Name: From Energy Volatility to Cost Control: How UK Multi-Sites Businesses Are Adapting Their Sites in 2026
Uploaded: 2026-10-08T12:46:14.696Z
Duration: 1 h 8 s
Description: From Energy Volatility to Cost Control: How UK Multi-Sites Businesses Are Adapting Their Sites in 2026

Transcript for "From Energy Volatility to Cost Control: How UK Multi-Sites Businesses Are Adapting Their Sites in 2026": Hello, everyone, and welcome to this timely webinar. Today's session is brought to you by Sustainability Magazine and Schneider Electric. Energy volatility remains a permanent fixture of doing business in The UK. For organizations managing multiple physical sites from retail stores and hotels to commercial buildings, the challenge is no longer just buying energy at the right price. It's about improving visibility, controlling costs, and maximizing building performance across a portfolio of small and mid sized buildings. Small, unnoticed inefficiencies across a massive portfolio add up rapidly when there's little or no on-site technical support, which is why today, we'll be looking into the actionable, direct financial outcomes of getting this right, how to spot where money is slipping through the cracks, and how we scale what works across all locations. Joining me to do this are three incredible experts in the sustainability space. It is my pleasure to welcome Mark McKenna, global sustainability director at Arcadis, Jose Luis Galindo, EMEA vice president engineering and maintenance services, Radisson Hotel Group, and Michael Ward, segment leader for The UK and Ireland at Schneider Electric. Welcome, everybody. How are you doing? Good morning. Hello. Good morning. Morning. Good morning. Okay. Well, look. We... We'll get moving. We... We've got a lot to talk about, purely for context, and I guess so our audience get to know you well. We'll go around the group if if you don't mind and we'll just have a short intro, thirty seconds to a minute. Tell us a little bit about your role in your company and and I guess a couple of areas of focus for for you at the moment. Michael, if if you don't mind, I'm looking at you first. So you draw draw the, the first straw. So why don't you start things off for us? Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone. So, yes, my... Well, I work for Schneider Electric. I head up, for the entirety of our business, within the education sector, the retail sector, and I also manage some of the London real estate clients that we have. So it's quite a quite a mix of different market sectors, but they all have a similar sort of challenge, that we'll be discussing in greater detail today. I've been with Schneider Electric for, ten years. Interesting. We're in a very challenging environment at the moment with regards to energy. I'm looking forward to discussing this further with the panel. Wonderful. Thank you, Michael. And Jose Luis? Hello. Good morning, everyone. Thanks, thanks a lot for, having the opportunity of of being able to participate in this webinar to to all of you. I'm... So as you were saying, I'm the global vice president, of engineering and maintenance for... Worldwide for Raison Hotel Group, comprising, well, basically all the aspects in, the technicalities in the hotel and managing energy as one of the main drivers these days. Basically, as you know, with all the prices and all the costs and the impact on on everything, it's of key importance and, it's one of our headaches, let's call this way, that we are pushing and pushing the boundaries as well in certain cases as as we're gonna discuss later. So thank you very much for for the opportunity. Thank you so much. And and last but certainly not least, Mark. Yeah. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Mark McKenna here, global sustainability director here in Arcadis. And so here in Arcadis, I, manage, global programs and sustainability. And Arcadis, for those that don't know, is a global engineering and advisory firm. I spent over twenty years of my career in building design as well. So this is a particularly, exciting topic for me and look forward to the discussion. Wonderful. Well, let's get into the discussion. We'll start with some context, looking at at industry challenges, blind spots, and so on to to get your collective thoughts on that, guys, if you don't mind. Obviously, within that, UK businesses are learning the hard way that that stable rarely means cheap. Between rising network charges and non commodity costs, your bottom line is still under constant pressure. For organizations, managing portfolios of smaller buildings isn't procurement anymore. It's visibility. Small, unnoticed inefficiencies quietly bleed cash across your entire business. So with that, we will begin with a closer look at why this blind spot is costing you and where that waste is hiding. Mark, I'll start with you if you don't mind. Around all of that that we just discussed in the intro there, why don't you give us your thoughts on how has the conversation shifted from surviving an energy crisis to to, I guess, building long term resilience? And in short, how do we avoid making the mistakes that that we've already made? Yeah. No. Great great question. Look, I think the first thing I would say is what we're facing, not only in The UK, but beyond is this real concoction of unprecedented, issues that have driven... Have, you know, converged to create what is, the energy challenge for us. And what we certainly notice in The UK is, of course, the volatility and unseasonal nature of the climate that we know build, design, operate, manage buildings in. Added with that, of