Department for Energy Security & Net Zero and University College London
Delivery of a large-scale auditing and digital modelling programme.
DESNZ is a ministerial government department, responsible for UK energy security, protecting billpayers as we move towards net zero.
UCL’s Bartlett School of Environment Energy and Resources is home to four specialist institutes in energy, environment, resources and heritage.
GC Insight (formerly Winning Moves) provide specialist research and evaluation services to the public and private sector.
What did the client need?
The development of a National Buildings Database – creating a digital representation of every building in Great Britain – was, from the start, a multi-faceted and massively technical project. It involved matching a wide range of national datasets to a full 3D geometric model of the building stock and testing the building level outputs for accuracy. Testing included in-person, on-the-ground research to validate and inform the model. Specifically, the energy end-use breakdown profile available from EPC data needed to be compared with accurate empirical data from individual buildings to test how realistic it might be across a wide range of building uses.
UCL wished to partner with subject matter experts to conduct this type of research. They looked for a team that could complete property analysis and digital modelling across many sites, making use of specialist knowledge and cutting-edge programme management skills.
How did Verco support the client?
Verco’s role was to collect real-world data that could improve confidence in the outputs produced by the model. We did this by providing information that could challenge the database’s outputs and highlight areas where data qualification may be needed.
The host sites (generously volunteered by owners and landlords) covered a broad range of building uses, sizes and locations. Verco screened host sites to ensure they met the requirements of the projects goals. Of the sites offered, only around one in four were accepted as part of the programme.
Verco then conducted 72 site audits, collecting operational data and examining energy using equipment in person. To allow UCL to test the accuracy of data input to and inferred from the Energy Performance Certificate for each site, we recreated the EPC model for each site and supplied it alongside actual energy consumption, occupancy and energy-using-asset data to allow UCL to undertake a detailed comparison.
Verco worked with an experienced team of site surveyors, closely supported by our in-house energy engineers, in order to ensure high-quality results. For industrial sites, we teamed the buildings surveyors with process energy experts to create a complete picture of where energy is used on site.
What was the result?
Our work with DESNZ and UCL has proven our effectiveness at running large audit projects across many sites and producing industry-leading, high-quality data on a time-constrained schedule.
The National Buildings Database will allow policy makers to benefit from an advanced spatial database of building use and performance data that accurately represents premises level building stock energy consumption across Great Britain. It offers a wide variety of potential opportunities for energy planning, targeted design of decarbonisation grants and energy efficiency initiatives, district heating master-planning and more. For example, it could be used to work out the roof area of all warehouses and calculate the potential resource if solar panels were installed. The National Buildings Database will allow researchers and policy makers to better understand the energy demand and carbon emissions from the building sector and test the myriad of potential pathways for the sector to reach net zero by 2050.
This is a very rewarding project. It’s incredible to be able to carry out work that has actual impact on government, who can set policy and encourage changes to the building stock. This is the kind of work that can set us on a pathway to net zero.