Case study Harvey Nichols
Implementing an energy management programme requires a significant investment in time and money. To obtain full business buy-in and demonstrate the opportunity, the EcoAct team ran a pilot programme at the Manchester store. To minimise costs, the pilot used existing data and systems to conduct a day and night audit of the site. The output from this was an itemised and costed list of energy reduction opportunities. However, the pilot did not stop there. In addition to monitoring energy consumption for 6 months, bringing down baseload and exploring unusual consumption, the EcoAct team provided implementation support to ensure the successful implementation of the savings measures.
The measures adopted resulted in significant energy and cost savings. The pilot scheme cut electricity usage by 17% and gas usage by 6% in the first 12 months, achieving over 100% return on the retailer’s investment.
Harvey Nichols is the UK’s premier luxury fashion retailer. Founded in 1831 as a linen shop in a terraced house on the corner of Knightsbridge and Sloane Street in London, the fascinating history of the department store has seen it grow to complement what is now an iconic London site with an additional 6 stores in the UK and the Oxo restaurant near Tower Bridge.
The success of the programme is the result of a collaborative partnership between EcoAct and our own teams. From the energy auditors to the consultants providing support behind the scenes, EcoAct has proven to be an extremely valuable partner. Their expertise and ability to work with our teams has enabled the identification and implementation of cost-effective and practical energy efficiency measures which have brought true value and delivered very significant cost-savings to the business.
The success of the pilot phase validated roll-out across the entire business and that process is still underway. At the three initial stores, Harvey Nichols has achieved a saving of 4,540,000 kWh against their 2016/17 base year. This equates to a £270,000 cost saving against the base year despite a significant increase in energy unit costs, and creates further return on their investment.
More to come…
Harvey Nichols has since rolled the programme out to six of the other UK stores. This has achieved a further saving of 1,000,000 kWh against the base year despite the stores being significantly smaller.
There are still plenty of savings in the pipeline, as the combined EcoAct and Harvey Nichols teams continue to implement the measures already identified and discover more as a new energy management system, which collects and monitors half hourly energy data, is rolled out. This is not to mention the continued implementation of savings opportunities at the four additional sites where audits have been now been conducted.
After 189 years, this energy management success story demonstrates how Harvey Nichols continues to adapt its business to respond to a changing climate.
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Energy Management Systems