A new £1.5 billion energy efficiency framework falling under the Greater London Authority’s RE:FIT framework has kicked into gear after appointing 16 pre-qualified contractors to its service.
The framework has been established by the RE:FIT team to stimulate the retrofitting of energy efficiency products on public sector buildings not just in London, but across the UK.
Technologies such as LED lighting, boiler upgrades, insulation and renewable generators can be procured under the scheme with the ultimate goal of helping to decarbonise the public sector’s significant building stock.
While the original RE:FIT pilot has been active for a number of years and managed improvements to more than 800 buildings to date, the national rollout will see the Mayor of London’s RE:FIT programme delivery unit (PDU) work alongside Local Partnerships’ RE:FIT national support team and RE:FIT Cymru to manage projects across England and Wales.
Speaking to Clean Energy News earlier this year Richard McWilliams, director at the PDU’s management company Turner & Townsend, said that the new phase would be launched to tackle a “drop in the sense of urgency” that had been noted within the public sector.
It is expected that as much as £1.5 billion of improvement works could be handled, and the 16 pre-qualified suppliers and contractors has been compiled to help speed up the procurement phase.
The list of suppliers includes:
- Ameresco Limited
- Bouygues E&S FM UK Ltd
- Breathe Energy Limited
- British Gas Trading Limited
- Engie Services Limited
- Cynergin Projects Limited
- EDF Energy Customers plc.
- Herbert T. Forrest Ltd
- ISS Facility Services Ltd
- Kier Services Limited
- Larkfleet Limited
- Matrix Control Solutions Limited
- Zephyro S.p.A.
- Robertson Group Limited
- SSE Contracting Limited
- Vital Energi Utilities Ltd
Paul McCarren, energy director at Forrest, said the company was looking forward to working on “vital retrofit upgrades” needed by the public sector.
“Many public sector organisations are facing pressures to reduce their operating costs alongside tackling their carbon emissions. The RE:FIT framework is the perfect way to give these bodies more streamlined access to the best energy efficiency technologies on the market,” McCarren added.
Meanwhile Ameresco, which also secured contracts under the Carbon & Energy Fund, Scottish non-Domestic Energy Efficiency Program and Yorkshire Procurement Organisation CHP frameworks, said the works would ultimately be to the benefit of crucial public sector organisations like the NHS.
“The public sector is under increasing pressure to cut spending, while also meeting specific carbon targets. There are realistic and measurable ways to achieve this and EPCs provide a secure, cash positive solution to improve energy efficiency.
“For many organisations such as NHS trusts and local authorities, a lack of funding has meant that energy equipment has not been fully maintained. EPCs will help relieve the backlog maintenance issues, unlocking funds to replace or update facilities and significantly enhance energy efficiency.
“The EPC model guarantees an amount of energy savings over a specified period of time. Therefore organisations achieve a cash positive benefit from year one, and once the contract is fully-paid they enjoy the full savings for the lifespan of the technology,” Britta MacIntosh, VP of UK operations for Ameresco, said.
