Cofely to deliver technical services to Victoria & Albert Museum

01 September 2011

Cofely, the energy and environmental efficiency services company of GDF SUEZ for businesses and local authorities, has been awarded a five-year contract to deliver maintenance, fabric works and energy management services to the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A) in London - the largest museum of decorative arts and design in the world.

The V&A has a strong focus on sustainability and Cofely will be working closely with the museum on its ‘Future Plan – 2015/17’ energy saving programme. The services are to be self-delivered by Cofely, including the management of specialist sub-contractors as required.

In addition to day-to-day reactive and planned maintenance, Cofely is managing and delivering a range of improvement works, including upgrading of chiller plant, fire systems and the building management system and developing a re-lamping strategy. In parallel, the planned maintenance regime is being optimised to reflect the condition of plant items and the need to maintain close environmental control to protect the museum’s many delicate exhibits.

The contract covers all five buildings at the museum’s main site in West London, as well as the Children’s Museum in East London and storage facilities in Central London and Hampshire. Cofely has a team of 11 site based staff, including a senior manager, an energy manager and multi-skilled mechanical and electrical engineers. The V&A will also have access to Cofely’s 24 hour help desk outside standard working hours.

“The V&A is the most recent of a number of museum and heritage sites, including the British Library, that we now manage and where our specialist expertise and experience add real value for Customers,” noted Cofely Managing Director, Stephen Grant. “We are proud to be involved with such a prestigious site as the V&A and delighted that we are able to help it reduce its costs and its carbon footprint,” he continued.

“When appointing a new service provider we wanted to make the contract more inclusive and reduce our in-house administration in relation to management of sub-contractors, while ensuring we achieved better value,” explained the V&A’s Director of Estates Steve Hyde. “Cofely’s energy management and sustainability credentials were also crucial in the decision-making process and these are key performance indicators in the contract,” he added.