ENERGY performance assessments of the Highland Council’s property portfolio are set to be undertaken.
The local authority said the work will directly support and inform decisions with regards to achieving net zero, investment in buildings to improve energy, and asset rationalisation options.
It added that it will also help it to identify building upgrade opportunities that can reduce expenditure by lowering energy and operating costs, as well as facilitating continuous improvements by providing diagnostic measures to evaluate performance over time.
Energy use benchmarking is a process that either compares the energy use of a building or group of buildings with other similar structures or looks at how energy use varies from a baseline.
The project team will utilise the Scottish Public Sector Energy Benchmarking Tool, developed and published earlier this year, and carry out an evaluation of energy performance for all main properties within Highland Council property estate.
Finalisation of the report and associated deliverables are scheduled to be completed by March 2023.
Chair of the climate change committee at the Highland Council, councillor Karl Rosie, said, “The availability of accurate and up to date information allows us to more effectively consider property management matters. Further, it also allows us to identify where improvements can be made to our estate to help us realise our net zero goals. As such we are appreciative of the work undertaken to date and look forward to receiving the analysis in due course.”
