Willmott Dixon to power all UK offices with renewable energy

Construction group Willmott Dixon has announced a new partnership with green energy supplier SmartestEnergy, which will see more than a dozen UK offices across the company's portfolio powered with renewable energy.


The family-owned, Hertfordshire-based firm – which has previously been awarded two Carbon Trust Standard certifications – will use the supplier to provide electricity from renewable sources through a ‘competitive’ standard energy contract, which will eventually be scaled-up to use renewable energy to power all of Willmott Dixon’s construction site offices.

The partnership forms part of Willmott Dixon’s goal of halving carbon emissions by 2020 compared with a 2010 baseline – which would see emissions intensity reduced to 9.25tCO2e per £m of turnover in 2020, from 18.3tCO2e in 2010.

Willmott Dixon’s chief executive Rick Willmott said: “Climate change is a major threat to our planet and I believe every company is responsible for limiting its own impact on the environment to reduce global warming.

“It’s been a key priority for us and over the past five years we’ve reduced our emissions relative to turnover by over 30%. We are now committed to halving emissions by 2020 and better energy labelling has helped us make the right decision when it comes to electricity purchase.”

Smart labels

SmartestEnergy’s input will include the source and carbon footprint of the electricity supply – which is expected to come from solar, wind and hydro-electric – as part of its new labelling system. Launched last year – and certified by the Carbon Trust – the electricity labels use a Tariff Emission Factor Model to create a certified link between energy generation and end consumers.

SmartestEnergy’s chief executive  Robert Groves said: “Our Business and the Renewables Revolution report reveals how changes to recent GHG Scope 2 reporting protocol means that sourcing 100% renewable electricity is one of the quickest and most effective ways of reducing emissions.

“We are pleased to support Willmott Dixon in achieving their emission reduction ambitions by 2020. If businesses are going to choose renewable electricity they deserve to be fully informed about where it comes from, so we’ve built a product that brings transparency to the market.”

Willmott Dixon – which was crowned as the Sustainable Business of the Year at edie’s Sustainability Leaders Awards – was also behind the largest non-residential Passivhaus development at Leicester University’s new Centre for Medicine and WWF’s Living Planet Centre.

Energy Efficiency at edie Live

From May 17-18, the Energy Efficiency theatre at edie Live will explore how reducing energy consumption, and the associated cost and carbon, is one of the biggest sustainability wins from both an environmental and an economic point of view.

One of the Energy Efficiency seminars will examine the importance of measuring, maintenance and monitoring in energy reduction, with case studies provide from leaders in energy reduction. View the full edie Live agenda here.

Matt Mace

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