UCL’s buildings database project will help the UK achieve net zero

Academic experts from the UCL Energy Institute are working on a ground-breaking project to give the UK government an accurate picture of the energy use of buildings.

The UK has committed to reach net zero by 2050. This means that the total greenhouse gas emissions must be equal to the emissions removed from the atmosphere. The aim is to limit global warming and therefore climate change, and there are various targets the UK has pledged to meet between now and 2050. Gaining a detailed understanding of the energy use of buildings will be key to this, as approximately 30% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings. Yet accurately mapping all buildings in the UK has never been done before, and a combined data set that brings together all the required information to calculate energy usage does not exist.

UCL’s Building Stock Lab has been working with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) – previously the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – on the modelling of buildings, and energy usage projects, for more than a decade. In 2023, the academic team led by Professor Paul Ruyssevelt – working with UCL Consultants – were in a strong position to respond to an invitation to tender (ITT) from DESNZ. This call was to undertake the largest modelling project so far, covering all non-domestic buildings in England, Wales and Scotland. The bid was successful, and the National Building Database (NBD) project commenced in 2023.

Mapping and data with complex issues

“How many buildings are there in the UK? It’s an easy question to ask, but a difficult one to answer,” said Steve Evans from UCL’s academic team on this project. “Accounting for every single building at a national level has never been done before. On top of that, knowing the age of these buildings, their current state, and what they’re used for are the first steps towards retrofitting them and getting them on a path to net zero.”  

Prior to this project, the UCL Energy Institute team completed various related consultancy projects for government. This included creating 3D models of buildings, understanding the use of space on individual building floors, and calculating energy use in various contexts. The team worked on a relatively small scale for these previous projects, focusing on local authority areas and small cities. In 2018, they developed the London Building Stock Model for the Greater London Authority and the Mayor of London, followed by the London Solar Opportunity Map. From 2021 to 2023, the UCL team was commissioned by BEIS to map the buildings and energy use of the hospitality sector in England and Wales through the Non-Domestic Building Survey (NDBS). 

“BEIS wanted to look at non-domestic buildings in the UK, but recognised it wasn’t possible at that stage to look at every single building,” Evans explained. “So they asked us to look at hospitality as a proof of concept.” The team pulled together multiple data sets to deliver this, including Ordnance Survey address data, Land Registry data on ownership, energy performance certificates, and business rates – which also gave them access to floor area information and details about the different activities that go on within each space. They also used data from the Environment Agency National LIDAR Programme, which gives more detail on building shape, height, and usage. “The data sets we use are quite complex and aren’t designed to be put together, so this has been one of the most complicated parts of the process,” Evans said.

Previous approaches to data gathering also used samples, rather than mapping every single building. “You might go out and sample 100 pubs, assume they’re typical of all pubs, and then extrapolate that up to say that’s representative of the national stock of 40,000 pubs. Our new approach can actually measure all of these pubs digitally through a stock model, and then we can produce far more robust statistics.”

The level of information the team gathered about hospitality premises and their energy use in this proof of concept demonstrated the promise of the approach, and DESNZ decided to scale up the approach to all non-domestic buildings in England, Wales and Scotland. As time has gone on, the team has improved the code, computing power has increased, and they’ve moved to running the model securely on the cloud. This means they’ve reached “almost supercomputing” levels according to Evans, where some aspects of the modelling now take less than a week, when they would have taken three months when they were building the London Building Stock Model in 2018.

Advanced modelling holds great potential for net zero

The project is still ongoing, but the results are looking promising. To support the computing and modelling side of the project are two subcontractors, who check and validate the database that is being produced. Winning Moves, a specialist market research company, is completing a quality assurance project, verifying the data through telephone surveys. Verco, a consultancy specialising in net-zero real estate, is completing site audits and digital modelling to facilitate detailed energy performance analysis. At the end of the project, the fully tested database will be handed over to the government, who will be able to draw on the results of this project, as well as run their own queries in future.

This project has the potential to define a positive new way of doing things, at a crucial time when climate targets must be achieved. This Database will a enable a paradigm shift in the way that the DESNZ works with data to understand energy use in buildings and identify opportunities for delivering net zero.

“We’ll be able to give the government a much fuller picture about building use and energy performance than ever before,” Evans said. “Our geospatial approach, ability to bring together different data sets, and the previously overlooked significance of mixed-use buildings that we’ve exposed will all help lead the government towards suitable solutions and net zero policies.” The academic team, supported by UCL Consultants, have an important combination of experience and rigorous processes. These are key attributes for working effectively with a government department. This includes managing the contractual and commercial aspects, as well as meeting the strict security protocols required, including being certified by Cyber Essentials Plus.

“This is a very rewarding project,” Evans said. “It’s incredible to be able to carry out work that has actual impact on government, who can set policy and encourage changes to the building stock. This is the kind of work that can actually set us on a pathway to net zero.”

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Footnote on LiDAR:

 "light detection and ranging"[1] or "laser imaging, detection, and ranging"[2]) is a method for determining ranges by targeting an object or a surface with a laser and measuring the time for the reflected light to return to the receiver. It is used to make digital 3-D representations of areas on the Earth's surface.