In the transition to a low-carbon economy, commercial real estate—and especially large office buildings—is under intense pressure to modernise. Office buildings remain one of the most energy-consuming property types in the UK, accounting for a significant proportion of non-domestic carbon emissions. And with rising energy prices and net-zero targets on the horizon, landlords, asset managers, and corporate occupiers are all being called to act.
The good news? With the right infrastructure, large office buildings have a powerful opportunity to reduce energy waste, cut carbon emissions, and future-proof their operations. The foundation of that strategy is a professionally installed Energy Management System (EMS).
Why Offices Need a Smarter Approach to Energy
Office buildings often operate for long hours, across multiple floors, with a wide range of uses—meeting rooms, open-plan workspaces, kitchens, lifts, IT hubs, and climate control systems all pulling from the grid. Much of this energy use is invisible or unmanaged, especially in older or multi-tenanted buildings.
Without proper monitoring, it’s difficult to know where energy is being wasted. Heating and cooling may run during unoccupied hours. Lights may remain on overnight. Air handling units might overcompensate due to poor zoning. And in a post-pandemic world, where occupancy patterns are far less predictable, this inefficiency has only worsened.
An Efficiency Management System helps change that—by making energy use transparent, controllable, and optimisable.
What Is an Energy Management System?
An EMS is a network of hardware and software that monitors energy use in real time across your building. It gathers data from electricity, gas, and water systems, and breaks it down by zone, circuit, or equipment type. The goal is to turn raw usage into actionable insight.
This system allows building managers to:
• Identify patterns of waste or inefficiency
• Set alarms for abnormal consumption
• Benchmark performance across floors or tenants
• Automate reporting for compliance or ESG reporting
• Make informed decisions about building upgrades, controls, and behaviours
A modern EMS not only tells you how much energy you’re using—it shows you where, when, and why.
Installing an EMS in a Large Office Building
Every Elcomponent EMS installation begins with a detailed site survey. This survey identifies key points in the electrical infrastructure, such as the main incomer, distribution boards, and priority circuits. It also highlights usage zones—such as HVAC, lighting, server rooms, or tenant areas—that may benefit from sub-metering or targeted monitoring.
Using LoRaWAN technology, sensors can be installed throughout the building without the need for extensive rewiring. These sensors monitor everything from lighting and temperature to occupancy and equipment status. The data is transmitted wirelessly to a central gateway, which pushes it to a secure, cloud-based platform.
The beauty of LoRaWAN is that it works exceptionally well in large, complex buildings, even those with steel frames, concrete floors, or network blind spots. Once the system is live, energy managers can access real-time dashboards from anywhere, compare zones or time periods, and receive alerts that enable swift corrective action.
Multi-Tenant Monitoring and Service Charge Visibility
One of the biggest advantages of a modern EMS in commercial offices is its ability to support multi-occupancy buildings. With sub-metering in place, landlords can allocate energy use accurately to tenants—reducing disputes over service charges and supporting fairer, more transparent billing.
Tenants themselves benefit, too. With access to their own usage data, they’re better able to manage their internal consumption, improve their own sustainability credentials, and even use the data for ISO 14001 or BREEAM certification support.
In short, a building with a good EMS becomes a smarter, more attractive place to work.
Meeting Regulatory and Carbon Reduction Requirements
In the UK, office buildings fall under a range of carbon-related obligations. These include:
• Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) – requiring annual energy reporting for large organisations
• Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) – mandating periodic energy audits and efficiency recommendations
• Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) – setting legal limits on how inefficient a rented commercial building can be
• Net Zero Carbon Frameworks – adopted voluntarily or through corporate ESG policies, aligning with the UK’s 2050 targets
These frameworks are tightening. From 2027, it’s expected that non-domestic buildings will need to meet an EPC rating of ‘C’ or higher to be let. By 2030, that’s likely to rise to a minimum of ‘B’.
Installing an EMS is one of the most direct and measurable steps a landlord or occupier can take to not only meet these standards, but to proactively improve the building’s performance.
Financial and Operational Benefits
Beyond regulation and carbon, an EMS offers compelling commercial benefits. Office buildings with real-time energy monitoring consistently report:
• 10–20% reductions in energy bills through behavioural changes and optimisation
• Fewer maintenance issues, as system failures can often be pre-empted by usage anomalies
• Improved asset value, as smart, efficient buildings perform better in the market
• Happier tenants, thanks to better comfort levels and more accountable service charges
Whether you manage a single commercial office or a portfolio of multi-let spaces, these benefits accumulate fast.
Elcomponent: Trusted EMS Partner for the Commercial Sector
At Elcomponent, we’ve been delivering metering and monitoring solutions for over 40 years. Our approach is practical, scalable, and tailored to the needs of each building. We specialise in rolling out LoRaWAN-based EMS systems that integrate with existing infrastructure and provide a clear, cost-effective path to better energy performance.
From site survey to installation, commissioning to training, we work closely with clients to ensure they get more than just data—they get insight, control, and measurable improvement.
If you're responsible for a large office building and want to reduce costs, improve efficiency and meet future carbon targets, get in touch to arrange your energy efficiency management site survey with Elcomponent.