The Situation

In 2016 Landsec became the first commercial property company in the world to have its carbon emission target approved by the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi). In 2019, having met this target 11 years early, and acknowledging that the world’s carbon emissions continued to increase, Landsec increased the ambition level of its SBT, targeting a 70% reduction by 2030. This update ensured that Landsec’s SBT aligned with a 1.5-degree warming scenario.

Reflecting its commitment to decarbonising its portfolio, in November 2021, Landsec published its £135m net zero transition investment plan (NZTIP) which will ensure they achieve their near-term carbon-reduction target and the proposed Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) of EPC ‘B’ by 2030. Landsec expect the plan to remove 11,000 tonnes of carbon emissions from its operations.
In 2023, in response to the SBTi’s Net Zero Standard, Landsec updated its carbon reduction targets further and committed to reach net zero across the value chain by 2040 from a 2020 base year. The standard provides the world’s first credible and independent assessment of corporate net zero target setting to ensure that companies make meaningful progress towards reaching net zero. Find out more about Landsec's Net Zero  Near Term and Long-Term Targets here.
During 2022/23 Landsec reduced operational carbon emission by 55% and energy intensity by 33% which was partly accredited to a range of energy saving projects implemented across the portfolio. These include occupier energy audits and engagement, and optimisation of Building Management Systems (BMS) across the office portfolio.

Actions

You can’t manage what you don’t measure

With approximately 40-50% of office building’s energy consumption coming directly from occupiers, collaboration with occupiers is a key element of Landsec’s efforts to decrease energy consumption in operational spaces. Since 2021, Landsec has engaged with 39 of our highest consuming occupiers, conducting energy audits and workshops to identify key actions to be taken by each occupier to reduce total consumption. 

 The energy audits involved: 

1. Conducting data analysis and a site visit to understand data trends, anomalies and opportunities.
2. Using energy-efficiency questionnaires for occupiers’ employees to capture their opinions, attitudes and ideas on reducing energy.
3. Interviews were conducted with key stakeholders who have influence on the decision making and delivery of energy saving measures. 

  
From the process, Landsec was able to better understand the risks and opportunities facing occupiers in this space and their level of ESG maturity. To maximise the engagement programme and accelerate energy saving actions being delivered, Landsec has undertaken follow-up workshops with occupiers based on the audit reports produced. These meetings have reflected on learnings and opportunities to take into the future and ensure processes of implementation are as efficient as possible. 

Taking action

On average, the audits have identified energy reduction potential of 20-30% per customer. Identified opportunities include:

• Lighting: Switching off perimeter lighting and reducing light sensor switch off times to lower the time they are left on when spaces are not occupied.  
• Communications Room Management: Increasing communications room set points to minimise energy usage from cooling equipment.
• Building Management Systems (BMS): Global set point adjustments for consistent temperature control on floors to minimise instances of simultaneous heating and cooling.  

Through our follow up workshops, we were able to identify that most of our customers participating in the programme are taking action to reduce their energy by applying the findings from the energy audits. 

BMS optimisation project in partnership with ARUP

The BMS system is typically used to control the operation of various building heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems (HVAC). It can improve efficiency of equipment, ensure sufficient occupier comfort levels and reduce the running costs of a building. 

At the start of 2022, Landsec’s Workplace Engineering Team identified key buildings where the Building Management Systems were working outside of optimal parameters. Landsec partnered with ARUP to identify and implement solutions aimed at improving the control strategy of the BMS to ensure that systems run in line with actual building demands. ARUP was engaged in 2022/23 over a 12-month period to conduct reviews across these 11 buildings in Landsec’s office portfolio. 

Each review followed this process:

1. Building Familiarisation:

• Benchmarking metering data.
• Identifying discrepancies between the original BMS Description of Operations and the current control strategy.
• Identifying any unusual plant operation and control strategies.
• Assessing the building fabric and building services systems in terms of energy efficiency.

2. Building Performance Appraisal:

• Desk-based analysis of available manuals.
• Site visits.
• Assessment of the operational status of the plant.
• Assessment of the operational status of air and water systems.
• Interviews with the site maintenance teams.
• Review of building analytics including energy and BMS data.
• Review of BMS DesOps.
• Review of existing software control strategy.

3. Provision of recommendations to implement:

• An optimal BMS DesOps recommendation report was provided. This contained a series of strategy improvement changes that would optimise the performance of each building's HVAC equipment.
• An estimated budget for each recommendation and assessment of short, long and medium timeframe of implementation.

Benefits

Improvements through occupier engagement

• On average, occupiers participating in the energy audits have achieved a 15% energy reduction since 2019/20. Importantly, the programme provides occupiers with insights on how to reduce their bills, tackle their operational carbon footprint and meet their own sustainability targets. This in turn supports Landsec’s near-term target to reduce absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions by 47% by 2030 and 90% by 2040.  

Improvements through BMS optimisation

• The estimated annual savings for each site ranged from around £10-40K depending on the building. Landsec believes the potential savings could ultimately reach £1m each year with further optimisation.
• As of 2023, Landsec is seeing savings of up to 10% on electricity and up to 20% on gas for buildings that have been optimised.
• The expected 2500 tCO2e reduction in emissions ensures that Landsec is well on track to meet its 2030 Net Zero CO2e reduction target of 11,000tCO2e from a 2019/20 baseline.

In future projects, a focus will be placed on optimising existing heating, cooling and ventilation equipment to drive down energy use. Additionally, building performance appraisals will be conducted across the Central London portfolio to increase energy efficiencies.

Financial 

• Following the investment in the BMS optimisation project, an ongoing estimated annual savings for each site ranged from around £10-40K depending on the building.

LANDSEC

Landsec is one of the leading real estate companies in the UK with a portfolio of well-connected retail, leisure, workspace and residential hubs. The company is committed to being a purpose-led, sustainable business, listening to and responding to the needs of all its stakeholders and considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in all its decisions.

Resources:

• https://landsec.com/sustainability/efficient-use-natural-resources/climate-change-carbon 
• Ambitious corporate climate action - Science Based Targets 
• Sustainability Investment Fund Infographic FINAL.pdf (landsec.com) 
• https://www.arup.com/ 
• https://landsec.com/insights/sustainable-business/weve-updated-our-carbon-reduction-targets 
• https://landsec.com/netzero