When we took over a large development it contained a block of four flats. We noticed the very high gas heating costs of £7,200 per annum. These were due to penalty rates being paid because the previous agent hadn’t put a gas contract in place for several years.

Once MLP put a contract in place, annual gas heating costs dropped dramatically to £3,800; however, this still seemed excessively high – plus maintenance was costing, on average, over £3,000 per year.  

The flats shared a communal boiler system that was over ten years old and MLP identified that the boiler controls were not working – plus the boilers were very inefficient. Instead of replacing like with like, which many agents would do as the easy option, MLP tendered the work to a number of contractors, who were encouraged to quote for the project using new and energy-saving technologies.  

The most cost-effective solution was to remove the communal system and replace it with four small boilers with room thermostats and timers – with the result that people only paid for what they actually used.  

One year later, gas consumption had halved and annual maintenance was just £400, saving nearly £8,000 per annum. The payback period for the project is 4.5 years.