The run-up to summer is an exciting time. The longer days are back, making you feel like you can fit more into each day. Blue skies lift morale, the warmer weather brings back the joy of ice creams, and even the occasional rainy day can feel like a welcome relief rather than an inconvenience.
It’s also the time of year when people start looking forward to their holidays. Children break up from school, parents take time off to look after them, and many people book annual leave to make the most of the summer months.
Time off is important. It gives people the opportunity to rest and recharge so they can return refreshed and performing at their best. Businesses adapt workloads and resources to ensure projects continue to be delivered during these periods, and most organisations are well versed in managing this. One area that often receives less attention, however, is how buildings operate when attendance levels are lower.
A study by Remit Consulting last summer found that office attendance fell to a low of 30.7% in August. This aligns with research from CBRE, which found average office utilisation was just 46% throughout the year. Hybrid working has already reduced the number of people regularly using office space, and holiday periods only amplify this trend.
For many organisations, energy remains one of the largest controllable operating costs, which is why effective building energy management is becoming increasingly important. Running half-empty buildings as if they were fully occupied means paying to heat, cool and power space that nobody is using. The summer months present an opportunity to challenge this and operate buildings more efficiently.
According to YouGov, around half of summer travel is booked more than three months in advance. Combined with the common practice of booking summer and winter leave as soon as annual leave calendars open, organisations often have plenty of notice to understand how many people will be in the workplace and what resources will actually be required.
So, we understand the typical drop in attendance and we have the time to prepare. The question is: what actions should we take?
Let’s start with a small office of 10 people. If, during the summer months, attendance is expected to peak at seven people, consider temporarily switching to a hot-desking model. This allows three workstations to be completely powered down, removing reliance on staff remembering to fully shut down equipment when they are already thinking about holidays and sunshine.
This approach can also support more efficient heating and cooling. Rather than having seven people spread across 10 desks, they can be concentrated in a smaller area, reducing the amount of space that needs to be conditioned. In larger offices, the same principle can be applied by closing off entire sections of the building that are not required during periods of lower occupancy.
We’ve also seen organisations leave meeting rooms, breakout spaces and other low-use areas fully operational despite significantly reduced occupancy. Small adjustments to lighting schedules, ventilation settings and equipment operation can often deliver savings without affecting comfort or productivity.
Organisations looking to better understand their energy consumption may also benefit from reviewing usage patterns during these quieter periods and identifying areas where unnecessary energy demand can be reduced.
To maximise the opportunity, attendance and absence data should be combined with information about how your building performs. If certain areas are consistently warmer, colder or stuffier than others, use this period to relocate remaining staff into the most comfortable and efficient spaces. Consider it a trial period that helps identify which areas perform best and where future improvements should be targeted.
It is also important to bring staff along on the journey. Employees will often have valuable insight into which areas work best and which should be avoided. Involving them in the process can improve buy-in and make any temporary changes easier to implement.
At the heart of effective building energy management is data. By understanding attendance patterns and how your building operates, you can use periods of overlapping annual leave to optimise your space, reduce unnecessary energy consumption and lower operating costs. At the same time, you can gain valuable insight into where future efficiency improvements will have the greatest impact.
The organisations that get the most value from these quieter periods are often the ones that understand both how their people use the building and how the building responds. The summer months can provide a useful opportunity to test assumptions, gather data and identify opportunities that might be hidden during busier periods.
Organisations reviewing their wider energy procurement strategy may also find that summer provides a useful opportunity to reassess operational requirements and future energy needs.
If you’re looking to better understand how your building is performing, identify hidden efficiency opportunities, or prepare for the summer period, we’d be happy to have a conversation.
After all, summer planning shouldn’t stop at people. Buildings need a holiday plan too.
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