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Green? Our buildings are glowing red!
Too many ‘old and draughty’ council properties mean environmental record is among worst
WESTMINSTER Council’s green credentials have come under fire after it emerged its buildings are hemorrhaging energy.
More than a quarter of the council’s 49 staffed properties have been ranked in the lowest energy efficiency band – giving them the unenviable record of consuming 50 per cent more energy than the average for buildings of a similar size, and lengthening the odds on their race to be carbon neutral by 2012.
Under the government’s Display Energy Certificate (DEC) scheme, brought in last October, council offices, schools and libraries over a certain size must have signs showing how energy efficient they are, with grades from A to G. Not a single building in the council’s stock meets the A criteria.
Through its “Go Green” banner, Westminster has championed its environmental revolution with chutzpah, but has now conceded that “old and draughty” buildings are to blame for the embarrassing record.
Local authorities are now required to release their exact wastage percentage. The worst two offenders are the council’s Victoria Street headquarters, Westminster City Hall, consuming almost four times as much energy as it should, and the council building in Lisson Grove, which uses six times the amount of energy it should.
The figures were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Westminster’s Liberal Democrat party.
Mark Blackburn, the Lib Dem parliamentary candidate for the new Westminster North constituency, said: “These facts are a damning indictment of Conservative-run Westminster council’s green credentials. Not a single building won the most energy efficient grade, whilst more than a quarter got the bottom grade.
“A Liberal Democrat-run Westminster would act to make council buildings more energy efficient. That would be good news not just for the environment, but for taxpayers too.”
The revelation comes just weeks after a picture showing Westminster City Hall’s lights blazing away during “Earth Hour” was released to a barrage of criticism.
Councillor Steve Summers, chairman of Westminster’s Go Green board, said: “We are committed to tackling climate change and have an ambitious but comprehensive plan to make Westminster’s council buildings carbon neutral by 2012. This will no doubt be a challenging task as many of our buildings are old and draughty and were not designed with energy efficiency in mind.
“Now we have £500,000 to spend on improvements such as further insulation, installing low energy commercial lighting and ensuring our boilers and thermostats work properly and efficiently. We expect to recoup all this money through reduced energy costs.” |
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