With the help and support of the Carbon Trust and our managing agent EFM, we have made real progress in reducing our energy usage at the shopping centre. In just under a year we have saved more than 7 per cent of our energy usage, have formed an energy committee and are testing a pilot scheme on replacing halogen bulbs with fluorescent ones.
Colin Roberts, Centre manager, The Buttermarket Shopping Centre.
The business case
Situated in the heart of Ipswich, the Buttermarket Shopping Centre hosts both local and national traders including high street names TK Maxx, Boots, TJ Hughes and New Look. With 500 members of staff, the centre trades between 7.30 and 18.30 Monday to Friday with extended hours on a Saturday and reduced hours on a Sunday. Spread over 280,000 square feet, the centre was originally built in 1992.
With an annual energy bill of £128,000, equating to more than 960 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, the centre contacted the Carbon Trust for expert advice to build on the progress it had made in identifying energy saving opportunities in order to help prioritise measures within its limited budget.
Action plan
The Carbon Trust tailored action plan for the company included the following recommendations:
- Create a formal action plan and strategy for achieving further energy savings. Keep this regularly updated and managed by an energy committee and include monthly electricity and gas consumption figures. To improve staff awareness, these figures should also be published via existing notice boards
- Begin a lighting awareness campaign to ensure that all staff are aware of potential savings, are making good use of natural light and are switching off lighting in unoccupied areas. Automatic lighting controllers could also be considered to reduce wastage. Bulbs should be replaced by energy efficient ones
- Fit time switches to vending machines which are currently on 24/7 despite not all serving perishable foods
Realising the savings
Within just one year, the centre has implemented over half of the suggested actions including fitting lighting controls and time switches to vending machines. It was estimated that if all prioritised measures were implemented the centre would make an annual saving of more than 150 tonnes of carbon dioxide and cost savings of £19,366.
Colin Roberts, Centre manager, continues: "Every member of our team is fully committed to this project and we will continue to implement the recommendations with the aim of making the full potential savings."
Find out more about our on-site Carbon Surveys (available for businesses in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales).
See further energy saving advice for the retail sector.