Britain’s biggest facilities managers Mitie have committed to a 2025 deadline to bring all the firm’s 50-plus UK sites to net zero status.
Four identified locations will be made carbon neutral as early as next April. Heat pumps will replace gas boilers at offices & commercial facilities in Birmingham, Glasgow, Nottingham and east Hampshire, with renewable electricity supplanting fossil-derived power.
Mitie will repeat the approach each year at 14 further sites, completing its estate’s Net Zero transformation by mid-decade.
The commitment is part of the firm’s Plan Zero pledge to use its expertise in energy management. Landlords’ co-operation is viewed as critical in making decarbonisation investments, whose commercial case is increasingly unanswerable.
Mitie has been prominent among UK firms in switching its service fleet to EVs.
It has surveyed its entire managed estate, identifying opportunities to boost buildings’ energy efficiency. Upgrades to LED lighting, improved insulation, and stripping out antiquated heating and cooling systems lead the list of remedies.
Energy optimisation is another arrow in Mitie’s quiver. The firm has established a company-wide ‘Carbon Conscious Comfort Policy’, setting optimum temperatures and lighting levels, balancing employees’ wellbeing with reduced energy use
From the programme Mitie expects to save at least 120,000 kWh of energy per year, claimed to be equal to more than 26 tonnes of CO2 or 49 return flights from London to New York.
Four-fifths of commercial premises in use by 2050 have already been built, Mitie calculates. So decarbonising existing properties will be essential to helping the UK meet its net zero targets..
Simon King, Mitie’s director of sustainability and social value, highlighted its ‘A to E’ methodology among tools it has developed to lead clients towards lightening their buildings’ environmental impact.
“While there is often a lot of focus on the energy use of new buildings, we’re proud to be leading …by using our building management and sustainability expertise to cut the amount of energy we use in the first place.”
Mitie’s achievement in decarbonising clients’ premises has won recognition from accrediting bodies. In January Sustainalytics ranked Mitie number one globally out of all ranked business support services providers. The previous month CDP, the former Carbon Disclosure Project had awarded Mitie an A- Leadership rating, its highest among UK facilities managers.
