WATER

During 2000, Northumbrian Water conducted a water audit on Northern Rock distribution sites, the main Head Office site in Gosforth, and two sites in Sunderland. The focus of the review was the prioritisation and the fitting of water meters and the analysis of water consumption and patterns by site. This has provided the Company with comprehensive information to review and implement where possible, in the short and medium term.

The Company, in conjunction with the Head Office maintenance service providers Honeywell has, following cost benefit analysis and testing, implemented the remaining recommendations of the Northumbrian Water audit report where appropriate.

Additional sub meters have been fitted in the Head Office site, are now linked to the BMS system and allow additional water use analysis to be undertaken.

Water displacement units have been fitted since 2003.

All push type taps in toilet areas are fully serviced and adjusted to minimise the water use whilst maintaining a useful flow of water. This has been included in the annual maintenance contract.

All showers have been refurbished with pipe diameter reductions reducing flow rates to the minimum level possible whilst ensuring optimum operation.

The Company has continued to investigate site use and billing with suppliers. The majority of billing issues are now resolved, substantially reducing the outstanding queries.

Remote Sites

During 2001, tap restrictors, sprinkler taps and cistern flow restrictors were fitted to toilet area in common parts and is ongoing.

To assist with budgetary control, consumption monitoring and Reporting purposes, all water accounts are entered into an Energy Auditing Package (Team) provided by The Energy Auditing Agency. The accurate trend analysis and provisions for benchmarking provide a baseline for future financial and target setting.

The data held on the centralised database continues to allow the Company to benchmark costs and consumption, by the number of staff working on site, which directly links to DETR guidelines. Northern Rock continues to actively review water use and costs proactively.

Where accurate data has yet to be received, we have used estimated data. The following figures are based on site consumption benchmarks.Water USE Cu M.

Water Use Cu M

Northern Rock determine the effectiveness of their water management systems by utilising guidance and measurement statistics included in the DEFRA "Environmental Reporting Guidelines for Company Reporting on Water."

The Guidelines were developed primarily for use by businesses in the FTSE 350 and as such are relevant to Northern Rock and allows us to compare water usage to figures for other organisations assisting in monitoring and targeting procedures.

The Guidelines state the average figure for offices and factories is 50 litres (0.05 m3 )/per person/ per day (Normalised consumption)
Using the guidance provided Northern Rock Head Office and Remote Operational Sites water consumption equates to 0.035m3/per person/per working day.

This normalised consumption figure is within the DETR benchmark figure of 0.05 m3/per person/per working day.

*During 2004 water for Phase 4 Construction and Development was routed through Head Office water meter and the increased consumption reflects this. It should be noted that construction and development works do not form part of the best practice benchmark for offices. We are currently in negotiation with Northumbrian Water to obtain rebate allowances on the construction work consumption.

Where accurate data has yet to be received, we have used estimated data, which will be amended in the 2006 Report.