Constructing a sustainable future

Willmott Dixon puts sustainability front and centre of our offer, and we work in collaboration with customers to cut carbon and cost from their projects.

From net zero to Passivhaus, we have the know-how to drive down operational carbon, optimise building performance, address lifecycle carbon and optimise user health and wellbeing.

Low carbon, high demand

Demand for sustainable buildings is growing. In 2023, our track record for low carbon projects that either meet Passivhaus standards or achieve net zero carbon in operation, included 23 projects completed, or on site by the end of the year, worth more than £500 million.

Buildings with a lower carbon footprint are not simply better for the environment, they use less energy and cost less to operate. With the energy crisis still looming large during 2023, maximising energy efficiency to cut operating costs in the long term is a major motivator for customers to choose net zero design solutions.

Our growing reputation for sustainable development has provided a pipeline of net zero in operation projects. We anticipate this is only set to increase with two-thirds of local authorities having declared climate emergencies and organisations such as the Department for Education stipulating that all new schools are 'net zero carbon in operation’. Currently, we have over £1 billion of net zero-related work in the preconstruction phase with a further £200 million at bid stage. In 2024, we foresee £500 million of new schemes to be bid, reflecting the opportunities presented by this increased demand.

Passivhaus

Passivhaus is a building standard achieved by reducing the energy demands of a building to a minimum. Passivhaus buildings can easily achieve net zero in operation by adding renewables to provide the small amount of energy required for heating, lighting and ventilation.

Willmott Dixon is the UK’s leading Passivhaus contractor. At the end of 2023, we had 50% of the contracted Passivhaus-certified large, non-domestic projects in England and Wales. We built the UK’s largest non-domestic project, the George Davies Centre for the University of Leicester, and the UK’s first Passivhaus-plus school, Hackbridge Primary School (below) for the London Borough of Sutton, which achieves its ‘plus’ certification by adding solar panels for onsite renewable energy generation.

In 2023, we handed over a major regeneration project in East London to the customer, Barking and Dagenham Council, following transformation of the 1960s-era Gascoigne estate. Using Willmott Dixon’s integrated design platform, Collida, we delivered eight homes at Palomar Court (below) constructed to Passivhaus standard. The project adopted an offsite design-for-manufacture approach to reduce operating costs and embodied carbon, targeting a 90% reduction in energy bills and a 40% reduction in CO₂.

On completion, Palomar Court is the most airtight project ever completed by Willmott Dixon (with an air change rate of 0.45 m³/m²/hr @50 Pa). It is 25 times better than building regulations (10m³/m²/hr @50 Pa) and even exceeds the Passivhaus standards maximum (0.6m³/m²/hr @50 Pa). The project achieved Passivhaus Classic certification in 2024.

Cllr Darren Rodwell, Leader of Barking and Dagenham Council, said "The cost of heating is a serious cause for concern to so many households in recent times. These low carbon, affordable and energy efficient homes will reduce residents' energy bills in a neighbourhood that fosters a sense of community and social wellbeing."

We also completed two ultra-low carbon buildings to house 54 students at the University of Oxford’s St Peter’s College (below). Designed to meet the Passivhaus Institute Low Energy Building (LEB) Standard, the students will live in one of the UK’s most sustainable residences after handover in 2024.

^{Image: Design Engine Architects.}

We continued to progress major Passivhaus projects in construction including Spelthorne Leisure Centre (below), which topped out in 2023. On completion in summer 2024, the £42.5 million facility for customer Spelthorne Borough Council will be UK’s largest wet and dry Passivhaus leisure centre forecast to consume 60% less energy compared to a standard new leisure centre building.

Early in 2024, our track record of helping our customers realise Passivhaus standard projects has seen us named main contractor to deliver Charlton House, a major residential Passivhaus project for London Borough of Hounslow, worth over £100 million.

Other Passivhaus projects that we have delivered include:

Net Zero Carbon

The Passivhaus standard provides an excellent platform to create a net zero carbon building, but does not set requirements for low carbon energy sources, which are integral to achieve net zero operational carbon.

Instead, many customers chose to pursue alternative approaches to Passivhaus to achieve sustainable development through low carbon and net zero carbon in operation approaches. These projects may not follow the exacting standards of insulation and airtightness required for Passivhaus accreditation, but incorporate design features to reduce energy consumption, such as enhanced insulation and glazing, and integrate renewable energy generation through on-site solar panels.

We offer all customers net zero operational carbon design options to enhance their project as part of our Now or Never ambition to deliver all new buildings and major refurbishments as net zero operational carbon by 2030. In 2023, 54% of all projects accepted net zero design offers.

Leisure complex, Bingham Arena and Enterprise Complex incorporated low-carbon technologies early in the design process, including photovoltaics (PV) on the roof of the office building and combined heat and power (CHP) engines to power the pool (below). Other measures include air source heat pumps, water efficiency measures and LED lighting. On handover to customer Rushcliffe Borough Council in 2023, the facility is 78% more efficient in terms of carbon emissions than other leisure centres in the borough and 82% more efficient than similar office developments.

Completed in 2023, by our Interiors business, 10 Brindleyplace (below) exceeds government net zero targets for 2030 and sets the standard for modern office space, achieving EPC ‘A’ rating and BREEAM ‘Excellent’. Here, the customer wanted to take a fabric-first approach to enhance thermal insulation, air tightness and glass specification, resulting in 65% less energy use than other offices of this size, saving 658 tonnes of CO₂ per year.

Our Millfield Green project (below), completed in 2023, delivered a net zero in operation retirement village for Inspired Villages and Legal & General Capital. Comprised of 80 apartments, the sustainable village complex is net zero in operation for regulated sources of energy. This is achieved through improved building fabric and insulation, and through the inclusion of sustainable technology, including ground source heat pumps, a photovoltaic array on the roof and mechanical ventilation and heat recovery units.

