Sustainability on Estates at Home and Abroad

1. Sustainability on Estates at Home and Abroad 9 July 2009

2. FCO estate consists of office and residential accommodation in 270 posts and our office in the UK (London and Buckinghamshire) • Greening the FCO Change programme launched in February 2008, with the objectives of ensuring that: • - all aspects of FCO operations are managed sustainably; and • - environmental considerations are at the heart of the way the FCO is run. • Our carbon footprint in the UK is approx. 15,000 tonnes (buildings and vehicles only). We plan to have measured our global carbon footprint by the end of the year.

3. Policy and Drivers: • Contribute to global effort to alleviate climate change • Promotion of a low carbon, high growth economy • Climate Change Act • Meeting HMG obligations on the home estate e.g. SOGE • Inclusive and popular with staff • Legal requirements in host country • Foreign Secretary’s personal commitment • Consistency with action in the UK

4. Our strategy: • In the UK: an Environmental Management Plan (ISO 14001) to return us to a trajectory to meet SOGE targets in 2012 and 2020. • Overseas: the FCO Board agreed we should reduce our emissions from buildings by 14% by 2012. • With further targets overseas on renewable energy, emissions from road vehicles, waste and recycling, water and emissions from air travel.

5. Source: Carbon Trust hypotheses/analysis Note: Have not set targets for freight and IT respectively, as further detail needed especially on centralised activities. *Targets shown only for owned road vehicles ** Top down targets

6. Making a difference:

7. THE ESTATE • Buildings Basics • Orientation • Integrated building systems • with extensive metering • Maximise use of daylight • Proper insulation and shading • Local sustainable materials • Use of thermal mass (requires • a diurnal swing in temperature) • Water • Low-water usage fixtures/fittings • Rainwater harvesting/recycling for grey water use and irrigation • Appropriate plants for the climate (water treatment to prevent scale/fouling) • Leak detection system • Insulated tanks to keep water cool • Heating/Cooling • Attention to air leakage from buildings at design stage • Control systems  • Natural ventilation including over night cooling (requires diurnal swing) • Under floor heating • Condenser boilers • Cooling from chilled water ring mains/chilled beams (not in humid environments) • CHP and cooling • Evaporative coolers • Green roofs • Reduced use of refrigerants • Electricity • Power factor correction • Fuel cells • Efficient lighting ( including daylight adjusting/PIR )

8. Facilities Management: • Interserve have contract for UK and 14 North West European Posts. • Contractual commitments to meet SOGE targets, comply with ISO14001 in the UK and with the Principles of Environmental Management overseas. • Posts in Hong Kong, Paris and Berlin also have FM contracts and work with their FM providers to reduce their emissions. Berlin has just been awarded the first BREEAM In Use Very Good outside the UK. • Our priorities this year in the UK are installing smart metering and improving our DEC performance.

9. Changing Behaviour: • FCO Board see this as a priority in 2009. • Significant staff enthusiasm, the challenge is channelling this. Celebrating our achievements and recognising staff efforts an important aspect e.g. the Foreign Secretary’s Greening the FCO Award • Already score highly on SOGE targets for mechanisms to support sustainability. • Developing initiatives which will have a direct impact on staff: • Sustainable operations as a corporate objective, mandated in some cases e.g. estates and procurement. • Include sustainability in all training on corporate activities: e.g. project management, procurement, and Post management. • Mandate consideration of sustainability when describing resource implications in submissions and all capital decisions. • A new printer:user ratio would demand changes to working practices. • Replacing private mileage claims with hire of low carbon vehicles when public transport is really not an option.

10. Renewables: • Solar hot water – in the UK and overseas • Solar PVs - looking for somewhere to deploy this and demonstrate VFM • Ground source/air heat pumps – in the UK and overseas • Biomass boilers – in the UK • Wind turbines  - concerns about financing and planning permission

11. Funding: • Promoting VFM • Salix funding – not really designed for central government departments. Interest free loans of a minimum of £5,000 • Low Carbon Buildings programme – grants of up to £200,000 per project for small scale renewables. • BIS Forward Commitment Plan – no money but help with creative collaborative procurement process to meet an unmet need. Closed to new proposals. • Retrofit for the Future (SBRI) – focused on energy efficiency. Only £1m of funding for the research and testing of technical innovations in iconic buildings

12. Showing Visible Leadership in Building a Sustainable Future Estate Doha: Use of shading to reduce temperature of the building Warsaw: New Embassy will use a double skin facade to bring insulation levels 10% above current UK building regulations Colombo: Use of a thermal chimney to provide natural ventilation in corridors