Practical building energy audits
Building Energy Audits
The 10-Point Building Energy Review
Clear answers on where your building is wasting energy — and what to do about it.
A practical fixed-fee building energy audit for organisations that need to understand where energy is being wasted, what it is costing, and what to fix first.
The review identifies avoidable energy waste, highlights the biggest saving opportunities, and gives you clear, practical next steps.
How the review works
From energy data to a practical action plan
Energy data and a site visit are brought together to identify waste, prioritise savings and create a clear action plan.
Electricity and gas use
Building, plant and controls
Point Building Energy Review
Heating · Cooling · Ventilation · Lighting · Controls · Hot water · Fabric · Operations
Where energy is being lost
What matters most
What to fix first
Focused diagnosis
Find out what is wasting energy before spending money on the wrong solution
Most buildings waste energy through a combination of plant settings, controls, heating and cooling patterns, ventilation, lighting, operating hours, maintenance issues and avoidable operational habits.
The 10-Point Building Energy Review is designed to find those issues quickly and turn them into a practical action plan. This is not a generic survey. It is a focused diagnosis of how your building is actually operating.
For organisations comparing energy audit companies or consultancies, the important difference is not simply who can produce a report. It is whether the work combines energy data, site investigation, building-services understanding and experienced technical judgement to identify what is genuinely worth doing next.
Who technically leads your audit?
Senior technical judgement from diagnosis to recommendations
Every OES building energy audit is technically led by Dr Russell Layberry, Director and Technical Lead. Russell is a Certified Energy Manager, ESOS Lead Assessor, qualified electrician and PhD physicist with more than 20 years’ experience in building energy.
His background includes senior energy research at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute, monitoring and energy-software development, and more than 300 commercial building energy audits.
This combination helps connect what the data shows with how the building, plant and controls are actually operating.
About Dr Russell LayberryThis is for you if
You need clear answers about your building’s energy use
- Energy costs are rising and you don’t know why
- You’ve been asked about SECR, carbon or compliance and need clear answers
- You suspect waste but don’t know where it is
- You need an audit to secure finance for retrofit funding
The result
A clear, practical route forward
You will understand where your building is wasting energy, which issues matter most, and what practical steps should be taken first.
- Clear priorities
- Practical recommendations
- Evidence for action
- Support for funding or retrofit planning
- A focused route to lower energy use
The review framework
A 10-point check of where buildings commonly waste energy
The review looks across the main operational and technical areas where commercial, public sector and industrial buildings often lose energy unnecessarily.
Energy data
Electricity and gas patterns, unusual consumption and evidence of avoidable waste.
Heating
Boilers, heat emitters, zoning, set points, schedules and heating control issues.
Cooling
Air conditioning use, simultaneous heating and cooling, and unnecessary operation.
Ventilation
Air handling, extract systems, fan operation, fresh air rates and running hours.
Controls
Timers, BMS settings, sensors, overrides and poor control logic.
Lighting
Lighting type, zoning, occupancy patterns, daylight use and control opportunities.
Hot water
Hot water generation, storage, circulation losses, temperatures and usage patterns.
Building fabric
Heat loss, insulation, air leakage, glazing and obvious fabric-related issues.
Operations
How the building is actually used, occupied, maintained and managed day to day.
Action plan
Priority recommendations, likely savings, cost implications and next steps.
A smart meter does not explain everything
Data can reveal patterns, but it still needs interpretation alongside occupancy, plant operation and controls.
Read the smart meter data guideThe BMS can look correct while waste continues
Schedules, overrides, sensors and actual plant behaviour can tell different stories.
Read the BMS myth busterFacilities teams cannot always see the whole picture
Energy waste can sit between facilities, finance, contractors and operating practices.
Read the facilities teams myth busterWhat you get
A concise practical report, not a long document that sits on a shelf
The Building Energy Audit is designed to give you practical answers: where energy is being wasted, what the likely causes are, and which actions should be prioritised first.
Site visit and walkthrough
A practical inspection of the building, plant, controls and day-to-day operating patterns.
Electricity and gas review
Review of electricity and gas consumption to identify patterns, anomalies and likely waste.
Energy waste diagnosis
Identification of key sources of avoidable energy waste, often from controls or operational issues.
Costed recommendations
Practical energy-saving actions with indicative costs, likely impact and savings where possible.
Concise practical report
A short, readable report with the main findings, priorities and recommended next steps.
Clear action plan
Guidance on what to fix first, what to monitor next and what may need further investigation.
Why the format matters: the purpose of an energy audit is not to create the longest report. It is to make the building easier to understand and the next decisions easier to make.