course, we have the cost volatility given geopolitics. And then added to that also, we have everything post COVID in terms of how we run buildings, manage them, the the workforce patterns, which are also less less consistent than in the past. And all of those things have now converged to feel very real, for companies and asset owners. And I think your question was how do we avoid the mistakes of the past. I think it was because most of the issues in the past felt very theoretical. We knew the climate was changing. We we knew we didn't want to as, you know, designers, engineers, asset owners be exposed to price rises. These things are all here now. So I think it's not necessarily a question of how we're gonna continue to make mistakes. It's how fast we can pivot to make sure that we optimize and improve the energy outcome for our assets as quickly as possible. It's how quickly we can realize the benefits. Sure. Sure. Thank you, Mark. Jose Luis, let let let me come to you and and build on that. Let me ask you. Across, multisite building portfolios, we we talked about that, especially those with lots of smaller sites. Give us your take on where you most commonly see visibility gaps creating unnecessary cost or or some of those inefficiencies that that we mentioned. Yeah. Okay. Well, basically, and and the reply might be a bit naive in in... At a certain, stand, but the the reality is that in in many cases, the way the buildings are are, constructed don't allow to have the more efficiency and the most efficient systems that we we should have. The the main problems are the use of the facilities whenever they're not needed. And it might be stupid thing, but it's a reality. In many cases, we find the systems are not adjusted... Are are not following to, the reality of the occupancies we're having. We have systems or conditions running under, M and E spaces, which are not needed because there are no M and E spaces, and they are not adapting to to the reality of the occupancy we're having now after, corona and and all the trends on on the markets. So, the facilities themselves are what are restraining quite a lot of this, cost in this consumptions. Ventilations that are not allowed to be, stopped or aligned to the occupancies, lighting timings that are not according to the needs of of the hotels. And in in many cases, it's due to the way the design is done, as we were mentioning before, and how it is, and the improvements are are on this on this island. Okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. Mike... Michael, I'll bring you in if we can. I want to ask you, we're we're hearing a lot from from finance teams that traditional energy procurement strategies aren't enough anymore. Why don't you tell us why organizations are increasingly looking beyond procurement and and focusing on on building performance, operational efficiency, and and so on as areas that that they can have more control over? Yeah. Look, it's, it's a really interesting subject. I think through the interaction that I personally have across a number of different market sectors. You know, there's there's some common denominators that a lot of the building owners are tending to sort of find, and that is their ability to be able to control our infrastructure and our building and and get a lot more into the granular detail really of how they can affect, what ultimately is probably one of the biggest operating costs. Right? Energy bill. And the volatility that we've all spoken about and referring to some of the points that Jose and Mark had suggested. I think, you know, working a bit more smarter around, you know, how they can operate those buildings, looking at the BMS systems that are incorporated within there, getting some low hanging fruit from maybe looking at other operational efficiencies, and that's out. And I think working, I guess, with... Hate to say it, but working with a, an energy and sustainability consultancy company like our own and getting involved in that discussion. And, yeah, just, you know, changing the way that they do things slightly. You know, it's not it's not just about accepting the fact that they've got these energy costs and the need to absorb them into the business. It's about how they can maybe work the estate a bit smarter, whether or not, I've already mentioned, that's through BMS control, etcetera. There's some some very easy easy discussion and topics and points, you know, to get into, further conversation around really. Thanks, Michael. That leads us nicely to our next discussion, which which I guess is, around what leaders, leading organizations are doing differently. Obviously, as we discussed, we we know the problem is is visibility, but the traditional solution has always felt out of reach for smaller buildings. Historically, putting a heavy custom building management system, a BMS, into small retail branch or a quick service restaurant simply didn't make financial sense. So now let's look at how today's forward thinking leaders are are changing the game and how we can find ways to ruthlessly cut energy waste without disrupting the customer experience or threatening threatening operational uptime. Mark, I'll come to you. When a business realizes they're wasting energy, the instinct might be to plan a a massive overhaul. Why is that customer approach the wrong move? Well, look, I think it may be the right approach. It may be the wrong approach. It really depends on the context. So one of the challenges we see that relates to planning for what to do next is often due to two things. The first one is scale. What's the scale of the problem and