Key outcomes:
- 15% reduction in the school’s gas and electricity consumption in one year, verified through energy monitoring data, with the platform providing visibility and verification of the savings achieved.
- The ESOS Action Plan gives the school a roadmap to a potential 2 GWh energy consumption reduction by the end of 2027.
- Continuous data curation streamlines the school’s compliance reporting for ESOS and SECR.
About St Swithun’s
St Swithun’s is a 45-acre campus comprised of flood-lit playing fields and 17 buildings, including a Performing Arts Centre, an indoor swimming pool, a large sports hall, a dining room complex, and boarding houses, constructed between the 1930s and 2010s. The diversity of age, design, and use creates a complex energy profile, which makes effective energy management and efficiency targeting challenging.
Energy data was previously collected manually from monthly invoices, providing limited visibility by building or time frame. The Estates team maintained invoice records in spreadsheets and Power BI dashboards, but despite this advanced setup, the analysis was insufficient to assess project impacts, optimise building controls, or reduce waste.
Limited resources and growing operational demands further constrained the team’s capacity to identify and evidence energy reduction opportunities, particularly as rising costs and new Department for Education decarbonisation requirements added additional pressure.
McGrady Clarke was engaged to support the Estates team in developing a clearer understanding of energy performance and reduction potential across the estate. This has involved a multi-service approach, drawing on our team’s expertise across energy management, data, auditing, site metering, decarbonisation strategies, and ESOS and SECR compliance reporting.
Energy audit and data management solutions
This began with a series of onsite energy audits to identify and prioritise practical opportunities for efficiency improvements. Building on these findings, McGrady Clarke’s Energy Monitoring as a Service (EMaaS) was introduced, combining automated data collection and advanced analytics with the expertise of an assigned energy analyst and technical consultant.
Together, they developed a detailed understanding of the estate through energy audits, meter surveys, regular discussions with the Estates team, and remote access to near real-time energy data.
Through the monitoring system, EMaaS verified the performance and benefits of solar arrays, giving the Estates team clear evidence of ROI. Monitoring now highlights anomalies and opportunities by meter, with an optimisation programme underway to introduce sub-metering and reveal localised building-use profiles.
Measurable energy reductions
Using energy monitoring data, McGrady Clarke helped St Swithun’s gain a clearer understanding of energy performance across the estate and identify targeted efficiency improvements.
Improved visibility of energy consumption through the platform identified a 15% reduction in the school’s gas and electricity consumption in 2025 compared with 2024. These savings provided the Estates team with strong evidence of performance improvements and return on investment.
Boosting compliance
This partnership provided both the intelligence and hands-on support needed to translate data into action, target investment effectively, and align progress with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) and Department for Education decarbonisation requirements. In addition, continuous data curation through EMaaS provides compliance-ready reporting for ESOS Phase 4 and SECR, eliminating manual collation and reducing administration.
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