The UK’s first initiative of its type to challenge energy efficiency in commercial buildings through gamification has saved 6,000 tonnes of C02 across 540,895 sqm of commercial space in year one
Participants have saved on average 17% of energy, equal to a tonne of C02 for every 88.86 sqm of office space
Financial savings amount to ~£8 million, or ~£1,300 per tonne of CO2
Featuring the likes of Landsec, Stanhope, Savills, and The Howard de Walden Estate, the competition has saved a total of 31GWh of energy
Thirty percent of energy used in office buildings is wasted. The CUBE Competition is helping to change that. It is the UK’s first initiative to tackle the dual challenges of energy efficiency improvement and occupier engagement in commercial buildings through gamification, and has helped buildings reduce energy consumption by up to 39% - collectively enough to power 5,000 homes for a year. It uses an innovative approach to brings landlords, building managers and occupiers together, mobilising them to reduce energy consumption through changing behaviour – the logical first step to net zero.
The inaugural year of the competition featured 30 participating buildings, ranging from grade II listed buildings to iconic skyscrapers like the “Walkie-Talkie” and the “Cheesegrater”. At its awards ceremony today, hosted in partnership with Nuveen Real Estate and BNP Paribas Real Estate at 70 St Mary’s Axe, it unveiled a total saving of over 6,087 tonnes of CO2 across 540,895 sqm of commercial space, collectively saving its participants £8m in energy costs.
Applying these savings to the circa 860 million sq ft of office space across England, for example, the UK, a staggering £3.8bn a year in energy costs could be saved, not to mention nearly 3 million tonnes in carbon reduction.
At the event, awards were given for buildings in the Historical data category, where they were challenged to compete against their own past energy consumption. The winning building at 40 Holborn Viaduct, owned by Nuveen and managed by BNP Paribas Real Estate slashed 38.8% of its energy. The iconic 20 Fenchurch Street owned by H Properties and managed by Savills snagged second place, while XLB’s The Tootal Buildings managed by Ashdown Phillips came in third place.
Awards were also given in the AV league, which focuses on newly built or refurbished buildings, and which looks at absolute value, whereby building are given an absolute energy budget based on UK Green Building Council Office Energy Intensity Targets. The Frames owned by Workspace came out top, followed by RO's GNR8 and The Howard de Walden's Estate’s head office at 23 Queen Anne Street.
The qualitative awards look beyond the numbers and celebrate the creativity and passion of the CUBE community. Landsec’s 80-100 Victoria Street hear office won ‘Most Creative’ for working collaboratively with customers to undertake energy reduction ‘deep dive’ audits to help customer identify cost effective opportunities.
For the CUBE Champion award, Laura Chick-Comerford from Ashdown Phillips working on the ground at XLB’s The Tootal Buildings was awarded CUBE Champion for her drive and energy working with occupiers on the ground.
With the first year of the competition concluding, the results produced some interesting findings. The expectation was that large buildings would do significantly better, but medium-sized buildings stole the spotlight saving 18% annually, compared to 12% for large sized buildings.
Another surprising result was the BREEAM-certified buildings still had a large capacity for energy savings, with a substantial average energy saving of 22%. In all, the average energy intensity of CUBE buildings before the competition was 262 kWh/m², but after the competition, this reduced considerably to 215 kWh/m². While significant, buildings across the UK will need to continue their efforts to meet UK Green Building Office Intensity Targets of 90 kWh/m2 by 2030.
Finally, CUBE revealed that buildings in Manchester achieved outstanding energy savings, with an average of around 20%. One Victorian building in Manchester stands out by making a significant contribution to these impressive savings, highlighting the potential for energy-efficient transformations even in Grade II listed buildings.
Further key stats:
Mark Bruno, Chief Ambassador of CUBE, said: “Real estate contributes a disproportionate percentage of worldwide carbon emissions, but despite the industry’s best efforts, the latest Savills research indicated that 39% of global carbon emissions still come from the sector, with operational emissions alone accounting for 28%. Our goal was to galvanise the industry into taking stronger action, using the tried and tested tool of gamification. By encouraging participants to adopt the spirit of competition, they strive to reduce the carbon footprint of their commercial buildings, while also coming together to share experiences and successes. The competition’s first year has delivered some impressive results, and we’re delighted that so many big names from across the real estate world jumped at the opportunity.”
Josh Spencer, Transformation Sustainability Manager at BNP Paribas Real Estate commented: “The first year of CUBE’s initiative led us on a challenging but exciting journey to reduce energy consumption and emissions together with our occupiers. The level of engagement and collaboration from our partners surpassed our expectations, and we saw everyone from diverse building stakeholders including contractors and landlords to property managers and occupiers keen to contribute. Ultimately, it’s this level of deep, continuous and diverse collaboration that is needed if we are to eventually reach our sustainability goals and reach our ultimate net-zero target.”
Richard Hamilton-Grey, Head of Sustainability, Europe at Nuveen Real Estate, added: “We entered the CUBE initiative because reducing energy use in buildings is one of the best avenues the industry has towards achieving net zero, and what CUBE does in bringing together landlords, building managers and occupiers is encourage behavioural change from the ground up. Engaging with occupiers is an essential part of the sustainability process, not to mention its potential to unlock significant savings.”