Soaring energy bills are a major headache for every business – but installing a mezzanine floor can help mitigate costs for growing companies.
Why? Because mezzanines can double or triple your usable area, allowing you to expand into space you are already heating.
Rather than renting additional premises that will need to be heated in winter (and cooled with air-conditioning in the summer), installing a mezzanine means you gain maximum value from your existing building.
With the Government’s energy price cap for business customers only guaranteed for six months, many companies are thinking about how they can afford to grow in the long term.
And their worries come as the UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) claims “extortionate and highly ineffective monopolist gatekeepers” are stopping warehouse owners install solar panels.
Support for six months
Ministers have capped electricity at £211 a megawatt hour and gas at £75 a MWh. While for electricity this is half forecast winter prices of about £540, it is still about double what they were in October 2021, when the price was £117.
Under the plan, companies will be given support for six months (reviewed after three) with further help offered to “vulnerable industries” after that.
Stephen Phipson, the chief executive of the manufacturers’ organisation Make UK, said wholesale prices were likely to remain high and added: “Industry will need support for a longer period to protect jobs and remain competitive.”
Expand with a mezzanine
With uncertainty as to who will qualify for extra help, fitting a mezzanine is an option that allows your company to expand without taking on prohibitive energy costs from additional premises.
Mezzanines maximise unused vertical space, providing additional room above and below and are usually free-standing, semi-permanent structures.
They are cost-effective space creators that Hi-Level Mezzanines have installed across a wide variety of industries and sectors: logistics, transport, retail, manufacturing, medical, automotive, leisure, healthcare, the film industry, grocery and more. Examples of clients we work with include Amazon, Coca-Cola, Aston Martin and Tesco.
5 benefits of a mezzanine floor
- Double or triple your usable space
- Cheaper and easier than renting additional premises
- Avoid extra energy bills from expanding into new premises
- Flexible for production, storage or office use
- Extra storage to prevent supply-chain crises
5 benefits of using Hi-Level Mezzanines
- Robot-ready flooring solution
- Designed by structural engineers for optimum safety and efficiency
- Value-engineered for best value for money
- Options for robust industrial or stylish retail use
- Bespoke to your space and needs.
“Extortionate gatekeepers”
Energy resilience is a key concern of the UKWA. It believes solar panels on warehouse roofs could double the UK’s solar PV capacity – but claims “extortionate and highly ineffective monopolist gatekeepers” are preventing warehouse owners from installing them.
“Occupying a third of all commercial roof space, the warehousing sector alone could deliver the entire UK requirement for 2030,” UKWA says in its new report Investment Case for Solar Power in Warehousing and Logistics.
“We are failing to use the equivalent of 18,500 acres of land for solar power generation that could generate more than the 13.8TwH of electricity required in the UK renewable energy strategy.”
It blames District Network Operators (powerline operators) for controlling who can get access to the electricity grid, when and at what cost.
Hi-Level Mezzanines provides mezzanine floors of the highest quality in the industry, yet remaining competitively priced thanks to the expertise of our team of qualified structural engineers, innovative digital design process and advanced solutions.
For 30 years we have been creating space for amazing things to happen. Contact us today for more information at sales@hi-level.co.uk or call 01730 237 190.