what's the scale of the opportunity? And then the second one is around the maturity of the diagnostics or the master planning work or the maintenance regime that you have. And those two things just play a really big role. So one of the things that we see often, for example, in, say, asset life cycle management for multisites or small assets is they're often designed on the basis that we we we use things until they fail. And when they fail, we plan to replace them. We don't actually need to optimize enough before things fail. And so that's just something I think that we need to see asset life cycle planning be more mature to to look at optimization as part of the forward planning. And that could be a real challenge at a small scale because when, small assets have to go through upgrades, the the cost versus the immediate return, from energy efficiency often stretches out in terms of payback versus bigger assets that potentially have a bigger scale of economy to save energy. So that... What I would say is absolute replacement of parts of assets or systems or technology may be the answer, but you need to get the first two things right, which is a clear idea of the investment versus return plus the maturity of the assessments and asset work that you're doing. And, of course, that's where Michael and Jose Luis would, would be pretty well versed in that area as well. Thanks, Mark. Jose Luis, let... Let's come to you. For for those teams responsible for for multiple sites, how do you make sure that you that you focus on the few issues that have the biggest impact on cost and performance? Is that challenging? It is. It is. And indeed, it's one of the main topics we have lately. Basically, the teams are the more and more overwhelmed with different tasks. They are in charge of many different aspects, in hospitality, regarding repair and maintenance, peace engineering, energy control, monitoring, on top, the guest experience, which is one of the key drivers in... You may imagine in in hospitality these days. So we need to bundle everything up, let's say, and, it... The reality is that the local teams, the staff, is challenging with all this all this. That that is the reason why in... As in Verizon have evaluated and have implemented corporate control, corporate management over the the different properties, different portfolio we have because it's of key importance to support these teams in order to, let them take over the the main responsibilities and not just looking into everything like, Hetto's Chicken, which sometimes happens in in the organizations. Okay? This is the reason why we have implemented remote control over consumptions, remote control, over, like, energy dashboards that are giving all the information we need for understanding what is going on in the properties. And we are able to raise not in in in in the detail of the property because the local teams are the ones that really know best the property, but at least some signs, some KPIs that allow us to say, well, there is a problem here. So whenever we find this out, and we detect these problems, we're immediately having a very good coordination with the teams in order to help them focus and find out what are the issues. And it's, been quite, quite interesting and and quite positive, and the results are are being very good because we have this corporate role, local staff that is, implies a very good coordination in in the company. Thank you, Jose Luis. Let let me stay with you. A a follow-up question, if you don't mind. Obviously, a a major worry for for managers is that energy saving measures will will hurt the customer experience. Right? Turning off the lights, making spaces uncomfortable, things like that. I didn't know. Yeah. Absolutely. I can imagine completely. So so on that then, tell me how do you find that that sweet spot between those kind of cost control measures and and making sure your customers have a a great experience as as you want them to. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's one of the most complicated things. Right. Because, of course, whenever we're looking into energy from an engineering perspective, you have many ideas. But sometimes depending on the properties, you cannot implement them because guest experience is another key driver, we have or one of the most important key drivers we have with our guests. So I think what we are... We're doing is, again, fostering and improving the the implementation of control and KPIs and fully, let's say, automated dashboards that allow us to to understand what is going on in the property. For example, whenever you are... You have a strategy or energy saving plan in one of the hotels, it's important from a corporate perspective to understand what's... What are the savings, if we have savings, and, what is the impact on the guest experience. So so KPIs in both sides allow us, as I was saying before, remotely to understand from overview, whole overview of the hotels, what is going on. But it's also important locally that whenever, the chief engineers, or the the staff is is doing, let's say, technical adjustments, set points, all the possibilities they have. This, important coordination they have with, with the front office, for example, with the rest of the team. This is not something that engineering teams are are in charge. Wherever we're getting energy savings, real energy savings, it's because there is a full commitment by everybody. So, there's a very good communication between all the departments, and they're all committed to to to this thing. K? So, basically, those are the two important things. And and