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Hall & Woodhouse (H&W) has revealed achieving a 12% reduction in gas and 7% in electricity usage across its managed house estate in 2024, equating to approximately 360 tonnes of CO2e savings.
The Dorset-based company is working towards net zero scope 1 and 2 energy emissions by 2027, and has exceed its own target to achieve a 10% year-on-year energy reduction through behavioural changes in 2024.
Last year, H&W implemented a range of successful initiatives to reduce energy usage across its managed house estate. Now, the company has committed £1million for 2025 alone to further its sustainability efforts.
Jon Mead, innovation manager at Hall & Woodhouse, said: “Being a sustainable business is woven into our purpose of making people’s day and enriching our communities from generation to generation.
“We recognise the critical importance that people and planet play in our long-term success and are committed to taking action now. We have set ourselves ambitious targets to reduce energy emissions.
“We’ve seen superb results, coming from a standing start in February 2024 when we launched our behaviour change project. The level of engagement from our team in embracing our energy saving focus has been extremely impressive. They have fully demonstrated their commitment to living our company values, thereby reducing the energy consumption and carbon impact of our business.”
H&W has largely achieved its energy reduction through behavioural change.
For example, it has implemented strict temperature controls at 19-21°C in winter, seasonal heating adjustments, and mandatory overnight shutdown procedures for ventilation systems and kitchen equipment.
The company has also piloted technical improvements including the implementation of smart cellar cooling, smart kitchen ventilation, voltage optimisation, and free-air cellar cooling with the aim of embedding significant additional reductions in energy consumption.
H&W also installed solar panels in five (one solar panel installed in 2024) of its pubs and brewery and implemented insulation and draught exclusion measures across its managed house estate.
H&W’s one million investment into green initiatives this year includes further roll out of existing technological improvements and will see work undertaken to increase the number of fully electric kitchens (within its managed house estate) from nine to 23 by the end of 2025.
Marianne Jarvis, who is responsible for sustainability at Hall & Woodhouse alongside her role as head of legal, added: “We have already proactively identified, tested and budgeted to implement significant technology-driven reductions in 2025. These investments will help us to achieve our mission to fully electrify our kitchens by 2027 and be well on our way to removing gas entirely from our managed houses. We recognise that sustainability is everyone’s responsibility, and as a future-thinking business we have the opportunity to lead by example.”
In addition to reducing its energy consumption, H&W has also made investments in the last year to reduce overall waste across its managed houses, letting rooms, and brewery. The company has encouraged team engagement through the implementation of monetary incentives for the best-performing pubs and regions, rewarding achievements such as best sales per kWh and highest reduction in electricity use, for example.
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