Introduction
George Leslie Ltd (GL hereafter) is a leading Scottish civil engineering and construction company that maintains some of Scotland’s critical infrastructure in many remote and challenging environments.
Beginnings
Our work started in 2020 when COVID disrupted our lives. As restrictions eased over the summer, we delivered a design-out-waste workshop and circularity assessments through the Zero Waste Scotland Circular Construction Programme, in partnership with Resource Futures.
We cemented, excuse the pun, our relationship with GL’s team by supporting them with their Carbon Management Plan for Scottish Water in 2022.
As we moved into 2023, Phase 3 of ESOS (Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme) was approaching. This was GL’s first experience with ESOS compliance, and they were unaware of the significant change in the Phase 3 requirements.
ESOS
We quickly reassured them, explained how we could build a set of templates for the GL team to collate the necessary energy data and streamline energy audits for complex construction sites. Above all, we were confident in our experience of proactively engaging with the Environmental Agency ESOS helpdesk to obtain guidance on applying the regulations to the construction sector.
As we embarked on the new year, we drew on our experience of delivering 10 ESOS Projects since 2015 alone, and nearly 1000 energy assessments overall, to deliver the three key requirements for this project:
- Calculate Total Energy Consumption and Significant Energy Use
- Conduct an Energy Assessment for GL head office, transport activities and site activities.
- Prepare the ESOS report for GL’s board
We drew on our expertise in working with the construction sector to estimate energy savings for a sample of construction projects – a very different process to calculations for a standard manufacturing process or office building. Working with our partner Chris Asensio from Carbon Change, we developed a site energy assessment and conducted coaching sessions with four GL team members. Working together, we combined our expertise to identify significant energy savings, such as using Hushpods, variable-speed drives for pumps, improved insulation for welfare facilities, dehumidifiers, and the benefits of mains grid connection. The GL team then sourced the required activity data for the identified opportunities, and the BG team prepared calculations to estimate energy and cost savings, investment requirements, and associated carbon reductions. Together we reviewed the results, made changes and shared the outcomes with the Senior Leadership team to develop implementation plans. Importantly, the ESOS savings feed into the company’s next Net Zero roadmap.
Future Plans
Central to how we work is collaboration, ensuring we bring everyone involved in the journey toward a lower-carbon future along. We continue to work with the GL team through our annual retainer, which covers their organisational GHG emissions reporting, supporting the leadership team with the Carbon Management Plan, and the team with data processing.
We have just completed the implementation of an easy-to-use carbon accounting platform from our partners and fellow B Corp: Carbon+Alt+Delete (CAD). Through our coaching and video tutorials, GL’s team is confident and equipped to lead the carbon accounting process in the coming year, with Beyond Green focusing on independently verifying the emissions and supporting them with their PAS2080 certification. We will again turn our attention to ESOS Phase 4, due by December 2027, with the added benefit that CAD will automatically calculate all the in-scope energy data required!
ESOS Phase 4 will require companies to submit the results of their total energy consumption and energy savings by 5 December 2027, and partnering with BG, GL are already on the path!
Looking for more real business examples of our work? You can find our other case studies here.