CORMS
The Centrica Case Study
Centrica was formed in February 1997 following the demerger of British Gas plc. The Centrica property portfolio is diverse and volumous as it supports a business which is truly a conglomerate undertaking many different activities. Buildings totalling nearly 3 million ft2 across more than 300 properties include not only offices and call centres, but also data centres and power stations.
The challenge laid down by Centrica was simple, with the following targets set:
- 15% reduction in energy usage over 3 years;
- Reduce maintenance base costs year on year;
- Extend and preserve asset life;
- Deliver significant uptime for building operations;
- Provide a united maintenance strategy to all properties within the portfolio;
- Recover costs within three years
The cost to implement the system in 2005 was £1.4m. The estimated savings for year one was in the region of £1m. This gave a comfortable pay back of 18 months with year on year savings. The pay back achieved was twice as fast as originally signed-off.
Furthermore, the system with its reliance on state of the art technology has greatly reduced the need for skilled engineering labour which is not only costly, but in severely short supply, in London and the southeast in particular.
