London South Bank University Estates Team Wins CIBSE Award

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02 March 2021

London South Bank University’s estates and academic environment team has won a CIBSE Building Performance award for efficient facilities management.

The team won their award for improving overall energy efficiency and sustainability across the university’s estate. They employed energy-efficient technologies to reduce overall electric, gas and water consumption.

These measures include phasing out inefficient luminaires across campus and replacing four ageing ground source heat pumps with two reversible heat pumps providing low carbon heating and cooling.

The CIBSE Building Performance Awards 2021, now in their 14th year, recognise the people, products and projects that demonstrate engineering excellence in the built environment. 

The awards were presented at a virtual ceremony on Thursday 25 February.

Picture: a photograph of Chris Barnes

 85 Per Cent Reduction in CO2 Emissions Over Ten Years

Chris Barnes, Maintenance & Energy Manager for Estates & Academic Environment at London South Bank University (LSBU) and the estates team led a range of projects to improve performance and reduce carbon emissions without impacting student experience. These projects include:

• A large scale light-bulb replacement scheme phasing out inefficient luminaires across campus.
• Replacing four ageing ground source heat pumps in the K2 building with two reversible heat pumps providing low carbon heating and cooling.
• Installation, maintenance and optimisation of the Balanced Energy Network (BEN). BEN is the first fifth-generation heat work in the UK. It uses high-temperature heat pumps to offset the majority of gas use in two of the largest buildings on campus.
• Switching to an all-renewable electricity tariff since 2018 and purchasing only zero-carbon electricity.
• Installing waterless urinal flushing throughout the entire campus, reducing water use by 25 million litres per year.

In total, the team’s measures have reduced the Scope 1 & 2 carbon emissions from the entire campus from 11,694 TCO2 in 2010 to only 1,711 TCO2 in 2020 (an 85 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions), as well as a reduction in water use of approximately 25 million litres per year.

Chris Barnes commented: “LSBU’s Estates team is very proud to have won this CIBSE award for efficient facilities management across the University’s campus. It’s recognition of the commitment we’ve given to upgrading our campus facilities and improving the performance of buildings, while reducing our impact on the environment.

“LSBU’s commitment to renewable energy sources has resulted in a carbon emissions reduction of 85 per cent since 2010.”

The awards were presented at a virtual ceremony on Thursday 25 February.

Picture: a photograph of an interior staircase in LSBU’s K2 building. Image Credit: LSBU

Article written by Ella Tansley | Published 02 March 2021

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