lastly, I would like to mention, another important thing, which is a bit beyond, what the normal practice, in the market we have. We were mentioning before, that the BMS systems are very good for controlling, monitoring, and it's a reality. All of our buildings have these sort of systems. Thing is, sometimes they are quite manual. Manual in the sense of, there has to be some person managing them. So whenever, people are overwhelmed with different tasks, different things, or other issues, it's complicated that they're really focused sometimes in in the thing. So that is the reason why we have started, the implementation of, artificial intelligence layers above the DMS systems in order to automate all these all these elements. So whenever there is something which is not occupied, automatically, we have these layers that, life basically are doing the changes, the set points, or whatever. So, everything is squeaker. No? So we don't depend on a person doing the things. Okay? And and this is to understanding the next step and the next generation of of efficiency and optimization, and, it's key. And, we are start... We have started to implement these these elements on... With very good results. Thank you so much. So so do do you think they are some of the main ways, I guess, that the organizations can can spot those problems sooner? Because, obviously, as we've talked about, a lot of smaller sites are operating with with little or or no specialist support on-site. Are there any other kind of insights you can give us to how to spot those sooner and, I guess, avoid some of those unnecessary costs? Well, I would say, here we have a couple of things. The importance of of preventive maintenance in all the routines, all tasks, is is capital, I would say. It's key. The the more, let's say, up to date we we have the the facilities, sometimes it's it's not easy, but but, it's how it should be. Allows us to have the systems, and kind of troubleshoot the the the problems and the issues before they take place. So so in this case, that preventive strategy or routine is what helps us, a little bit with with all these elements. But on the other hand, what I was mentioning before, I think it's very important the coordination between departments. This is not an issue of the engineering department, just that. I mean, the coordination, whenever we have certain complaints about certain things, minor things, could lead us to other major problems. You know? So so this coordination, whenever somebody's complained about... I don't know. Here, the temperature is wherever. Well, if we follow-up with engineering team, we are, let's say, pre polling potential problems in the future, and it's key to to have this, proactive approach to, to the to the engineering. Great. Thank you. Well, let's look at action then. Everyone, we... We've discussed the challenges. We've we've discussed a little there. Thank you so much, everybody, about, I guess, what organizations are are doing differently. So so let's kind of take that and and look at some of the practical tools and and approaches that that we can use to turn some of those insights and that visibility into to real meaningful action. Mark, I'll start with you if you don't mind. Tell us from your perspective, what what should organizations look for when when they're evaluating solutions for for portfolios of small and and mid sized buildings? Yeah. Sure. Look. I think, you know, perhaps to echo Jose Luis's comments first, I think partnering is a really great step. And when you're talking about large or small portfolios of small to medium sized assets, the business case is, of course, absolutely key, and it's a lot more stretched and based on finer margins than perhaps in some of the bigger portfolios. What I would say is traditionally what we've seen in the past is business cases get developed, a budget get assigned, and then you pull in, say, Schneider Electric or or Cadence, and we have to work within, the realms of what has already been agreed. What that has told us is that it doesn't actually work, and the underpinning evidence and possibilities from a cost effective point of view, from a simplicity and an energy optimization point of view should inform the basis for the business case. And so, really, it sounds cliche and it sounds really obvious, but getting people that you know and trust in early to actually collaborate to work on a business case that therefore stacks up before it goes through the motions of approval helps. And, you know, we are people that we trust to partner with. You know, we partner and compete with Schneider. But as an ecosystem partner, we know where each other plays, and that really helps set us up to work on giving clients the best best value. That helps collaborate on the business case so it's realistic, actionable, is is where we start really and drawing on the knowledge from industry as well. Great. Thank you so much. Let's keep it moving. Michael, I'll come to you. Give us your take on on some of the most common opportunities that that organizations can address, you know, quickly at speed without making major building upgrades or going through those kind of lengthier lengthier programs. Yeah. Absolutely. I think... Look. The key thing, initially is the visibility. Right? It's understanding what our customers and our clients have actually got across the portfolio. You know, having that ability to benchmark what infrastructure is already in place, you know, the existing equipment that's already in place, understanding where the gaps are and where we can obviously fill those. I'm saying the affordability