Small Steps, Big Impact: Rathbone Society’s Energy Efficiency Transformation

With funding from the London Mayor’s Business Climate Challenge, Station to Station BID worked with local businesses to help them improve their energy efficiency and reduce their carbon emissions.

One particularly successful business was the Rathbone Society, which reduced their energy usage by over 50%. 

The Challenge

The Mayor’s Business Climate Challenge (opens in a new window) (BCC) was an energy efficiency programme that supported businesses in reducing their energy consumption and accelerating building decarbonisation efforts in London.

Emissions from energy and heating London’s commercial and industrial buildings account for 33% of the capital’s carbon footprint. Decarbonising the city’s building stock is crucial to achieving the Mayor's net zero target by 2030 and Lambeth’s net zero ambitions.

This voluntary programme offered free support to help make buildings more energy efficient, lower energy costs, and assist businesses on their journey to zero carbon.

In 2022, Station to Station Business Improvement District (BID) received a grant to recruit a cohort of 20 to 50 businesses from its membership and support them in this programme. The BID supports its 481 business members through initiatives for business growth, marketing and promotion, sustainability, area cleanliness, and advocacy. Station to Station’s sustainability projects focus on greening, recycling, carbon reduction schemes, and sustainable travel.

One of the businesses recruited by the BID was The Rathbone Society (opens in a new window), a charity that empowers young people and adults to build stronger communities.

Action Taken

Based in the historic Old Library in West Norwood, Rathbone supports adults with learning disabilities and young people. Following the recommendation of the Station to Station BID, Rathbone joined the Business Climate Challenge (BCC) with the main goals of reducing energy costs and advancing its environmental aims. The programme provided the chance to identify key workplace energy-saving actions and to help motivate behaviour change among Rathbone team members.

The BCC’s energy audit and recommendations helped Rathbone’s leaders identify their most promising opportunities for energy efficiency improvements. Main recommendations from the audit:

• Invest in new building fabric and installation solutions, such as heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and lighting.
• Implement a performance and consumption measurement system.
• Change organisational culture by encouraging staff to adopt sustainable energy practices.
• Operate the building with minimal energy waste and aim to reduce the building’s energy consumption by 10% over one year. 

Based on the recommendations, an estimated potential energy saving of 46% was projected. By the end of the project, Rathbone reported a saving of 53.5%.

Rathbone valued the BCC’s technical support and training components, which have helped the charity shape its long-term climate goals. They established a series of staff training programmes to change the organisation’s culture regarding energy saving. They shared their vision at their staff conference and through their staff newsletter, and energy Champions were appointed at each of their sites to monitor energy use.

Since Rathbone does not own their premises, their control over structural or system changes was limited. The building is also a Grade 2 Listed Building, resulting in additional restrictions on what could be implemented. Because of this, some physical recommendations, such as upgrading LED lighting, improving heating and ventilation systems, and out-of-hours deactivation of IT equipment, proved more challenging to implement. Nonetheless, they managed to make some improvements by:

• Updating procedures for manual control of room temperatures and boilers.
• Replacing as many lightbulbs as possible with LEDS.
• Amending their Office Tenancy Contracts to include energy-saving clauses.
• Installing draft excluders supplied by Lambeth Council.

The Results

Challenges and Successes

Although they were not eligible for a smart meter for the building, they managed to utilise the programme platform to record and compare their monthly energy consumption with an annual overview. This helped them identify areas for improvement and recognise successes in reducing their energy use.

Their most effective initiative was their behaviour change programme. They communicated their vision at their staff conference and through their staff newsletter. Energy Champions were nominated at each site to monitor energy consumption.

What’s next for Rathbone?

• The BCC energy audit report will be used to gain support from their landlord, Lambeth Council, to implement more of the recommended measures.
• Using the BCC energy audit and network to participate in other local projects and/or seek additional grant funding for larger improvements (e.g., building insulation and replacing the boiler system).
• Planning an internal conference to update staff on new business initiatives and educate them about specific energy topics.

Reflections from Rathbone

When you have lots of firefighting day to day, it’s very hard to carve out the time for research and climate planning. The BCC allowed us to do that.

“We have a lot of limitations given the nature of our business and our building, but it’s still been such a positive experience. What [the BCC] asked of us was more than reasonable considering what we received in return – both valuable knowledge and support.

– Jo Piskorz, Administrative Manager

Learnings from Station to Station BID  

• Getting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on board with the programme required significant time, support, and engagement. Of the 20 businesses that signed up, only three managed to upload all their data within the first nine months for analysis.
• The programme helped them identify common barriers such as time, technology, and staff capacity that need addressing for better implementation.
• The targeted funding enabled the BID to start new conversations about energy and carbon reduction with their existing members who had not previously engaged with their sustainability initiatives.
• A major obstacle for SMEs and charities was the lack of additional income, investment, or funding to invest in building improvements.
• Jargon-heavy communications deterred businesses and organisations from engaging with the programme; emphasising the reduction of energy consumption and costs was easier to ‘sell’.
• It was simpler to engage office-based businesses rather than shops and hairdressers, as offices had better access to screens and more time and capacity to complete the forms and implement actions.
• Disjointed and sporadic information on related support, schemes, funding, or training was difficult to coordinate, causing some organisations to miss opportunities.
• The lack of long-term plans and future funding options could be discouraging.