Adapting to a changing world is a key priority, and, in 2023, we continued to look for new products, new services and new materials that can drive our business forward. Our innovative approach and use of new technologies and sustainable solutions has helped us to deliver projects that meet and exceed our customers' expectations while also reducing emissions, waste and environmental impact.
Here we look at some of the innovative products and services we offer to help us identify and tackle some of the key barriers for our customers, helping to accelerate their path to net zero and reducing the climate impacts of their built environments.
Energy SynergyTM
We developed our Energy SynergyTM process to help our customers to optimise in-use building performance, thereby reducing their carbon footprint and saving money on energy bills and lifecycle costs. Energy SynergyTM compares the building’s projected energy usage with the actual energy performance providing real-time verification for customers, enabling customers to identify and resolve issues immediately and to optimise controls, systems and usage.
Proven on over 30 projects, Energy SynergyTM monitors all building energy uses, including heating, cooling and a range of environmental data to optimise building performance and user comfort. It involves regular, detailed measurement of energy performance to compare with modelled energy performance target data. We then compare targeted output with real performance for 2-3 years after handover. Through careful analysis we identify seasonal commissioning, system schedules and maintenance activities to drive down energy use and energy bills for our customers.
At Hackbridge Primary School (above), we are monitoring building performance over the course of three years for customer London Borough of Sutton. Monitoring of the school’s performance delivered efficiencies that lowered energy use by 10,000kWh/annum at peak use while providing a comfortable temperature at all times of year. Optimisation of the solar panels saw energy generation increased by 40,000kWh/annum from its lowest yield with a quarter of the renewable energy generated exported to the grid each year.
For the University of Warwick, we have monitored performance of its Sports and Wellness Hub (below) across a five-year period following handover to optimise building performance. By monitoring twelve different categories of energy use, we have supported the customer to reduce domestic hot water use, cut out of hours lighting and small power usage, and address heating and cooling demands in mixed use areas of the building. Overall, Energy SynergyTM has delivered savings of £104,000 each year and performs 27.5% better than the benchmark set by The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE).
Residential Monitoring
We also offer customers a range of building performance monitoring options for residential projects. Measuring, verifying and improving performance of multi dwelling residential buildings is complex. We use smart meter and sub-meter data to capture the real-life energy consumption from within a household. Residential monitoring enables customers and stakeholders to analyse and understand actual energy performance and to make changes that can reduce fuel bills, which in turn can help tackle fuel poverty.
We have developed a mix of external partnerships and in-house solutions to provide a range of different solutions which meet different customer needs. We envisage in future all net zero carbon in operation (NZCO) projects will require verification, with both Residential Monitoring and Energy SynergyTM configured to help customers to comply with future standards.
We are currently analysing the performance of our new Trethomas and Trecenydd Passivhaus residential scheme (below), handed over in 2022. The project, comprised of 12 new one-bedroom apartments and six houses for Caerphilly County Borough Council, was completed in 2022 with fully sub metered monitoring systems installed. This allows understanding of each main energy use, including ventilation, heating and hot water, to check the buildings deliver on the promise of lower energy costs for tenants. In 2023, we recorded average annual energy savings for each unit of £255 – that’s 26.7% less energy than the UK average and a saving of 2.4tCO2e every year.
Visit the Our projects page in this report to find out more about our customers' brilliant buildings.
Collida
Collida is an integrated construction platform that empowers Willmott Dixon’s customers by giving them greater control over their development needs. We involve specialists in sustainable design, procurement, delivery and maintenance to unlock efficient design, intelligent delivery and superior building performance. Our approach combines the skills, craftsmanship and pride that make the construction industry so special with Collida’s cutting edge digital technology.
All Collida products offer excellent environmental performance, through simple, affordable designs that look to reduce embodied carbon and aim to achieve low carbon performance targets. Typically, Collida designs achieve 35% better than LETI’s ‘business as usual’ benchmark for A1-A5 upfront carbon.
Collida was integral to the Passivhaus-certified Palomar Court apartment block (below), part of Barking and Dagenham Council’s regeneration of the Gascoigne neighbourhood in East London. Here, a design-for-manufacture approach simplified the build and reduced embodied carbon from the project by using light gauge steel panels and a light gauge steel frame along with precast low-carbon concrete. On handover in 2023, Palomar Court achieves the highest levels of airtightness ever completed by Willmott Dixon.
Collida has also developed a suite of pre-designed modules for different applications. This approach brings a number of benefits, including consistency, efficiency, adaptability and enhanced building performance. Collida’s ‘cura modules’ can be assembled into healthcare buildings to suit the unique needs of each community.
At Grove View Integrated Health and Care Hub (below), in Dunstable, we delivered an integrated health and care facility for approximately 50,000 people, providing accessible health care provision for all. The four-storey health and care hub was delivered using the modular ‘cura’ system principles. Its flexible design and construction approach provides the option for future expansion, with multi-use rooms and design principles that allow spaces to be repurposed as service needs change. Limiting the number of variations in the repeatable components also enables the customer to realise operational efficiencies in the maintenance of the hub.
