Marks & Spencer Energy Efficiency Upgrades

Marks & Spencer (M&S) set out to rethink how its stores used energy – with a simple ambition to reduce environmental impact while creating long-term value.

Through Plan A, one of retail’s first large-scale sustainability commitments, the business looked beyond quick fixes and focused on meaningful change.

Turning ambition into practical improvements

We worked alongside the M&S engineering team to support projects across its nationwide estate. Our building services engineers reviewed design solutions, assessed plant and equipment and challenged specifications to find smarter approaches.

We worked across new stores, refurbishments and ongoing maintenance projects, helping identify opportunities to improve performance and reduce cost.

After early consultation with stakeholders, we reviewed designs, procurement routes and historic performance data. Ideas were assessed, prioritised and carefully tested before being taken forward.

This was about more than reducing spend. It was about making informed decisions that delivered lasting value.

Finding value in the details

Close collaboration sat at the centre of the programme.

We worked with teams across engineering, retail design, procurement, fire safety, maintenance and energy efficiency. Bringing people together early helped ideas move quickly and made decisions easier.

Whole-life costing played an important role throughout. As technologies evolved, we assessed new products and reviewed how they would perform over time, not just at installation.

Solutions including LED lighting, HVAC upgrades, solar installations and biomass technology were introduced where they made sense.

Sometimes the biggest gains came from small changes. Looking closely at materials, systems and specifications helped uncover opportunities that might otherwise have been missed.

Supporting a more efficient future

Over more than ten years, the programme delivered meaningful improvements across the M&S estate.

Energy performance improved, operating costs reduced and stores became more efficient places to run and maintain. Perhaps more importantly, the work helped create a clear process for evaluating ideas and turning them into action.

The result is a greener retail estate built around practical improvements and long-term thinking.