element of that is really key, especially if you've got multiple sites. You know, look, we're looking to try and keep costs to a minimum, and how do we scale that out over over a... I don't know, potential sort of 100 plus estates, wide, facility if you like. So there are opportunities to do that. I think there are gateway solutions that Schneider Electric offer. Obviously, building activate is one of those. I think the, the advantages of that is it's small cost per site. It gives the ability to expose all of the assets and all of the of the data. I think that's the key element here is the data that's being pulled in from those various different assets, and allows us then to be able to focus on where we're getting energy wastage and how can we... Again, I'll refer back to that low hanging fruit. How can we quickly identify where we can make those quick wins? You know, maybe turn what I think historically is a reactive scenario into a proactive scenario. So there are elements, I think, as it was mentioning around the adoption of AI. You know, AI is a real scary topic at the moment. We can probably spend another day talking back. I know. Yeah.... Stability, but it's good that he's recognizing that. And there is definitely embedded AI technology that's coming through quite quickly that will, you know, allow these types of businesses to deploy this, and scale it a cost effective, you know, solution really, you know, utilizing cloud technology, etcetera. And it's very, very simple. It's not something that, you know, is massively over engineered. It can be deployed quite quickly across a wide state. Thank you. And you mentioned AI there, obviously, may... Making some of these solutions more more accessible. I mean, has anything else changed in the market or or are there any trends perhaps that that you see changing that that make these kind of building management systems more accessible for for small and mid sized buildings? Yeah. I mean, look. I think a lot of this is... Look. I I think the key thing here is that with... Especially with AI, I mean, I mean, talking about AI or which various banks, so it's very much a problem in my mind. So, look, it's a scary topic and it's, when I speak to a lot of customers and I speak to a lot of FM clients, you know, the first thing is, is it gonna be replacing, you know, a human being? You know, am I gonna be looking to replace my workforce just because I'm introducing AI? Abs... Absolutely not. It's not about that. It's about, you know, turning something into a more, I guess, again, going towards those energy efficiency. So rather than spending a lot of time and actually trying to find the faults, and firefighting, it's actually going in and specifically addressing, you know, tasks, and whether or not that's remote diagnostics, which would be the first sort of stage if you like, and identifying if that's something that can be, you know, corrected online or through the cloud connection. And then if it's requiring it and then getting an engineer to to get involved. So I think that's some of the that's some of the sort of initial things that we would love to do. Thank you. I mean, on that, let let... Let's expand Jose Luis. You you mentioned AI briefly. Anything else you want to to come in on there? And and, Mark, anything that that perhaps Michael didn't touch on from from your perspective that either either of you would like to expand on? No. I think, to the point of of, replacing whomever or or anything, I I... Honestly, this is not the case. I mean, the the good thing for for AI as far as what I see is the capability of process and understand the the the data, lots of figures, lots of numbers, lots of things very quickly. So so you have a response and you have really, a a reply to your needs, basically life. Okay? So that... The time could take... Could've taken for for anybody. I mean, you could have Superman, and, it would take some time. But now the things are are quite live and allow you... Have the possibility of, well, implementing your strategies, understanding what is going on, and not taking, ages for seeing if the strategies are working or not, basically. Thank you, Jose. Just add add to that, yeah, from Jose Luis and Michael. I think the speed in which we can make decisions, whereas there's some more time to do the actual work. And we know that asset management is being squeezed in terms of margin as well. So there's less time, and less cost available to manage the assets. And we see that, you know, through our enterprise decision analytics tool, we can get answers in seconds that we previously would take days to get. So what that means is we have more time to support clients. It means the clients have more time, to actually get to their true root cause and and address the issues. And, yeah, it's a profound change that really can be a benefit if we live it. Great. Thank you. Well, Michael, look, I'll I'll I'll come to you. I guess, why don't you talk a little about, you know, what what Schneider Electric does in this space? I know you recently introduced EcoStruxure BuildingActivates, specifically for small and midsize buildings. Tell us about it. How does it help those organizations gain greater visibility and control across multiple sites without some of that complexity that that I guess is traditionally associated with with building that? I think... Yeah. Look, I touched on it previously, Mark. You did. It's a great product, but I think from a customer's perspective, it's it's agnostic. So it's an open platform. I think that's one of the that's one of the key areas that we always get asked, you