Energy Efficiency Refurbishment Case Study

1. FM CASE STUDY multi-tenanted building glenn massey
maintain
your cool
Carrying out refurbishments in occupied
buildings may seem challenging but one
flagship property in Regent Street managed to
successfully cut costs and increase efficiency
I
n 2007, a major refurbishment within the office and retail store
strategy commenced at a environments. This in turn created
flagship building in Regent concern from tenants regarding
Street, London. service charge levels.
The typical Edwardian West The original appraisal of the site,
End property has a floor area in which took place on a summer’s
the region of 38,000 sq ft and day, immediately revealed that
different commercial classifications the heating was operating at the
of use, with retail premises on the same time as the cooling. Further
ground floor and basement and six investigation showed that the
floors of commercial office space major plant items, such as chillers,
above. The retail part is home to boilers, lifts and air treatment plant
a high-end luxury womenswear were in a dilapidated state. The
and menswear retail brand. The standard of maintenance was also
office floors are multi-tenanted and poor and this contributed to the
are home to some internationally high number of contractor call outs.
known businesses, and therefore From the frequency of call outs it
have a mixture of different was clear that a rationalisation of
business needs. the maintenance and maintenance
contract was needed.
The challenge
The site’s fixed building services
were in a dilapidated state
and were operating extremely
inefficiently. The performance of
the heating and cooling systems
serving the building was such
that heating and cooling often
operated simultaneously. Both
ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT HANSON
would often break down when
needed most because the systems
were being operated for long
hours and in seasons when they
were not needed. The result of
this inefficiency was an increase
in utility costs and discomfort
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2. multi-tenanted buildings
A strategic plan of works was posing the most risk of failure to anticipated for a building of this the Disability Discrimination Act.
implemented while maintaining the operation of the building. This type – in fact, costs had doubled The majority of recent legislation
full occupation and rental allowed a forward replacement since the services were installed. and regulations affecting fixed
income in order to rectify the budget to be developed and A detailed analysis of the way the building services facilitate
problems that were causing erratic enabled capital spend to be building was operating in relation improvements in energy efficiency.
internal temperatures and tenant understood and planned carefully. to the business needs of the tenants In addition to legislative
dissatisfaction. Failure to undertake such a robust was undertaken. The outcome was and regulatory compliance,
Undertaking refurbishments in assessment of plant life and an the implementation of a strategy manufacturers’ research and
existing buildings is challenging but accurate forward replacement that allowed the plant to operate development over the past 15
not impossible. Inevitably there will capital works plan can lead to and meet the tenant’s business years has seen energy efficiency
be some disruption to tenants while plant being replaced in the wrong needs and which, together with the improvements in plant such as
key items of plant, such as cooling sequence and unexpected and rectification of HVAC faults, made chillers and boilers, thus the
or heating equipment, are replaced. unplanned costs for the landlord. running cost savings. replacement plant items selected
The trick is to plan to replace had much better efficiencies.
heating and cooling when it isn’t Phase 2 Phase 4
needed – so replace the boilers in InterIm perIod management of ImplementatIon of capItal works The results
summer and the chillers in winter. fInancIal rIsk to the servIce charge programme The building as a whole is now set
Disruption will then be minimised for operation for the next 25 years.
and, as long as tenants are kept With the capital works programme All tenant business operations And all the projects described were
informed and the replacement plan in place, the costs incurred were maintained while the undertaken without loss of rental
programme is planned and and the service charges made refurbishment and replacement of revenue. Running costs (gas and
managed effectively, the desired by the maintenance contractor the boilers, pumps, chillers, lifts and electricity) have been halved and
end result can be achieved. were analysed. Examples of HVAC controls took place. maintenance contractor call-outs
dozens of contractor call-outs dropped by 95 per cent.
Action taken each week were found, dealing Phase 5 At the time of going to print the
with a variety of faults, such ongoIng performance building was put under offer thus
Phase 1 as the heating and cooling not the name of the building has been
plant appraIsal and scheduled capItal working – normally at a time when In a multi-tenanted building, removed to protect the interests
works programme the tenants needed it most. The the goalposts frequently move. of the vendor. This situation quite
maintenance contract was clearly Management of churn and change accurately represents the typical
An assessment of the life not benefiting either the tenants and the verification of tenants’ unknowns that often unexpectedly
expectancy of items of fixed or the building owner. A new M&E licence to alter submissions are come into play when working
building services was undertaken maintenance contract was prepared key to ensuring that the building’s with existing buildings. After all,
and a scheduled capital works with a view to limiting costs functionality is not diminished. existing commercial buildings are
programme prepared. The creation incurred by the service charge. The refurbishment work allowed primarily someone’s high value
of this programme in turn led to This contract was underpinned the building to be bought in to investment. FM
the development of a plan of action by a process of continual line with relevant legislative and
covering a period of five to seven review of the maintenance regulatory compliance, for example Glenn Massey is an associate at
Hoare Lea
years, with a focus on the items contractor’s performance against F Gas regulations for chillers and
key performance indicators.
Within the first 12 months after poinTs To remember
implementation of the new
maintenance contract, contractor l Do undertake a robust building services condition survey and report
call-outs dropped by 95 per cent. l Do prepare a costed forward replacement matrix
l Do maximise the life of existing plant
Phase 3 l Do ensure maintenance contractor’s contracts are appropriate
BuIldIng operatIng cost analysIs for the building
l Do keep tenants informed of the plan
The dilapidated state of the building l Do establish a starting point (baseline) to enable the magnitude of
created a 24/7 operation mentality, improvement to be assessed when the project is complete
simultaneous heating and cooling, l Do install sub metering as part of refurbishments
causing inefficiencies, such as l Don’t rush ahead with short term fixes that don’t complement an
unnecessary use of electricity and over-arching replacement plan
gas. The lack of a control strategy l Don’t replace plant that is not life expired
was causing operating costs to be l Don’t believe salesmen selling the next best thing since ‘sliced bread’.
higher than would normally be Suggest a test and verification first.
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