Energy-efficient campus

While it’s great to invest in cleaner energy infrastructure as outlined above, reducing overall energy consumption is usually the most cost-effective way of saving carbon and reaching net zero. That is why improving the energy efficiency of our campus is the absolute bedrock of our net zero action plan.

That is why we will undertake an initial high-level audit of the energy efficiency of all of our buildings to identify the most cost-effective ways of reducing our energy consumption by December 2021. We will do this using our current contract with Sussex Estates and Facilities (SEF). We will then take these findings to prioritise a more detailed audit of the 20% of the most poorly performing buildings by 2023 and complete a detailed investment opportunity analysis of the entire estate by 2030. For each audited building we will calculate:

• how energy efficient it currently is compared to similar buildings of its type
• the specific measures (such as improved insulation, double glazing or underfloor heating) that could make it more energy efficient
• how much the improvement would cost
• how much carbon the improvements would save; and
• the payback period (i.e. how many years would it take for the improvement to pay for itself in reduced energy costs).

We will use this audit information to make regular business cases for funding for energy efficiency improvements to our Capital Programmes Committee and external grant funders, e.g. the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme so that these improvements can be built into our annual maintenance and project plans each year.

These new investments will help us to build on already planned investments totalling £660,000 to complete the first stage of upgrading our Building Energy Management Systems – e.g. automatic heating controls by summer 2024.

We will also develop a register of minimum environmental product standards for the furnishings and fixtures that we buy for our estate by December 2022. This will allow us to ensure the optimal energy efficiency of everything from our fridges to our taps. We will commit to using these standards every time that we buy and/or replace a fixture or fitting in our building.

We also want to make any new or refurbished buildings on campus as sustainable as feasibly possible. We already require new buildings to achieve the BREEAM Excellent standard in relation to sustainable construction and through our new Sustainability Programme, we will be setting new environmental standards for new builds and refurbishments, and creating accompanying design guides by October 2024. This would allow us to set the highest achievable environmental and energy standards for a campus of our size, age and complexity. 

Finally, we recognise that the way that we use buildings is as important as the technologies and fabric that we introduce. So, we are investigating how we can introduce more modern flexible ways of working – including more remote working – that can help lower our carbon footprint by August 2025.