Carbon Trust awards the First Low Carbon Workplace Standard

The new Standard has been created by the Carbon Trust to break the ‘circle of inertia’ that prevents many cost-effective CO2 reduction opportunities in non-domestic buildings. With the new Standard, funders, developers, landlords and occupiers collaborate to ensure that buildings are designed, built and operated to maximise energy savings. Energy efficiency performance is then monitored over a two-year period, and successful performance is rewarded with the new Low Carbon Workplace Standard. 

IWIN occupies The Billings, a 160-year-old former printing press, where refurbishments included a complete replacement of the central mechanical and electrical services, secondary glazing throughout, improved insulation and reduced infiltration, 85 per cent heat recovery on ventilation, optimised lighting controls and installation of a combined energy and occupancy monitoring platform. This has resulted in 45 per cent lower running costs when compared to similar building.

Carbon Trust research has found that a 35 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2020 from non-domestic buildings can be achieved using cost-effective measures, potentially saving the UK at least £4bn. Despite this potential, emissions from non-domestic buildings have remained roughly constant over the past two decades. According to the Carbon Trust, a number of barriers exist, including misaligned incentives (the ‘landlord-tenant divide’), a lack of knowledge on how to develop and operate low carbon buildings, and capability gaps within the supply chain. These create inertia where no one party feels they can make a difference and consequently little happens.

Bruno Gardner, managing director of Low Carbon Workplace Ltd, a subsidiary of the Carbon Trust, said: “This shows that the circle of inertia of energy efficiency can be broken if the tenant and landlord work together. Investec Wealth and Investment Management’s achievement is an industry first. Their commitment throughout has been uncompromising and the results clearly demonstrate that closer collaboration between landlord and occupier will deliver more efficient and lower carbon workplaces.”

This first certification is held as an example that sustainable low carbon refurbishments of commercial offices are not only possible, but that the resultant performance can be maintained over time.