know, did it connect to everything that's on those particular sites and how to aggregate more data and the assets, information, you know, to be able to provide something that's tangible back to the customer that they can act upon. So, look, it's a product that we've heavily invested in. It's very cost effective, you know, for end user clients that got multiple or large estates if you like. You know, we've been working with a number of, large estate businesses, and I guess working on a couple of pilot schemes where we can demonstrate how that can give very quick returns and obviously be able to identify some of those issues. So it's, yeah, it's it's complexity is, it's it's it's very easy to deploy. You know, we we we help and support in enabling the customers Fantastic product. Obviously, I'm gonna say that, but... Look. I must say it's a game changer for me. Right? I think it's, you know, again, speaking to a lot of different retail type clients, the first complexity that they have is being able to get that visibility. Now going back to my original point, understanding what they've got in their estates, being able to develop that information. But the most important thing is once you've got that data, what you're actually doing with it. Because actually aggregating the data is one thing, but actually applying it to something that's, you know, that you can get some actionables from is is really, really key, and this is where I feel we activate, you know, suits really, really well with that. Great. I'd love to see an example of it, but but let let me ask you really quickly. Obviously, you you say you you... You're talking with clients. You're obviously out there in the field and and meeting customers using this. Where where are you seeing the the the... I mean, what's the reception? Where are you seeing the the quickest benefits, the the the quickest kind of game changers or opportunities that they're really, really getting into? I think, most of us, when they're out and about, you'll notice that there's lots of different, you know, I would suggest, say, big superstores that are deployed to smaller units, whether or not it's within service stations or out and about. You know, some of the leading brands out there, that tends to be the model moving forward. And, obviously, they're small units. Right? They're not big giant superstores. Fast food is also a big, a big market sector for us, in our hotels as well where we're, we're deploying, within those particular systems. So, yeah, it's it's a multitude of different retail outlets, really. But I think that's where this particular product sits really nicely. It's, it's agnostic, easy to deploy, and can be done within a number of different types of, you know, retail market, sectors if you like. Thank you. And I think you've got an example that that that you like to show us here, haven't you, if you're able to just pull that up. So more than 90% of commercial buildings are smaller midsize, but yet they lack dedicated on-site building experts. Building activate was designed specifically to address this challenge. So I wanted to just talk about the technology. So let's start with the retail business. Building activate is designed for multisite organizations, but we know that the challenges of a retailer, hotel, and restaurant, or a health care facility are different. But let's look at an environment that obviously relates to yourselves. So within the retail sector and also if we focus on every organization is different, even within the same industries we just mentioned. But before we continue, let's just focus on the challenge that matters to your business today. And are there any of these challenges that are relevant for you? So each organization has got unique priorities, but one of the challenges that's common across most small, medium sized buildings is limited on-site staff and the need for simple, scalable ways to manage building performance. So for organizations that are similar to yourselves within that particular segment, these are just some of the typically the priorities that we hear often most from those customers. And rather than just focusing on features, let's just start with the outcomes that matter most. So if we take a look at sustainability management, so we're monitoring energy, we're monitoring water and gas in real time, we're automate the compliance, and we're also looking to cut emissions across the whole of those store locations. With energy management, we're monitoring, we're controlling HVAC and lighting right across the stores. And with the introduction of AI, that's optimizing the HVAC while the automation is also reducing those energy costs. Within the workplace management, we're ensuring the shoppers and the staff, they've got comfort, they've got a stable climate, and also some air quality, and we're aligning the ambiance with the brand experience. With the asset management, we're monitoring the equipment twenty four seven. We're detecting any anomalies early, and we're also running remote diagnostics to prevent costly downtime. And finally, when we look at the operations management, we're automating the store opening and closing routines, but effectively remotely managing those HVAC and lighting controls to cut the costs and also boost efficiency. So if we just wanna finally just take a look at as an example, something that we've deployed ourselves. There's a typical retailer. This is giving you an overview of how they transform their operations and cut costs. It's a leading retailer. They were faced with high energy costs, noncompliance with temperature and air