One New Change in London – one of hundreds of buildings owned by Land Securities

Land Securities is the largest commercial property company in the UK and they were one of the first FTSE 100 companies to join 10:10. They manage more than 29m square feet of property, from shopping centres to offices. I caught up with Dave Farebrother, their Head of Environment to find out how their 10:10 effort is going.

What motivated Land Securities to sign-up to 10:10?
A few months ago we moved three floors of our people from 11 Strand into 5 Strand. All of our HQ staff are now in one building. In order to facilitate this move, we needed to refurbish 5 Strand and this is why we felt it was appropriate to sign-up to 10:10 – the move and refurbishment gave us an opportunity to aim for and achieve the 10% goal. It ties in well with our aim to reduce emissions by 30% across our entire managed portfolio by 2020.

What was the first challenge you overcame?
With many more people working in one space the energy use of 5 Strand would inevitably increase. However, we were determined to ensure that our total energy usage would decrease compared to occupiying two separate sites. Three months in, we seem to be managing this, despite the scorching summer.

What sort of measures did you take when refurbishing the building?
We installed new lifts that use 75% less energy than old lifts. We installed new chillers, more powerful but more efficient than the old chillers, automatic sensor lighting controls and voltage optimisers on the 2 electrical risers, it is hoped that these alone will reduce electricity usage by around 8%.

What about culture change and employee engagement?
Our CEO has been really on board from the start, and this has really helped us promote employee engagement. At HQ he mandated a change for the thermostats to be set 1^oC higher in summer and 1^oC lower in winter. Another initiative that has really helped increase staff awareness of our office energy consumption is the live display of energy usage on screens (see below).

You've got sites across the UK. Have you done anything to improve business travel habits?
We introduced a rule whereby staff flying to our sites across the UK must now get line-manager approval before travelling. This has lead to increased numbers travelling by train across the UK. Staff changing their company car must also choose a model with CO2 emissions below 150 g/km.

So overall how's your 10% target going so far?
We're pleased to say that we're well on track to achieve our full 10% reduction by the end of the year.