Following its recent relocation to new headquarters, the Builders Merchants Federation (BMF) chose one of its own members, the Green Energy Centre at John A Stephens, to develop a sustainable strategy and practical solution to ensure the building's energy efficiency.
The Green Energy Centre (GEC) reviewed the building's energy efficiency and looked at renewable opportunities. Not having access to historical data relating to the building's energy consumption, GEC based its recommendations on the modelling of similar buildings and occupation levels.

It specified metering and monitoring equipment to enable the BMF to build up an accurate picture of its energy use. The information collected will not only build long term data to inform further upgrades, but will also help the BMF to monitor the building's day to day energy performance to prevent unnecessary expenditure.

Many of the initial energy cost reduction measures are concentrated on the ground floor, the major area of occupation and energy use. These include: a new Valiant A rated boiler; thermal insulation throughout the building; zoning of the ground floor air from the first floor air; draught proofing; LED light fittings and ight occupancy sensors for intermittently occupied areas. All these measures have an energy cost reduction payback of four years or less, and will reduce energy use by over 20%, the BMF says.

The building's south facing pitched roof lent itself to a Solar PV installation. The output is projected to provide 30% of the building's electricity requirement.

In addition, the BMF considered other renewable and energy efficient opportunities, but rejected them due to lack of performance data or overlong paypack predictions for the building's current occupation. However, many of these measures would entail a non-disruptive retrofit and could be introduced at a later stage if the ongoing performance data supports an economic case to proceed, according to the Federation.

Managing director of the BMF, John Newcomb, said: 'The building itself is around 20 years old and we have completely renovated the interior to suit our requirements as a working office and as a welcoming hub for the industry. In doing so I wanted to make this an exemplar project for sustainable occupation and to demonstrate the knowledge and understanding that builders merchants have in this field.'