This will be the first time that the Carbon Trust have worked with the commercial occupier team of a real estate advisor to provide these services. The two companies will be closely collaborating to make available a one stop solution for occupiers across a variety of sectors - including retail, warehousing, hospitality, leisure and industry - helping them to make vital reductions on rapidly increasing energy bills.

Non-domestic buildings make up 18% of the UK's total carbon footprint, and it is estimated that the sector can deliver at least £4 billion in energy savings for the British economy by 2020. To help unlock these savings Savills will work with Carbon Trust Implementation Services to provide consultancy services to commercial occupiers, helping them to cut costs and reduce carbon emissions from their properties. Over the past ten years the Carbon Trust have worked with 75% of FTSE 100 companies, tens of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses, and over 3,000 public sector bodies to help customers make £3.7 billion in energy savings.

Installing new equipment, such as lighting, heating, ventilation and high efficiency air conditioning can hugely reduce energy bills, as well as making a property more commercially attractive. Energy efficiency is a fantastic opportunity to drive down costs to help the UK's economy in the face of a double-dip recession and to meet national carbon targets. For example, a typical retail organisation could cut their lighting energy bill by up to 70% through installing new lighting fittings and effective controls.

There are a wide range of options when it comes to energy efficiency, and it is not always apparent where investment can provide the best returns. Occupiers need to examine everything from the fabric of the building to behavioural issues, such as encouraging staff to save energy.  However they are not always sufficiently well informed to act as experts on all of these areas.

Carbon Trust Implementation Services will help occupiers to realise energy efficiency savings by:

• Assessing where energy savings can be delivered, giving expert advice on technology and timeframes for return on investment.
• Providing access to a trusted pool of accredited suppliers, matching customers with the right skills at the right price.
• Getting the project off the ground with an energy efficiency financing scheme operated in partnership with Siemens.

Where finance is provided for capital expenditure then savings on energy bills often entirely offset the cost of the finance payments, or can even make the investment cash positive from day one.