Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Features
  • Case Studies
Operational Readiness
Energy Management Systems
Sustainability
Education

London South Bank University's award-winning estates and facilities management

Open-access content Tuesday 27th April 2021
Authors
Facilitate Team
web_New_Website_Photos_Canon-2.png

The Estates & Academic Environment Department (EAE) at the London South Bank University won the award in the Facilities Management category at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards 2021 for its extensive work in making the university campus more environmentally friendly. Through lighting, occupancy management, heat pumps and energy networks, the Estates team has reduced carbon on campus. Here's what they did and how they did it.

THE BACKGROUND

The EAE Departments Technical Services Team, led by Chris Barnes, had been tasked with leading projects to reduce carbon emissions on campus but they needed to carry these jobs out without impacting the student experience. 

Over the past decade, the team has been consistently delivering a range of carbon reduction measures, reducing Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions on campus and saving millions of litres of water a year.

PROJECTS

  • Replacing light bulbs across the campus and phasing out inefficient luminaires;
  • Improved occupancy management and plant optimisation through BMS and room installed sensors
  • Replacing four ageing ground source heat pumps with two reversible heat pumps for low-carbon heating and cooling;
  • Installing, maintaining and optimising the Balanced Energy Network (BEN), which uses high temperature heat pumps to offset the majority of gas use in two of  the largest buildings on campus;
  • Switching to a renewable electricity tariff in 2018 and buying only zero-carbon electricity; and 
  • Installing waterless urinals across the majority of the campus.

 KEY ISSUES 

  • The original K2 heat pumps, installed in 2009, are linked to a closed loop ground source system with 140 thermal piles embedded in the building foundation. However, pump performance had decreased due to debris affecting the heat exchangers.
  • Optimising windows of opportunity to get projects competed to ensure student experience remains uncompromised.
  • The Balanced Energy Network (BEN) requires management of a complex delivery process to toggle between gas and electricity in response to building demand as well as external signals such as grid electricity prices. This change to the building control system triggered a series of  troubleshooting exercises throughout 2018-19 to optimise other pumps and circulation in the plant room that was unrelated to BEN, but critical to the building’s overall performance. 

web_IMG_4976-(2).png

INNOVATION IN ENERGY MANAGEMENT

LSBU was an early adopter for ground source heat with the  K2 building in 2009 and installed a novel fifth-generation heat network for BEN in 2018. The transition to low carbon heat has not been simple, requiring a post-installation period of calibration and optimisation. In the case of the K2 building, the heat pumps had to be completely upgraded.

Through BEN, the Estates Department works with LSBU academics to limit the peak electrical loads and explore cost reduction options. 

The transition to low carbon heat has caused an initial but temporary increase in operating costs compared with the all-gas counterfactual. Nevertheless, the team did not abandon the project to save costs. Decarbonising heat needs persistent optimisation and gradual phasing out of gas. The result has been an 85 per cent  reduction in campus-wide emissions in the past decade. 

TOGGLING THE TEMPERATURES 

The original K2 heat pumps were installed in 2009 but by 2017, users of the building were complaining of discomfort. Some parts of the building were too hot and others too cold. The reason was due to the reversible heat pumps, which hadn’t been designed for simultaneously heating and cooling. So solar gains would lead to a cooling demand on one side of the building, but it would contrast with the heating demand on the cool side of the building. Particles in the ground piles had also caused corrosion, decreasing the heat exchangers’ performance. 

Once the problems had been identified and addressed, the K2 building improved its operational performance and decreased its energy consumption and carbon emissions. The project now forms the basis of a design troubleshooting challenge in the students’ coursework.

The high-temperature heat pumps in the BEN system deliver water at the same temperature as the gas boilers, which run in parallel with the new system. When the buildings switched from gas to low-carbon heating, the occupants were unaware of the change. In facilities management,  sometimes the best feedback is no feedback at all.

web_New_Website_Photos_Nikon-9.png

FOSTERING COLLABORATION

The EAE department work closely with LSBU academics, particularly the School for the Built Environment and Architecture, regularly sharing building data and providing case studies for student projects. Around half of the UK’s building services engineering graduates complete their studies at LSBU. The campus must demonstrate best practice in building services engineering to support research and observational learning for students. 

The EAE department also assists on faculty research projects including optimising the performance of lifts or K2 heat, for example. 

With larger projects such as the Balanced Energy Network, the EAE Department is involved from the start – developing the bid and delivering the project while working closely with LSBU academics throughout. 

KNOWLEDGE SHARING

EAE frequently share performance data with staff and students to help develop and support research. LSBU academics regularly share the results of this research at conferences and colloquia such as the Go Big or Go Home – Climate Emergency Debate, hosted by LSBU Professor Andy Ford. 

Multiple projects that LSBU Estates have helped create,  including BEN, have been shared through the CIBSE Technical Symposia. In addition, LSBU has hosted multiple workshop events that include campus tours to  showcase LSBU’s sustainable innovations. These innovations are often taken up  elsewhere as a direct result of LSBU’s demonstrations. 

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

  • 25 million: The number of litres of water saved on campus each year due to waterless flushing urinals.
  • 85%: Reduction in CO2.
  • 50%: Reduction in gas use in two buildings linked to the Balanced Energy Network.

Facility information

  • Name: London South Bank University Campus, 103 Borough Road 
  • Sites: 14 campus buildings hosting 17,000 students 
  • Special features: Ageing buildings with high-density usage patterns means building performance tasks were challenging to complete. 




 

Filed in:
Case Studies
Also filed in:
Operational Readiness
Energy Management Systems
Sustainability
Education

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Project Leader (Maternity Cover One Year Contract)

Cambridge
Circa £50,000 Pro Rata + Benefits & Opportunities
Reference
56378

Maintenance Supervisor

Surrey
Up to £43,000 + Excellent Package & Opportunities
Reference
56376

Regional Facilities Manager

South West England
Circa £40,000 + Benefits & Opportunities
Reference
56375
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2022 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