Building energy audit guides
Understand the report, cost, process and type of assessment you need
These practical guides answer the questions organisations most commonly ask before commissioning a commercial building energy audit.
What does a commercial building energy audit report contain?
See what a useful report should explain, how recommendations should be prioritised and why clarity matters more than document length.
Read the audit-report guideHow much does a commercial building energy audit cost?
Understand the factors that affect price, what should be included and how to compare audit proposals properly.
Read the audit-cost guideWhat happens during a commercial building energy audit?
Follow the process from energy-data preparation and site inspection through diagnosis, recommendations and practical next steps.
Read the audit-process guideEnergy audit, energy assessment or ESOS assessment?
Learn how these services differ and which route is appropriate for building diagnosis, funding, planning or formal compliance.
Compare the different assessment typesFrom report to results
Why do some energy audits fail to deliver savings?
Generic recommendations, weak ownership, untested savings claims and poor follow-through can prevent even a worthwhile audit from producing results.
How it works
A simple fixed-fee process
Designed to move quickly from uncertainty to practical action.
Send energy data
You provide recent electricity and gas data before the visit.
Pre-visit review
The data is reviewed to identify initial patterns and questions.
Site inspection
The building, plant, controls and operating conditions are inspected.
Waste diagnosis
The main energy waste issues and saving opportunities are identified.
Practical report
You receive a concise action plan with clear recommendations.
A common source of hidden waste
What happens when the building should be quiet?
Night-load, weekends and low-occupancy periods can reveal plant, equipment or controls continuing to use energy when demand should be lower.
Out-of-hours consumption can be easy to overlook because nobody is present to see it happening.
Read the practical guide to overnight energy useBuilding energy audits in practice
See how technical investigation leads to practical action
Explore examples of energy data analysis, site investigation and practical recommendations across individual buildings, complex estates and specialist cultural organisations.
Stourbridge Glass Museum
Half-hourly data and a building audit exposed severe out-of-hours electricity use and conflicting heating systems.
Read the case studyBlenheim Palace
See how an initial building audit developed into long-term support covering metering, controls, overnight energy use, ESOS and decarbonisation.
Read the case studyThe Blade, Reading
A detailed audit of an already efficient 13,250 m² office identified high out-of-hours electricity use, BMS refinements, solar-control opportunities and a practical route to heat-pump decarbonisation.
Read The Blade case studyBuilding energy audit FAQs
Questions organisations often ask before booking an energy audit
What is included in a building energy audit?
The audit includes a site visit, building walkthrough, review of electricity and gas use, identification of energy waste, practical recommendations and a concise report with clear next steps.
See what happens during an auditIs this suitable for SECR, ESOS or carbon reporting?
The review can support energy-reduction planning, SECR and carbon reporting. Where a formal ESOS assessment, Lead Assessor review or wider compliance programme is required, the scope and reporting requirements need to be agreed separately.
Explore Energy, Carbon & Compliance SupportCan the audit support retrofit funding?
Yes. The audit can provide evidence of energy waste, priority actions and practical recommendations that may help support retrofit planning, finance applications or funding discussions.
How long does the review take?
The review is typically completed through one site visit, followed by a short practical report. The exact timing depends on the building size, complexity and available energy data.
Understand audit costs and scopeHow should organisations compare energy audit companies?
Look beyond the length of the report or the use of a standard checklist. A useful building energy audit should combine site investigation, energy data interpretation, practical technical judgement and clear prioritisation of what should happen next.
Read the common energy audit mistakesWhat happens after the audit?
Some recommendations can be acted on immediately. Others may require monitoring, contractor input, further investigation or ongoing energy management support to keep actions moving.
View Energy Management SupportRelated building energy insights
Explore the assumptions that often hide energy waste
Explore deeper guidance on data, hidden waste, audit quality and the difference between a practical building review and formal compliance work.
Why Oxford Energy Services
Research-level analysis grounded in practical building experience
OES is technically led by Dr Russell Layberry, Director and Technical Lead. His background combines a Physics degree, MSc in Exploration Geophysics and PhD in Plasma Physics with senior building-energy research at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute.
Russell is a Certified Energy Manager, ESOS Lead Assessor and qualified electrician. He was also Co-founder and Technical Director of Pilio Ltd, an Oxford University spin-out, where his work included monitoring systems, sensors and energy-software development.
Free 30-minute discussion
Need to know where your building is wasting energy?
Start with a practical fixed-fee review. It gives you a clear diagnosis, a short action plan, and the evidence needed to decide what to do next.
Not ready to book an audit? Explore Audits & Energy Insights .
Contact Russell
Email:
russ@oxfordenergyservices.co.uk
Phone:
+44 (0)7803 397 549