Open-access content
10th October 2011
11 October 2011
Winner: Modus Services Limited
Let’s be honest, it sounds extraordinary on paper. In May 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron announced the 10:10 programme, with its aim of cutting carbon emissions across the central Government estate by 10 per cent within just twelve months. The prize, said Cameron, would be government energy bills “cut by hundreds of millions of pounds.”
Modus Services Limited, the special purpose vehicle created at the turn of the millennium to manage the 30-year pathfinder PFI contract for the Ministry of Defence, embarked on a project to do just that.
Accordingly, a project dubbed Project 10 (P10) was introduced to the MoD main building in Whitehall, where a 10 per cent cut in energy consumption would equate to 1,412,172 KgCO2e.
A strong relationship
Any success in the task of meeting that huge target surely tests the relationship between Modus and the MoD, because any additional work to cut energy consumption would need to be conducted while all other FM business carried on as usual, in the Grade 1 listed building with 150,000 visitors a year.
The Modus approach was to pursue its target ruthlessly. Mindful of the MoD’s limited budgets, a pilot ‘gain share’ model was agreed to enable both client and contractor to benefit from any savings identified. A project management team was set up to record the necessary control measures, and the new energy models created for the project were structured to quantify additional energy use for those activities undertaken by the MoD outside of normal operations.
A one-team approach
Such an ambitious undertaking would clearly require a ‘one team’ approach from Modus’s FM service providers (Amey and Skanska Facilities Services). Also, brainstorming sessions were organised involving architects and designs from the construction industry with environmental advisers, and scholars from University College London and Liverpool John Moores University brought onto the project management team to add their ideas.
From the initial list of 100 good ideas, the P10 team narrowed it down to 50 workable proposals, including reduced lighting levels, increased use of free cooling, use of photovoltaics, a borehole water supply, changes to the timing of cleaning shifts, proximity switches and LED lighting. The P10 team installed new metering equipment, and by October of last year there were more than 450 new meters reporting into the building management system, providing the data necessary to calculate the effect of subsequent changes. Changes to occupancy levels and behaviour could now be accurately assessed, allowing the project board to support or deny proposals for change.
The result of all this effort was the project’s 10 per cent objective being met with more than 50 days to spare. As well as a saving of £370,000 and a 2.4 million KgCO2e reduction to date – way ahead of what looked an astronomical target at the beginning of the process – P10 has resulted in wider environmental awareness in general, with the FM team more environmentally aware and a much improved recycling rate. The choice of products used on site is no longer based solely on cost.
There is now a sustainability assessment as well. Indeed, sustainability assessments have been incorporated into company and supply chain documentation. Project 10 has been adopted by the MoD as the name for its energy reduction works across the wider MoD estate, both nationally and internationally.
Paul Francis, managing director of Modus says: “At a strategic level, this project required our client and our team to work even more collaboratively than previously existed in our daily business. The demand that this target placed on us required our teams to overcome the more conventional constraints and challenges, and to do so in a timescale that was a challenge to establish process and procedure.
Deserved winners
“This project would not have been the success it was without the complete co-operation of all the parties involved.
We purposely engendered a team spirit at all meetings with key stakeholders and encouraged this esprit-de-corps to flow upwards and downwards in their organisations.”
Winner: Modus Services Limited
Let’s be honest, it sounds extraordinary on paper. In May 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron announced the 10:10 programme, with its aim of cutting carbon emissions across the central Government estate by 10 per cent within just twelve months. The prize, said Cameron, would be government energy bills “cut by hundreds of millions of pounds.”
Modus Services Limited, the special purpose vehicle created at the turn of the millennium to manage the 30-year pathfinder PFI contract for the Ministry of Defence, embarked on a project to do just that.
Accordingly, a project dubbed Project 10 (P10) was introduced to the MoD main building in Whitehall, where a 10 per cent cut in energy consumption would equate to 1,412,172 KgCO2e.
A strong relationship
Any success in the task of meeting that huge target surely tests the relationship between Modus and the MoD, because any additional work to cut energy consumption would need to be conducted while all other FM business carried on as usual, in the Grade 1 listed building with 150,000 visitors a year.
The Modus approach was to pursue its target ruthlessly. Mindful of the MoD’s limited budgets, a pilot ‘gain share’ model was agreed to enable both client and contractor to benefit from any savings identified. A project management team was set up to record the necessary control measures, and the new energy models created for the project were structured to quantify additional energy use for those activities undertaken by the MoD outside of normal operations.
A one-team approach
Such an ambitious undertaking would clearly require a ‘one team’ approach from Modus’s FM service providers (Amey and Skanska Facilities Services). Also, brainstorming sessions were organised involving architects and designs from the construction industry with environmental advisers, and scholars from University College London and Liverpool John Moores University brought onto the project management team to add their ideas.
From the initial list of 100 good ideas, the P10 team narrowed it down to 50 workable proposals, including reduced lighting levels, increased use of free cooling, use of photovoltaics, a borehole water supply, changes to the timing of cleaning shifts, proximity switches and LED lighting. The P10 team installed new metering equipment, and by October of last year there were more than 450 new meters reporting into the building management system, providing the data necessary to calculate the effect of subsequent changes. Changes to occupancy levels and behaviour could now be accurately assessed, allowing the project board to support or deny proposals for change.
The result of all this effort was the project’s 10 per cent objective being met with more than 50 days to spare. As well as a saving of £370,000 and a 2.4 million KgCO2e reduction to date – way ahead of what looked an astronomical target at the beginning of the process – P10 has resulted in wider environmental awareness in general, with the FM team more environmentally aware and a much improved recycling rate. The choice of products used on site is no longer based solely on cost.
There is now a sustainability assessment as well. Indeed, sustainability assessments have been incorporated into company and supply chain documentation. Project 10 has been adopted by the MoD as the name for its energy reduction works across the wider MoD estate, both nationally and internationally.
Paul Francis, managing director of Modus says: “At a strategic level, this project required our client and our team to work even more collaboratively than previously existed in our daily business. The demand that this target placed on us required our teams to overcome the more conventional constraints and challenges, and to do so in a timescale that was a challenge to establish process and procedure.
Deserved winners
“This project would not have been the success it was without the complete co-operation of all the parties involved.
We purposely engendered a team spirit at all meetings with key stakeholders and encouraged this esprit-de-corps to flow upwards and downwards in their organisations.”