It’s named “Horizon”. It’s environmentally and commercially aware. And it’s saving an organisation big money on its energy bills.

Do you spot a few connections?

The similarity in name might be a coincidence, but we’re talking about Horizon House — the Environment Agency’s new corporate office in Bristol, which was recently awarded the highest ever BREEAM score for an office in the UK.

And the reason for mentioning it is that it perfectly illustrates a big win for the building’s occupiers that we’re happy to draw attention to: the huge upside in running costs to being in a sustainable office building.

The Building:

Horizon House is the Environment Agency’s new corporate office in Bristol. It occupies the city centre site opposite the Central Library (this map is still showing the previous building that was demolished).

It’s part of a mixed use development that also includes apartments and further office space, and is due to be occupied by the end of 2010. It’s bang in the middle of the city, and has been called a new milestone in sustainable design.

The Award:

The big deal about Horizon House is that it scored a superb 85% under BREEAM (the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method). BREEAM measures the sustainability of buildings, assessed across multiple categories: energy, materials, waste, water, ecology, pollution, transport, management, and health & wellbeing.

That’s the highest ever score for an office in the UK, with points spread across all the categories, including the harder-to-achieve ratings.

Euan Creswell, managing director of the building’s developer, Westmark, said: “We’re very proud of Horizon House – not only because of its highly sustainable features, but because it’s being delivered to a competitive budget in a city centre location.

“[The award] will help us spread the word that going green doesn’t have to cost the earth and can create city centre offices that are great places to work.”

The big win for the occupiers?

Aside from the fact these premises are an obvious fit for the Environment Agency, what will the current and future occupiers gain from moving in to Horizon House?

A lot more than a CSR halo or a badge of greenness. According to Graham Ledward, the EA’s Director of Resources: “By relocating to Horizon House, the Environment Agency will save around 10% every year on operational costs — an estimated £180,000 saving per year.”

How to make substantial cost cuts through environmental awareness

There aren’t many ways you can save 10% on your costs in business without resorting to P45s. Until there are more commercially viable buildings that also have the highest environmental standards, what can businesses do in the meantime?

Here are two suggestions:

1. Most of the savings at Horizon House will come about thanks to lower business utility bills, particularly from reduced use of electricity—and there are steps that any commercial building owner can take now to reduce their energy use.

Whenever we carry out a commercial EPC in Bristol, there are always great energy saving suggestions on offer. Of course, a weak point of EPCs is that the outgoing occupier rarely benefits from any incentive to make changes; any action on these recommendations is usually left up to the incoming occupier. However, as demand for sustainable spaces increases, a good EPC score may be higher up the wishlist.

2. There’s also the renewable electricity feed-in tariff, a way for small-to-medium-sized businesses to make money generating their own energy. Typically, but not always, this comes from solar electricity (an important feature of Horizon House).

To make a saving you first need to spend a bit on installation, but the feed-in tariff pays you back per unit and over 20 years this can offer a tempting return on investment.

Is this the future we see on the Horizon?

It’s easy to be impressed with Horizon House, an achievement that points the way for a new wave of commercial buildings that will save you money.

And we’re not cross at them for borrowing our name, really. Instead, perhaps we’re a little envious of all that low-cost sustainable energy…  perhaps we’ll simply move in there one day?