CUBE YEAR 1 RESULTS DEMONSTRATE THAT THE UK’S OFFICE SAVING 3 MILLION TONNES OF AND £3.8BN ANNUALLY

Thirty percent of energy used in office buildings is wasted. The CUBE Competition is helping to change that. It is the UK’s first initiative to tackle the dual challenges of energy efficiency improvement and occupier engagement in commercial buildings through gamification, and has helped buildings reduce energy consumption by up to 39% - collectively enough to power 5,000 homes for a year. It uses an innovative approach to bring landlords, building managers and occupiers together, mobilising them to reduce energy consumption through changing behaviour – the logical first step to net zero.

The inaugural year of the competition featured 30 participating buildings, ranging from grade II listed buildings to iconic skyscrapers like the “Walkie-Talkie” and the “Cheesegrater”. At its awards ceremony today, hosted in partnership with Nuveen Real Estate and BNP Paribas Real Estate at 70 St Mary’s Axe, it unveiled a total saving of over 6,087 tonnes of CO2 across 540,895 sqm of commercial space, collectively saving its participants £8m in energy costs.

Applying these savings to the circa 860 million sq ft of office space across England, for example, the UK, a staggering £3.8bn a year in energy costs could be saved, not to mention nearly 3 million tonnes in carbon reduction.

At the event, awards were given for buildings in the Historical data category, where they were challenged to compete against their own past energy consumption.

The winning building at 40 Holborn Viaduct, owned by Nuveen and managed by BNP Paribas Real Estate slashed 38.8% of its energy. The iconic 20 Fenchurch Street owned by H Properties and managed by Savills snagged second place ,while XLB’s The Tootal Buildings managed by Ashdown Phillips came in third place.

Awards were also given in the AV league, which focuses on newly built or refurbished buildings, and which looks at absolute value, whereby building are given an absolute energy budget based on UK Green Building Council Office Energy Intensity Targets. The Frames owned by Workspace came out top, followed by RO’s GNR8 and The Howard de Walden’s Estate’s head office at 23 Queen Anne Street.

With the first year of the competition concluding, the results produced some interesting findings. The expectation was that large buildings would do significantly better, but medium-sized buildings stole the spotlight saving 18% annually, compared to 12% for large sized buildings.

Another surprising result was the BREEAM-certified buildings still had a large capacity for energy savings, with a substantial average energy saving of 22%. In all, the average energy intensity of CUBE buildings before the competition was 262 kWh/m², but after the competition, this reduced considerably to 215 kWh/ m². While significant, buildings across the UK will need to continue their efforts to meet UK Green Building Office Intensity Targets of 90 kWh/m2 by 2030.

Finally, CUBE can reveal that buildings in Manchester achieved outstanding energy savings, with an average of around 20%. One Victorian building in Manchester stands out by making a significant contribution to these impressive savings, highlighting the potential for energy-efficient transformations even in Grade II listed buildings. www.cubecompetition.co.uk

‘Balancing cost and carbon goals in the NHS’ is the title of the new report – designed to help Trusts navigate an affordable pathway towards decarbonisation and achieve their net zero 2040 goals. The free guide explains why carbon reduction is a key opportunity to stretch tight NHS budgets much further, while delivering on challenging net zero targets. The report explores:

• Steps that can be taken to manage energy costs in a tough environment

• The technologies that can deliver both cost and carbon reductions

• Public and private sector funding options

Download the guide to cost-effective net zero delivery in the NHS – https:// www.centricabusinesssolutions. com/knowledge-centre/reportsand-whitepapers/balancing-costand-carbon-goals-nhs-trusts

Energy Managers across the UK are switching on to the power of battery energy storage.

Battery energy storage systems can be used to store and provide power as and when it’s needed, forming part of an overall site’s microgrid. Maximise solar generation, manage peak loads and overcome capacity constraints with a system from Connected Energy.

Download our latest guide to find out how battery energy storage can help to deliver smarter energy solutions and support decarbonisation measures. connected-energy.co.uk/smart-buildings