If the UK is to meet its legally binding climate targets while supporting economic growth and public service resilience, it must confront a critical policy blind spot: the decarbonisation of non-domestic buildings. The Government’s Warm Homes Plan reinforces the importance of energy efficiency, yet its focus on the domestic sector leaves a substantial share of energy use, emissions and economic opportunity largely unaddressed.

Commercial and public buildings account for a significant proportion of national energy demand and carbon output, but policy support for this sector remains fragmented and short-term. Official government statistics show that non-domestic buildings are responsible for while the has repeatedly warned that current policies fall well short of what is required to meet future carbon budgets.

This gap matters not only for climate delivery, but for the resilience of public services, the competitiveness of UK businesses, as well as the health and productivity of millions of people who occupy these buildings every day. At a time of sustained pressure on energy costs, public finances and workforce outcomes, the absence of a clear, long-term strategy for non-domestic buildings represents a missed opportunity to deploy proven, cost-effective solutions at scale.

One such solution - advanced Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) - is already delivering measurable carbon savings, operational cost reductions and improvements in indoor environmental quality across a broad range of non-domestic buildings including offices, schools and hospitals. Yet despite robust evidence and widespread availability, building controls remain underrepresented in national policy. This must change.

Building controls: central to delivering carbon budgets

The Building Controls Industry Association’s (Â鶹ԭ´´) recent technical white paper, , demonstrates that upgrading existing non-domestic buildings to Class A and Class B controls represents one of the most effective decarbonisation interventions available to the Government.

The analysis shows that upgrading commercial and public sector buildings to advanced controls could deliver 15 million tonnes of COâ‚‚e savings between 2026 and 2035. This equates to around 5% of all emissions produced by England and Wales in 2023, based on the UK’s official greenhouse gas inventory. 

The Climate Change Committee’s Seventh Carbon Budget reinforces the scale of this opportunity, concluding that energy management, instrumentation and control measures could deliver up to 60% of the energy-efficiency-related emissions reductions required in public and commercial buildings by 2040. This places BEMS at the core of the UK’s decarbonisation pathway, not as an enabling technology, but as a primary delivery mechanism.

The evidence is unambiguous - without rapid, large-scale deployment of advanced building controls, the UK will struggle to meet its future carbon budgets in the non-domestic sector.

Value for money in a constrained fiscal environment

Energy policy must reflect fiscal reality. Public sector budgets remain under pressure, while businesses continue to absorb elevated operating costs following years of energy price volatility. In this context, solutions with long payback periods or high capital requirements are difficult to scale quickly.

Advanced building controls offer a compelling alternative. Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s analysis shows that Class A and Class B BEMS typically deliver payback within 4–9 years, depending on building type. Over a ten-year period, net financial savings remain positive even after upfront installation costs:

• Offices over 1,000 m²: £23,485 saving

• Schools: £3,504 saving

• Hospitals: £7,293 saving

For offices in particular, BEMS are among the most cost-effective carbon abatement measures available, outperforming air source heat pumps, insulation upgrades and solar PV when assessed on a cost-per-tonne basis.

A typical 1,000 m² office can save 105 tonnes of CO₂e over ten years, delivering a net saving of £224 per tonne of carbon abated. At a national level, this represents exceptional value for money, especially compared with technologies that require extensive grid upgrades or long-term structural change.

Health, productivity and economic resilience

The benefits of advanced building controls extend well beyond energy and carbon. Modern BEMS continuously monitor COâ‚‚ levels, humidity and indoor pollutants, adjusting heating and ventilation systems in real time to maintain healthy indoor environments.

The relationship between indoor air quality, health outcomes and cognitive performance is increasingly recognised across government. Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s white paper indicates that improved indoor environments enabled by advanced controls could reduce sickness absence sufficiently to save over £1 billion annually across the UK economy - a finding consistent with assessments of the economic cost of workplace ill health.

In education, the case is particularly strong. Installing Class A BEMS in schools could prevent around 2 million sick days every year, while enabling 552,000 more pupils to succeed in their national exams. These outcomes align directly with government priorities on educational attainment, workforce readiness and long-term productivity.

In offices, the economic impact is even more pronounced. By improving comfort, wellbeing and attendance, advanced building controls could generate £5.29 billion in annual Gross Value Added, rising to £12.75 billion by 2050 as adoption scales. These gains directly support the Government’s stated ambition to raise productivity and unlock sustainable economic growth

Policy certainty is now critical

With the scheduled to conclude in 2028, there is an urgent need for clarity on successor mechanisms. Without a clear long-term framework, investment risks stalling just as delivery must accelerate.

Â鶹ԭ´´ supports the exploration of public-private partnership models to unlock sustained investment in public sector estates. However, private finance will only flow at scale where the Government provides clear direction, consistent standards and long-term policy certainty for non-domestic buildings. 

As the UK’s only trade association dedicated exclusively to building controls and automation, Â鶹ԭ´´ and its members are committed to working with the Government to close this gap. The technology is proven, the evidence is robust, and the economic, social and environmental benefits are clear.

Smart buildings as national infrastructure

Advanced building controls are not a secondary consideration within the Warm Homes agenda - they are essential national infrastructure for a low-carbon, productive and healthy UK.

By placing BEMS at the heart of policy for non-domestic buildings, the Government can deliver rapid emissions reductions, reduce pressure on public finances, improve health outcomes and unlock billions in economic value.

Â鶹ԭ´´â€™s position is clear and resolute: smart building controls are one of the fastest, most cost-effective and impactful routes to Net Zero - and the UK cannot afford to delay their widespread adoption.