Energy management

With the effects of the recent market slowdown and forecasts of lower economic growth ahead, it is now becoming increasingly important for the UK Property Market to look at ways in which companies can streamline their estates management. One way which this can be achieved is through the effective delivery of facilities services. Property managers can ensure a cost effective approach to delivery of key support services across their estates through planned outsourcing.

One area of Facilities Services where MITIE, one of the UK’s leading support services companies, has seen significant growth over recent years is the field of Energy Management. It is now set to become an increasingly hot topic for property management specialists and developers across the UK, as a result of the increasing legislation around the energy efficiency of buildings, particularly for those managing buildings used by the public. As well as having important environmental implications regarding climate change, energy management is now having an increasing effect on the bottom line for everyone.

Ken Heaton, Energy Manager for MITIE, discusses the challenges ahead for energy management within the property management sector.

Ken comments, “The coming year should see the implementation of the (EU) European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). Currently it affects the public sector, particularly those organisations with large buildings over 1000sq m, however, it will start to filter through to the private sector, eventually becoming a legal requirement. As a result of the impending legislation, we are going to get a much more formal appraisal of a building’s energy efficiency and the simple opportunities that might have been missed in the past, will now have to be implemented, to enable buildings to meet the standards of the directive. The number one issue will be monitoring, which is mainly done using an Automatic Meter Reader (AMR). AMRs are going to be the key energy management tool for the coming years, as they will enable accurate measurement of a building’s usage of the full range of utilities”.

Ken added, “Monitoring and measurement is really important, however, it is just the first phase of any energy strategy – action is the key to success. Once that monitoring is in place, property managers are then in a position to analyse the data and then correct any anomalies. For example, careful monitoring should show when lights and PC’s are turned off during the day, so if you are not seeing this, then it could suggest that energy is being unnecessarily wasted and high levels of water consumption during the night may point to underground leaks”.

Ken concluded, “MITIE have found that by working in partnership with our customers we can support them in making significant cost and carbon savings. MITIE has recently proved this, by winning the Premises and Facilities Management Partners in Sustainability Award 2007 with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Working in partnership, MITIE and DCMS came up with and Energy Action Plan which helped to identify annual savings of £82,900, the equivalent of 546 tonnes of CO2. We are now delivering the same actions and savings to a range of customers, working together with the customers to achieve sustainability for the future”.

MITIE provides a broad range of Facilities Services that property management companies may wish to outsource. Service solutions are tailored to customers’ specific requirements, and where required, a fully integrated facilities management delivery model can be employed to ensure a smarter and more cost effective method for delivery of these services.

To find out more about the innovative ways that MITIE can support the delivery of a range of facilities services solutions for the property management sector, including a range of services to support energy efficiency, contact MITIE’s Managed Services Team on 020 7089 7156 or email: managed.services@mitie.co.uk.