Energy performance of commercial buildings is improving but more work is needed to fulfill net-zero ambitions

The Better Buildings Partnership (BPP) has revealed the results from their Real Estate Environmental Benchmark (REEB). Its aim is to identify patterns and trends in the operational performance of commercial property owners within the UK.

REEB offers a public operational benchmark for commercial property and is unique in the sense that it is based on buildings that are ‘in-use’ which has led it to become the industry standard used by investors, fund managers and property owners alike.

The benchmark is there to provide an accurate and up-to-date reflection of performance and are based upon a 3-year rolling average.

REEB has continued to see growth as floor area has increased by 171% in the past 10 years and 1,142 properties were benchmarked in 2019/2020. Analysis from 36 members has revealed some very interesting statistics.

• Energy intensity is improving year on year with 27% over the last 10 years with a 4% improvement between 2018/19 and 2019/20.
• When considering progress towards Net Zero, 97% of offices within REEB are falling short of the UKGBC Energy Use Intensity (EUI) targets for 2035-50.

The second bullet point is particularly worrying as it indicates that the rate of reduction needs to accelerate rapidly if commercial buildings are to realise their net-zero ambitions.

Is technology the solution?

Twinview’s digital twin provides a solution to the problems faced by commercial property owners. It connects building systems’ data to a 3D model that can be viewed on a single dashboard allowing the user to monitor individual building or entire portfolio performance displaying the information that is most important such as energy efficiency.

By unlocking access to a building’s data (which is often unused once a property has been handed over), Twinview uses IoT and sensors to identify patterns in energy usage which enables property owners to come up with strategies to improve energy performance, reduce carbon and ultimately move closer to Net Zero.

Following the recent devastating ‘code red’ IPCC report on climate change, we must act now if we are to achieve the aims of the Paris Agreement and reach net-zero carbon by 2050, and as buildings are responsible for 40% of CO2 emissions worldwide and 28% generated during operation, real estate has an enormous role to play.

Twinview is a browser-based digital twin platform for the property sector connecting building systems’ data to a 3D model viewed on a single dashboard. Twinview becomes your first step to achieving Net Zero by providing continuous live data and an optimised building performance whilst reducing costs and improving the user experience. Book a demo today.