In 2023, the standardised Collida Learning product gained momentum with the first schemes starting on site under the Department for Education’s schools construction framework during the year, and several more due to commence in 2024. Based on a standard kit of manufactured parts for efficient on-site assembly, Collida provides customers with cost certainty, reduced programmes and a high quality, net zero in operation building, fully aligned with government’s construction playbook.
Decarbonise Today
Decarbonise Today helps customers with all aspects of reducing carbon emissions from their buildings. We provide an end-to-end service to improve and upgrade buildings of all kinds across the public and private sector.
In 2023, we supported Arun Council and East Kent College Group to successfully access Low Carbon Skills funding for the development of heat decarbonisation plans. These plans explore the transition away from fossil fuel heating to low carbon alternatives, seeking transformational approaches and innovative solutions. We have worked with customers to identify and implement a whole-building approach, which focuses on fabric improvements and upgrades to ensure thermal efficiency, such as the installation of energy efficiency measures and improved controllability. We have also supported the transition away from fossil fuel heating to low carbon alternatives such as air-source heat pumps, increased on-site solar generation and storage opportunities.
On the back of the successful awards, Decarbonise Today successfully submitted the heat decarbonisation plans from both Arun Council and East Kent College Group to Salix Finance, the Government’s net zero funding body.
Decarbonise Today also supported Lincoln Council’s successful application to Sport England's Swimming Pool Support Fund. The Yarborough Leisure Centre is the biggest Lincolnshire beneficiary getting £614,350 for solar panels and variable speed fans. The scheme was launched last year by the government as leisure centres faced financial pressure from rising energy costs and staff shortages.
We also support customers with free desktop analysis of their estates to provide an informed picture of emission and consumption across their asset portfolios, helping to develop strategic approaches to achieve their net zero goals and ambitions.
Offsite construction/MMC
At Willmott Dixon, we use modern methods of construction (MMC) to save time and cost, while improving quality and promoting greater sustainability. We have extensive experience of off-site construction, prefabrication, and modular construction working with trusted supply chain partners who fabricate the product components in factories, and specialist contractors who have the expertise to assemble them on site.
Typically, these components manufactured offsite include steel frames, factory assembled bathrooms and prefabricated and precast concrete.
At Palomar Court, part of our regeneration project on the Gascoigne East Estate for Be First, application of the Collida platform saw adoption of a foundation design that could be assembled on site like LEGO. Created by a design for manufacture approach, the prefabricated ISOQUICK modules slotted together simply to offer water resistance and insulation all while reducing waste, time and cost.
At Grove View Integrated Health and Care Hub, use of Collida’s modular cura system delivered a combined MMC value of 78% with high levels of pre-manufactured value (PMV), equating to over 60% of the overall build. Key elements contributing to the high PMV include the pre-cast concrete lift shafts, precast concrete staircases, precast concrete floor planks and pre-manufactured mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems.
Additional prefabricated elements include external linking and escape walkways, door sets, clinical room, integrated plumbing units, reception desks and staff bases, lighting wiring and control systems, roof mounted ductwork, air handling units and all switchgear and distribution boards.
Digital Construction
We are a digital-first business, enabling our people and partners to deliver value and quality through innovation and technology. Our people harness technology to drive efficiencies for our customers, helping us work in a more sustainable way, making our projects even safer and our delivery more agile and responsive.
Willmott Dixon employs an ISO 19650-certified digital ecosystem that spans the entire company, enabling seamless collaboration between our people, supply partners and of course, our customers.
We apply Building Information Modelling (BIM), a holistic, data-driven approach, based on 3D digital modelling, where a virtual model created during design forms a digital representation of the physical and the functional aspects of a building.
This allows everyone involved in the design and construction of a building to collaborate, communicate and share information seamlessly and efficiently using digital building models. BIM typically reduces our average programme period by 5% and helps keep budgets healthy: on our refurbishment of 39 Victoria Street for the Department of Health, BIM helped reduce design, construction and 12-year in-use costs by nearly £677k.
At Spelthorne Leisure Centre, set to be the UK’s largest wet/dry Passivhaus leisure centre on completion in 2024, we are using BIM to ensure the design can be precisely implemented as modelled to achieve Passivhaus accreditation. Here ‘clash detection’ has been deployed to help identify where parts of the building may interfere with each other. Identifying clashes early prevents disruptions, reduces rework, and enhances overall project efficiency.
The Yellow Book
Willmott Dixon’s Yellow Book is our design and build manual. It brings together all our collective knowledge and resources in one place giving our people and our supply chain partners access to all our combined knowledge when it comes to designing and constructing the perfect product. The positive impact of the Yellow Book is evidenced by the quality of our end-product, a reduction in the cost of rectifying errors and ultimately reducing business risk.