Also completed in 2023, Hollycroft Primary School is the first net zero carbon in operation school in Leicestershire. Customer Leicestershire County Council involved Willmott Dixon early in the design process where we helped simplify the school’s layout to improve energy efficiency. We then modelled the array of solar panels required for the school to generate enough renewable electricity to offset the building’s energy consumption. As a result, the school achieves an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) design rating of A+, generates more energy than it uses over a year and achieved BREEAM excellent certification in November 2023.

Following our successful partnership with Leicestershire County Council, Willmott Dixon has been awarded a £9.3m contract to build a second net zero operational carbon school in Market Harborough, Airfield Farm Primary School.

Community Solar

Willmott Dixon’s innovative Community Solar Energy funding model offers a capital cost-free investment for the customer, providing a market-competitive, secure, and future-proof supply of zero carbon energy from solar photovoltaic (PV). Instead of an upfront investment from the customer, funding comes from not-for-profit community energy group and finance partners, who operate and maintain the PV array. As well as the environmental and economic benefits of renewable energy generation, the community solar agreement requires the community energy group to use a small portion of the funds generated to support a range of local community and social value initiatives.

At Bristol Beacon (above), set to become the UK’s first carbon neutral music venue by 2030, a community-funded approach has seen Bristol Energy Cooperative (BEC) fund and install solar panels to maximise renewable energy generation on the building.

After discussions with Bristol City Council and Bristol Music Trust, Willmott Dixon installed 348 solar panels funded by BEC on the roof (below) – four times more solar than originally planned - transforming it from a 30kWp array to 127kWp. The electricity generated is sold to Bristol Music Trust, who run the venue, at a discounted rate then BEC shares the revenue between its investors and regional community benefit funds. The solar panels will provide enough renewable energy to reduce the venue’s carbon emissions by nearly 23 tonnes of CO₂ annually.

Community solar will also play a central role in delivering a net zero carbon school Silverwood School’s Rowde campus in North Wiltshire. The 350-pupil SEND school will incorporate a community solar system to generate over 400 MWh/yr of renewable energy. Funded and owned by Wiltshire Wildlife Community Energy, surplus funds from the solar array will support projects that help reduce carbon emissions and encourage more wildlife in the county.

Building Performance

According to CIBSE, non-domestic buildings account for 17% of the UK’s energy consumption and 12% of our greenhouse gas emissions. We support customers to optimise the performance of their buildings once occupied, using our Energy Synergy™ approach to ensure a completed building operates to achieve its design expectations.

Proven across more than 30 projects, Energy Synergy™ has led to customers making annual energy and cost savings of between 5-15% on the projects we’ve delivered for them. With the new London Plan mandating energy data reporting and the upcoming UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard likely to include performance reporting, Energy Synergy™ also helps customers verify their net zero ambitions.

We also offer a range of solutions for residential performance monitoring to ensure our customer’s residential buildings also operate as efficiently as possible. Find out more about Energy Synergy^TM and Residential Monitoring in the Innovation section of the Now or Never review.

Decarbonisation

Decarbonisation is a critical challenge facing the construction industry today. As a company that has taken significant steps to understand and reduce the carbon footprint of its own projects, Willmott Dixon is now applying this knowledge and skills to provide a range of solutions to our customers' existing buildings.

From project inception to post-completion monitoring and evaluation, our Decarbonise Today service provides with expert advice on all aspects of decarbonisation and funding. We support customers as they futureproof their estates by providing an end-to-end service to improve and upgrade buildings of all kinds across the public and private sector.

Find out more about the work of Decarbonise Today in the Innovation section.

Leading our industry on sustainable development

We are one of the leading UK Passivhaus contractors and a founding and patron member of the UK Passivhaus Trust. This year, Doug Drewniak, Senior Sustainability Manager, joined the Passivhaus Trust Education Steering Group, to support their ambition to train 50% of the construction industry to deliver Passivhaus or equivalent standards by 2030.

We have contributed to the development of the UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard, which is due to be published in 2024. We had two representatives on the UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard Task Groups, Doug Drewniak contributed to the development of operational energy metrics while Sustainability Manager Francesca Wilkinson (TG3 Reporting, Disclosure and Verification) was integral to shaping the reporting, disclosure, and verification requirements.

We also submitted operational and embodied carbon data to help develop net zero targets and limits.

Willmott Dixon also contributed to the Future Homes Hub’s Refining the 2025 Future Homes Standard Task Group analysing options for future regulation of home energy/carbon performance, with Alasdair Donn credited in final report published in February 2023.

Recognition for our Brilliant Buildings

We take great pride in delivering Brilliant Buildings for our customers, sharing with them the recognition for our successful people, projects and initiatives.

Our reputation has been bolstered by standout projects like Hackbridge Primary School. The UK’s first Passivhaus Plus school, built for the London Borough of Sutton, Hackbridge Primary School sets the standard for net zero carbon educational buildings, surpassing RIBA's 2030 operational energy targets and generating more renewable energy than the building consumes throughout the year. In recognition of this best-in-class energy efficiency, the school won at the 2023 RIBA London Awards and in the non-domestic category of the UK Passivhaus Awards 2023 and picked up best public use building at the 2024 CIBSE awards.

10 Brindleyplace was named Green Building/Infrastructure Project of the Year at the edie Awards in March 2024 (below). Judges were impressed by the innovative back-to-frame approach taken in the refurbishment, which reduced embodied carbon from the project by 60%. Completed by Willmott Dixon Interiors in 2023, the building met stringent net zero and energy efficiency targets, using 65% less energy than a standard office, while also diverting 100% of avoidable site waste from landfill.