quality standards, and also operational inefficiencies across multiple store locations. But they needed a solution that was accurately monitoring emissions, providing data to ensure compliance measures, but also managing the electrical equipment to reduce the staff safety risks. So this was a 120 plus stores still growing. That was done again utilizing building activate. So the HVAC, the lighting controls, the comfort monitoring, the centralized automation, and the visibility, and also some carbon footprint monitoring. And the outcomes that we got from that, essentially, were 10% energy savings across the portfolio. It was a 25 enhancing on the compliance with air quality and temperature standards. The most important thing was it was a payback over eighteen months. So that was providing you with a very short synopsis of EcoStruxure Building Activate. Thank you, Michael. That was fantastic. Always great to see some some practical examples there. So so really appreciate you sharing it with us. Look, we we we like to leave time at the end for for some questions. We've had some questions come in, so we will move to those. I'll I'll throw them at you, and and please all feel free to just jump in on those as you like. But I I guess a a lot to summarize there, and it's probably difficult, to to do in in one or two sentences, but it's always nice to have a key takeaway. I think people listening, watching will inevitably going... Be going through some of these challenges, and want to know where to go to take action. So let's go around the room and maybe you give me a a key takeaway, the most important lesson, one one thing I, as a as a business owner, should should be doing after this to really start actioning some of these changes we've talked about. Michael, you showed your animation there. So so, brilliantly, I'll come to you first and put you on the spot. What... What's your take on that, please? Yeah. Look. I think the biggest thing for me, takeaway from what we discussed today, right, is, the data doesn't create the value. It's what we're actually doing with that. So, you know, look, there's lots of different products that are out there that can aggregate a lot of that asset information, you know, providing energy costs, how efficient or non efficient it is, exposing, issues within your estate. I think the key takeaway here for me is actually what you're doing with that asset data information. You know, spoke to a lot of businesses that have been sat on that data for quite a long time. That's not gonna reduce the energy cost. Right? You actually gotta do something tangible with it. So actioning or getting some actionables out of that data, creating a a strategy that is, achievable, realistic, and I think deployable. And I think most importantly, working with an energy and sustainability company like Schneider Electric. Of course. Thank you, Michael. And and Mark, I'll come to you. What... What's your take? Yeah. Truly, I I really like the feedback from Jose Luis, which touched on a really important and perhaps unsaid, topic, which is, you know, the the stakeholders that we don't talk about, which, you know, in Jose Luis's case is the is the the customer. In office buildings, it's it's the, you know, the office worker. In student accommodations, it's the student. And just how creative we, you know, assets have to be to try and balance that customer experience occupant with the realities or increased costs, limited grant funding. Yeah, I just... I felt that is just a really under discussed topic and, one that I think would be great to to discuss more in the future. Thank you. Jose Luis? My takeaway of of this session in general about this this, situation we're living now, and how fast things are evolving, because this is one of the takeaways. I mean, now, with artificial intelligence, everything is going so fast that you need to somehow sort the way. And the takeaway for me, it's to benefit from this situation. All the industries is really pushing into potential solutions, trying to implement, trying to optimize energy. And indeed, the more you're able to embrace and the more able you are to work with different companies or, in other words, to to know what is going on in the market and choose your best option that fits your daily operations, is gonna be fantastic for for real optimism. I don't, I don't think that, people are, let's say, dubious about the the, I mean, this situation we're having. I think that people are embracing and are pushing for implementing these systems. The only thing we need to be sure, because there are... As as we were saying before in the conversation, there are many companies that are are coming and approaching. It's key to have your company, say this way. Schneider Electric is, of course, one of the references in in the sector. In order to tailor make your solution to what you need. It's important because, otherwise, you can have... Wherever you can evaluate, tons of data, but if you don't action according to what you need, it doesn't work. It's not gonna work as much as it could be. And it's a pity because nowadays we have all the opportunities and all the possibilities for having a a good solution implemented. Thank you. Thank you, guys. Look look, a a a great session. As you all said, I'm sure there's a lot more to talk about there. So so maybe we can have a few more follow ups. Who who knows? But look, we've got time for a couple of questions. We'll keep them relatively quick fire if you don't mind to make sure we work through a few. We've had some come in. I will throw them into the group. Feel free to jump in. Feel