Hundreds of public buildings across London – including schools, libraries, NHS Hospitals and courts –are to benefit from the Mayor of London’s programme to save costs and reduce energy bills by retrofitting them with energy conservation measures.
Energy conservation measures are already complete or near completion in 111 public buildings in London. The pipeline shows that 400 buildings could benefit from the Mayor’s award-winning RE:FIT programme, saving the public purse in the region of £7 million each year by guaranteeing reduced energy bills with simple measures, including improved lighting and efficient heating controls as well as more intensive improvements such as on site energy generation. This represents more than £40million of investment into the buildings using RE:FIT. Based on previous international studies, it is estimated that energy efficiency activity at this scale could represent the creation of up to 700 jobs*.
The Mayor of London has set a target to reduce London’s CO2 emissions by 60% of 1990 levels by 2025. Considering that approximately 80 per cent of our buildings will still be standing in 2050, retrofitting public buildings is crucial if carbon emissions are to be reduced.
Organisations that have recently signed up to RE:FIT include the Ministry of Justice, which is looking to implement carbon saving measures on their London estate. They join 60 public sector organisations, including Transport for London, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, University of London and Ealing Council, who have already committed to use the RE:FIT programme.
“Without the structure and support of RE:FIT, it would have been much more challenging for Ealing to gain the necessary support and approvals to move our programme forward. Also the guaranteed energy savings allowed us to quickly secure confidence with internal stakeholders.”
Jo Mortensen, Sustainability Programme Manager, Ealing Council.
Deputy Mayor for Housing, Land and Property Richard Blakeway today hosted an event to mark the success of the RE:FIT programme. He also launched the new RE:FIT Framework, which aims to make access to funding easier for projects by making the tendering process easier, as well as offering a wider range of financing options for organisations interested in RE:FIT.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “Retrofitting London’s public buildings is having a real impact in cutting both energy bills and carbon emissions, making it a win-win for Londoners.
“Decades from now hundreds of our public buildings will still be standing, and it’s our responsibility to make sure they are as efficient as possible for future generations. What’s more, RE:FIT is already benefiting Londoners today, boosting jobs through the burgeoning low carbon economy.”
The estimated economic value for London by 2025 coming from low carbon goods and services equates to £40 billion of investment into the capital, which could create 200,000 jobs. Building retrofitting accounts for 41 per cent of the overall investment the city requires to achieve the Mayor’s 60 per cent carbon cut by 2025. Investment in retrofitting could deliver up to 80 per cent of the 14,000 low carbon jobs that could be created per year and two thirds of the £721 million of low carbon economic activity per year up until 2025.
Notes to editors
* This figure has been estimated using a range of international studies, including a study by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts found that every 1 million invested in energy efficiency retrofits will create 17.36 jobs, compared to the 6.86 jobs created by investment in the coal industry, or the 5.18 jobs if the same money were put in oil and gas. Similarly, the French Ministry for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning estimates that for every 1 million Euros of investment in property-related thermal renovation, 14.2 jobs are created in the field of energy performance-related work. A recent study on behalf of the German Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau has shown that each Euro spent by the state on the promotion of energy-efficient construction and renovation, generated revenue of approximately 4 to 5 Euros in the form of additional tax revenue and social security contributions and a reduction in unemployment costs (based on the creation or retention of about 340,000 jobs, primarily in the local building sector).
1. About RE:FIT
RE:FIT is the Mayor of London’s innovative scheme to provide a commercial model for public bodies wishing to achieve substantial financial cost savings, improve the energy performance of their buildings and reduce their CO2 footprint.
The scheme uses an Energy Service Company (ESCo) to implement energy efficiency measures which enable organisations to cut running costs, energy consumption and carbon emissions. The ESCo guarantees the level of energy savings, thus offering a secure financial saving over the period of the agreement. ESCos are appointed through the RE:FIT Framework, which is available to all public sector organisations in the UK. The Framework streamlines the procurement process for energy services by providing pre-negotiated, EU-regulation-compliant contracts that can be used with the group of pre-qualified Energy Service Companies (ESCos) for the design and implementation of energy conservation measures.
The Mayor of London has set a target to reduce London’s CO2 emissions by 60% of 1990levels by 2025. In October 2011, the GLA published the Mayor’s Climate Change Mitigation and Energy Strategy. This details the Mayor’s strategic approach to meeting his CO2 target and securing a low carbon energy supply for London. The Strategy recognised that nearly 80% of CO2 emissions produced in London are from buildings. As such, retrofitting schemes to reduce CO2 emissions are a central focus of the strategy.
The RE:FIT Programme Delivery Unit provides bespoke support through benchmarking information, recommending where optimum financial and CO2 savings can be achieved, and helping public sector organisations through the procurement, implementation and verification project phases. The Programme Delivery Unit ’s support is 100 per cent funded by the European Bank’s ELENA programme and the GLA so the service is at no cost to participating London organisations.
RE:FIT has been awarded 'Best use of innovative funding' at the Building Better Healthcare awards, the International Green Apple Award for environmental best practice, ManagEnergy Local Energy Action Award 2011, Best Technical Project Government Business Awards 2011 - Sustainability Award, Commended at the GO Awards for Excellence in Public Procurement 2010/11, Highly commended for GO Sustainability Initiative of the Year.
2. Building numbers
The current 111 buildings complete or with near completion are:
20 London Fire Brigade buildings including fire stations
22 Transport for London office buildings
10 Metropolitan Police buildings
17 buildings, Royal Botanic gardens, Kew (First project 13 buildings, second project 4 buildings)
8 buildings owned by the University of London
8 buildings owned by Waltham Forest Primary Care Trust
Newham University Hospital
4 buildings owned by London Borough of Ealing
12 schools being retrofitted by the Olympic Development Agency
9 buildings owned by London Borough of Harrow
3. 13 suppliers have been appointed to deliver the new RE:FIT Framework. They are:
Balfour Beatty Workplace
British Gas Trading Ltd
COFELY Ltd
E.ON Energy Solutions Ltd.
EDF Energy Customers Plc
ETDE FM Ltd
Honeywell Control Systems Ltd
Imtech Technical Services Ltd
MCW Custom Energy Solutions Ltd
MITIE TFM Ltd
Norland Managed Services Ltd
Skanska Construction UK Ltd
Willmott Dixon Energy Services Ltd
4. For more information please visit www.refit.org.uk