NEWS All the latest news from around the building industry In brief
FETA PRESIDENT ATTACKS ‘UNKNOWN MOTIVES’ The industry must take back control over its own destiny from ‘individuals or groups with unknown motives’, according to John Austin-Davies, president of the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations (FETA). Speaking at the federation’s
CIBSE LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL BUILDING PERFORMANCE AWARD
The 2014 CIBSE Building Performance Awards will see the introduction of a new category – the International Project of the Year award. Two existing awards will also be revamped, with the Refurbishment
Project award divided into values above and below £5m, and the New Build Project of the Year award, divided at the £10 million mark. There are now14 awards. The award ceremony will be held on February 11 at London’s
prestigious Grosvenor House Hotel. The deadline for entries is
September 12, and the shortlist will be announced in the CIBSE Journal in November. The awards are free to enter. More at
www.cibseawards.org
Developers ‘frustrated’ by energy rating schemes
Gap in the market for landlord ratings
Leading property fi rms are demanding urgent action to incentivise landlords to improve the energy effi ciency of multi-occupancy commercial buildings. Speaking during last month’s CIBSE Technical Symposium at Liverpool John Moores University, British Land’s Justin Snoxall said it was frustrating that the industry had failed to develop a robust method for measuring operational effi ciency. He said Display Energy Certifi cates (DECs) are a ‘step in the right direction’ but are nowhere near good enough. The Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) has taken matters into its own hands and is developing the Landlord Effi ciency Rating (LER) scheme. Snoxall said this is urgently needed. ‘It is very frustrating how diffi cult it is to demonstrate energy effi ciency to the property market and, as a result, there are no incentives for landlords to reduce their energy use,’ he said. ‘BREEAM, LEED and EPCs are not good enough because they don’t demonstrate operational effi ciency.
‘There is a gap in the market for a method that helps
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landlords demonstrate energy savings in multi-let buildings.’
Snoxall said the LER scheme could become the rating scheme for new lettings in existing buildings as an equivalent to BREEAM, which is used for new builds. Widespread use of the LER could bring about ‘market transformation’ according to the BBP. He also said there was not enough emphasis on ‘good engineering management’ across the commercial landlord market. ‘There is too much focus on retrofi t as the panacea for energy reduction, when so much can be gained from improving management practices and cooperating with occupiers.’ Snoxall told the Symposium that British Land had achieved a 39% energy reduction in four years on landlord services across its portfolio. That represents a cut in energy costs of £1.7m.
Landlords have control over only around 50% of energy consumption in multiple occupancy commercial buildings and that is where the BBP is focusing its efforts. However, Snoxall said it is also possible for landlords to tackle tenant usage by entering into new management agreements where occupiers agreed to pay for ‘out of hours’ energy use.
annual lunch, he said people outside the industry had too much infl uence on the rate of change, particularly in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector, by infl uencing European legislation. He said: ‘It is inside our industry
where the greatest knowledge and experience lies, to determine what is the appropriate, correctly supported, sustainable rate of change; this voice must be heard over and above the voices of individuals or groups with unknown motives.’
FM INDUSTRY BACKS BIM Industry bodies have joined forces to form the BIM4FM group to improve engagement from facilities management in developing Building Information Modelling (BIM) and the Government Soft Landings (GSL) initiative. The group is kicking off with a
survey to gauge what facilities managers (FMs), owners and occupiers need from BIM, establishing the level of awareness across the industry and the barriers to be overcome. The survey can be accessed at
www.surveymonkey. com/s/BIM4FM, with results due to be published this summer. Geoff Prudence, the group’s fi rst
chairman, said the time was right for all interested parties to come together: ‘Although BIM has long been discussed at the construction end of the supply chain, it has only recently and repeatedly started to raise its profi le with those operating and using buildings.’ Among the group’s aims are:
defi ning what BIM means to FM; identifying the benefi ts of BIM & GSL for owners and occupiers; and raising awareness from a strategic and operational (FM) perspective.
May 2013 CIBSE Journal 7
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