The Stoddart Review on workplace productivity found that a 1% increase in productivity could add £20B to the UK economy. Based on Leesman Index data it showed that productivity could be improved by between 1% - 3.5% by providing better office space. What does that mean to the top line of a business?
Office design plays a key part in this productivity improvement, but Demand Logic has found that a crucial factor is how hot or cold an office is in operation. There has been at least 9 studies on the correlation between office temperature and the impact on productivity. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the Helsinki University of Technology has synthesised this research. It shows that for each degree celsius below 21 degrees productivity drops by 4.7% and for each degree above 25 productivity drops by 2%.
In a well-run office operating at 23 degrees celsius plus or minus 2 degrees you'd expect productivity to be higher than an office which is too hot or too cold or both at the same time, all other factors being equal. This is down to good building control and effective maintenance. The reality is that many building are not keeping within these bounds and this impacts staff productivity and wastes energy.
An £8M study by the UK Government called the Building Performance Evaluation was published in 2016. Over 4 years it monitored 50 non-domestic buildings from design through construction and commissioning into operation. This study found that, on average, the buildings emitted 4x more carbon dioxide in use than specified at the design stage. The best building was 2x worse and the worst building was 10x. Imagine if that was a new car which you'd bought expecting to get 60 mpg and ending up paying for fuel at 15 mpg. The cause of this waste was largely down to poor building control including out-of-hours operation of the buildings.
Using building performance data analytics, like those provided by Demand Logic, it is now possible to monitor for both comfort problems which impact staff productivity and also monitor for energy wastage. With this analysis it is possible to see that it is often the same piece of equipment - an A/C unit for example - which is causing both discomfort and wasting energy. By prioritising the Facilities Management (FM) maintenance it is possible to increase staff productivity and reduce operational costs at the same time. It seems obvious and a relatively easy operational fix, but this is a new approach for property management.