BTPS Family and Joint Ventures

As explained in our RPM section, we are actively engaging with BTPS family’s property companies, Argent and MEPC, and also our Joint Venture partners with regard RPI.

We have agreed with Argent and MEPC to include the performance data of their assets which are managed under our RPM programme in this section of our report. In the interests of best practice reporting we have omitted these figures from all previous analysis, but in the interests of transparency, we felt it was appropriate to include them here. This work is part of our continuous improvement commitment.

Due to the large number of new properties being brought into the RPM programme a year on year comparison is not representative of real changes at this point in time.

Absolute landlord controlled energy consumption for Hermes and the MEPC and Argent portfolios expressed as kg CO₂

Energy Consumption & CO₂ emissions

Absolute CO₂ emissions for Hermes, MEPC and Argent

Due to an increase in the number of properties included in 2007 compared to 2006 from both the MEPC and Argent portfolios, their combined absolute CO₂ consumption has risen by 4.9%.

If we include these portfolios in our overall analysis, then our total direct and indirect CO₂ emissions were 57,284 tonnes in 2007, representing a 0.34% absolute reduction from 2006.

MEPC, having been in the RPM programme for nearly two years, have made significant improvements with their energy management processes. In a relatively short space of time they have established a baseline of consumption on which they can now compare yearly trends. Due to the sheer size of some of the assets they manage, this has not been an easy task, and we continue to work with them to assist with data capture and performance reporting.

Brindleyplace, owned by Argent and managed by GVA Grimley, has been in the programme for less than 12 months, and so understandably is still developing some of the processes required. That said, they have good systems in place and we are impressed with their commitment to date. We should have an accurate baseline for 2008 by the end of the year.

Water Consumption

Absolute landlord purchased water (m³)

Water consumption for Hermes, MEPC and Argent

Again, due to the increase in the number of properties, the combined MEPC and Argent portfolios consumed 66% more water in 2007.

With all portfolios combined, total water consumption in 2007 was 323,577 m3, a 14.5% increase on 2006.

Obtaining accurate water data is often more problematic than electricity and gas. For this reason, MEPC are still working on gathering accurate data across their business parks, and as a result, more and more properties are being added to the programme every year. Once an accurate baseline is established, we will be able to work with MEPC on identifying areas for improvement.

Waste
Due to MEPC only coming into the programme in early 2007, it is not possible to provide accurate figures for the whole calendar year and unlike water and energy, it is not possible to gather historic data.

That said, MEPC have made significant improvements in waste management in a very short space of time. For the months of 2007 for which we have data, they were sending 88% of waste to MRF and less than 10% direct to landfill (from the sites measuring by weight). For those sites measuring by volume, they were recycling 42%, sending 51% to MRF and less than 8% direct to landfill.

MEPC have further improved this performance into 2008 and are working hard to record all waste by weight by 2010.

Brindleyplace, which came into our programme in 2008, has already started to record waste by weight and is quickly adopting best practice management to improve its performance.

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