-neutral in the near future. As of now, 72% of the energy demands of our facility are being met with the help of Green Energy i.e captive solar and open access. Our service providers’ bring best practices and expertise and also offer suggestions wherever possible.
We are exploring ways to become water-neutral, eliminate paper cup usage, be self-sustaining in terms of recycling plastic and organic waste, implementing solar reflective index paint on outer façade and rooftops, and using low VOC materials. We are also working towards adding more robotic cleaning devices and water-saving technologies.
We look for technology, innovation, value creation, a lot of analytics and best practices while selecting a new service provider for the campus.