BBP PUBLISH LOW CARBON RETROFIT ROADMAP
24/05/2010
London’s businesses now have a clear process to follow to help them undertake retrofit activities to reduce carbon emissions in their buildings - thanks to the new toolkit published by the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP).
Carrying out retrofit activities to make existing buildings more sustainable is essential if the UK is to reach its carbon reduction target of 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 as up to 70% of current buildings will still be in use.
The Better Buildings Partnership (BBP), a group of London’s leading property owners working in partnership with the London Development Agency wanted to understand why the rate of retrofit was so low and what could be done to increase it. To investigate the reasons why they commissioned a specialist team from the global consulting group Accenture to identify the key barriers to retrofit and to help them develop a ‘low carbon retrofit roadmap’ to define the process business should follow when carrying out retrofit works.
A 10% reduction in energy use across the BBP’s portfolio achieved through retrofit measures could save over 32,000 tonnes of CO2. If this is replicated across London’s commercial and public built environment sector it could reduce the capitals emissions by two million tonnes of CO2.
“Before carrying out this piece of work, many BBP members believed funding for retrofit projects would be the most significant barrier. However, we were surprised to find that often money was available but it was the ability to develop a sound business case and having people within the business with the responsibility to identify retrofit opportunities that was really holding the industry back. I hope that this Toolkit will help businesses understand some of the organisational processes that need to be in place to successfully undertake retrofit projects at a portfolio scale.” said Neil Pennell, Head of Sustainability and Engineering at Land Securities and Chair of the BBP Sustainable Retrofit Working Group.
“One of the key challenges expanded on in the Toolkit is determining how owners and occupiers share costs of retrofit projects. To initiate retrofit projects owners need to engage with occupiers to present options and determine viability criteria for investing in reducing energy and associated carbon emissions. The process of sharing costs and benefits must be transparent and make financial sense for all parties.” said John Rhoads of Accenture Sustainability Services.
“The retrofit of London’s existing buildings is critical to reaching its climate change targets. This includes the rented commercial sector, where split incentives exist between landlords and tenants making it difficult for action to take place. The Better Buildings Partnership is tackling this issue and generating new ways of measuring and motivating the sector to cut its carbon.” said Emma Strain at the LDA
Following this work the BBP now plan to look at the financial models required to fund retrofit projects in the commercial property sector.