free to answer. First one, Michael, may... Maybe you want to to take this one first, being the the Schneider Electric man. What... What's one piece of advice you... You'd give a business leader who thinks their building is is too small, to to benefit from from energy management? It's a very good question. Look. All buildings, have energy. Right? You know, there's energy coming out of all of those. So I think I don't think any building is too small. I think, you know, both the, the other gentleman was speaking about getting the right people in the room, getting the right stakeholders together. I think that that is absolutely key. Making it relative, you know, having those sort of discussion topics if you like, and I think creating a strategy and making sure you follow through with that really. So look. No. No. In my mind and certainly my experience, definitely, no building is, is too small. It's plugged into them, the grid, and it's costing them money. It's a conversation that we've gotta have. Sure. Thank you. Look. I'm gonna throw another one into the group. Mark... Jose Luis, feel free to to jump in on this. I think we probably know the answer to this one, but a question worth asking. With energy prices becoming more stable in some markets, is energy management still a business priority? Mark, Jose Luis, what what... What's your take on on that question? I think that's a very point in time. Right? Energy prices may be stable, but the climate is not stable and the climate's changing. So, you know, for those that were among the climate week this year, of course, there's quite a bit and very prominent. It... You know, that was a really uncomfortable yet really important experience across that week, which is that most of the buildings that hosted events were were, you know, bare... Barely habitable just given the extreme conditions. So, yes, you could see there's stability in the energy market, but that's a very static point in time. I think we need to prepare for greater volatility in future. So what may be small energy efficiency savings upfront aggregates up to a lot more, over the years in a more uncertain energy market? I think energy management from my side, it's something which needs to be permanently, followed up, no matter what. I mean, you know, the prices... I mean, nowadays, in certain markets are crazy. But even though, you need to push the boundaries. And it's, whenever you have, net zero strategies, whenever you have your policies as as we do, for optimizing the resources, you always need to be on on top of this. And, it's not just a matter of cost as well. It's a matter of sustainability in general. So so to your question and to my understanding, we always need to have energy management, absolutely as one of our main priorities. Sure. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Thank you, Jose Luis. One more quick one and and and then, we we need to to move towards the end here. But, I guess a follow-up from from that key takeaway in a way, but but please all feel free to jump in whoever wants to go first. The question is looking ahead, three to five years, what will separate leaders from everyone else when it comes to to to managing buildings, managing energy, and and and so on? Anyone want to to jump in on that one? Yeah. I'll give, give a response to that. I think that, again, some of the points that we've already mentioned. I think the biggest differentiator is gonna be the market visibility. Right? And, I talked about it before and acting on that, on that data. I think those organizations, you know, quickly identifying the inefficiencies, you know, making some informed decisions. And, yeah, just looking at scaling those practices across the sites, it's gonna put them in a much stronger position, really. Fantastic. Thank you, Michael. Look look. That's all we have time for with with the questions. We do have some more. Thank you everybody for sending your questions in. I'm sure we can follow those up after and and get those answers sent to you. We can always engage with our speakers, Michael, Mark, Jose Luis, some homework for you maybe after the session. We can, follow-up with some questions and get your responses to those. Sadly, that's all we have time for in today's session, brought to you by Sustainability Magazine and Schneider Electric. Thank you to all of our speakers for joining us and sharing their insights on this increasingly critical subject. If there's one thing we've learned today, it's that controlling energy costs starts with visibility, understanding where waste is happening, and taking action across the portfolio. Now some of you that attended this webinar will have completed a quick survey to be given the opportunity to be considered for a complimentary energy audit package. Along with a few pilot deployments of EcoStruxure Building Activate, Schneider Electric's cloud based platform for centralized energy monitoring and automated cost control. This entire package of audit services and software pilot from Schneider Electric is valued at £10,000 or around 13,500 US dollars. And I'm delighted to announce that Cambridge Van de Veer from Unibail Rodamco Westfield has been chosen as the lucky recipient. Congratulations to Cambridge. Schneider Electric will be in touch with you very soon. On that good note, thank you once again to our guests and to Schneider Electric for participating in this webinar. Remember, the recording will be available for you to revisit, download, and watch again, and to share with your teams and peers after. So go visit it. Thank you, everybody, and goodbye until the next one.