Our headquarters
Our HQ building in Exeter became operational in 2003 and was designed to be as green as possible. The building and estate is managed so that the environmental impacts are as low as they can be.
Our Exeter HQ became operational in 2003 and houses around 1200 staff. The building and surrounding estate is managed so that the environmental impacts are as low as they can be.
Our Environmental Management System
We have a sound Environmental Management System which has ISO 14001 accreditation, an internationally recognised standard of excellence.
We constantly look for ways to make our operations cleaner and more environmentally friendly.
Energy and water consumption, waste and transport are examples where we can have a detrimental impact on the environment.
Environmental Policy 2011
(PDF, 424 kB)
Water Usage at HQ
We have an efficient water management system installed at our headquarters.
Rainwater is retained onsite keeping it out of the drainage system and it enters our two ponds.
The water is filtered after it leaves the ponds. This water is known as grey water (non-mains water) and is used for WC flushing.
We also have a borehole onsite and this water is used in the free cooling process.
The Environmental Working Group (EWG)
We are continuously looking for ways to make our operations more efficient and greener.
The EWG meets monthly to look at waste, recycling, water and energy use.
Small savings here and there soon mount up.
ONWH the lighting in our HQ offices operates on a motion sensor. If no movement is detected the lights switch off.
Reducing the timer period from 15 to 10 minutes saves us £2600 and 21 tCO2e per year.
The group also looks at longer term saving measures. Some energy saving technologies may not be economically viable today but are reviewed annually.
Combined Heat & Power (CHP)
CHP generates electricity and at the same time captures the usable heat which is produced in the process. In many forms of electricity generation this heat is wasted.
We have a gas fired generator capable of producing 1500 kW of electricity, 1010 kW of cooling and 400 kW of heating.
The heat can be used to heat the building and can also be fed into an absorption chiller to produce chilled water which is used in the free cooling process.
CHP is seen as fuel neutral.
TermoDeck
TermoDeck on a summer day
Any building needs heating and cooling. Our HQ building uses the award winning TermoDeck system.
TermoDeck is a fan-assisted heating and cooling system which utilises the thermal mass of the building fabric.
The amount of additional heating and cooling is greatly reduced as a result.
This article on the TermoDeck website features our headquarters.
