Benchmark Study on Green Buildings - Royal Architectural Institute ...

under this system include office equipment such as personal computers, monitors, fax
machines, scanners, photocopiers and printers.
Energy Service Companies (ESCOs):
Although commonly referred to as ESCOs or ESCO businesses in the UK, other titles for
companies performing these energy audit and efficiency services include Contract Energy
Management (CEM) companies, Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC)
companies, and Technology Performance Contracting (TPC) companies. In the UK, there
are currently about 20 established ESCOs in operation. The major players in this sector
are subsidiaries of large international control equipment companies, oil companies, and
electricity utilities. Commonly, these major players deal only with customers whose
annual energy bill exceeds £50,000. Smaller ESCO companies focus their attention on
smaller clients, such as SMEs or individual homes. Also, many new small companies
offering more than one of these services (e.g. consulting plus finance) consider
themselves to be ESCOs. In the UK, popular ESCO service customers are located both in
the private sector (commercial buildings and industry generally excluding processing
aspects) and in the public sector (large state owned hospitals, prisons and defence
establishments, and local housing authorities). There are no current support mechanisms
for ESCOs in the UK. The only favorable tax regime is that an ESCO can claim capital
tax allowances on the investment it makes, and pass this on to the customer in whole or in
part. To date, the ESCO industry in the UK is a reasonable size and has the potential to
grow substantially in the future. (For more a more detailed explanation of how ESCOs
work, see the ESCO part in the United States section.)
Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA):
The Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) is a non-profit
company owned by other companies, universities, government departments and other
public sector agencies, organizations and regulators. CIRIA’s owners include
representatives from all parts of the supply chains of the modern built environment,
covering building and civil engineering as well as transport and utilities infrastructure.
The Association presents a way in which the many different stakeholders in the modern
built environment can work together to identify, codify, publish and promote the
emerging best practice in the industry. In this way, CIRIA continually seeks to raise the
standard of excellence in the overall construction sector. CIRIA’s primary aims are to
improve the quality, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and safety of both the provision and
operation of the modern built environment. In pursuit of these aims, it seeks to be the
leading provider of performance-improving products and services to organizations
involved in procuring, delivering, owning and maintaining the modern built environment.
CIRIA is a not for profit company, and its 4 main areas of activity are research,
publishing information, training, and networking between industry professionals. CIRIA
has approximately 50 projects or task groups in progress at any one time, organizes about
100 events and conferences each year, and produces around 25 new publications each
year on top of its back catalogue of around 600 publications, many of which are still in
print and are relevant to today’s industry.
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