With more and more businesses turning their attention to their energy efficiency and their environmental sustainability, facilities management companies could well see an increase in requests for greener programmes. That is the view of Land Securities, a company who wants to deliver the most sustainable construction and design solutions across its property portfolio.

Land Securities using renewable energy in new complex

Land Securities has been using ground water and ground temperatures for some of its buildings for over seven years and their new London development, One New Change, is set to be heated and cooled with renewable energy technology.

The state of the art heating system includes almost 40 miles of pipe work and two water wells about 500 feet below street level. It is estimated that the energy system will reduce the centre's carbon emissions by at least 10 per cent as well as saving £300,000 each year in energy bills.
Francis Salway, chief executive of Land Securities, said: "The shopping and leisure destination is transforming the City of London and now with this technology we hope to transform the way the industry designs and builds properties.

"The renewable energy system will deliver carbon reductions, cost savings and a comfortable work environment, making it a truly sustainable building of the future."
Climate Change Minister Greg Barker agrees: "This is British innovation at its best, using the Earth's natural resources to solve our energy needs. Extracting warmth from the ground underneath London will help save on the building's heating bills and will cut carbon."

So, facilities management firms that can offer green solutions are likely to be increasingly in demand over the next few years. As Carbon Trust chief executive officer Tom Delay recently explained, going green can help boost profits by enabling companies to take advantage of the billion-pound environmental and low-carbon market and also by reducing their energy expenses.