The Royal Institution (Ri) is on course to secure a notable 42% reduction in carbon emissions at its Grade I listed Georgian premises.

Backed by a £4.35 million grant from the Mayor of London, the project has outperformed its original target of 35%.

Serving as a hub for scientific discovery for more than 225 years, with elements dating back to 1705, the Albemarle Street building underwent extensive upgrades. The work successfully raised the site's commercial Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating from a D to a B. This shift places the historic location within the top 20% of non-domestic properties rated in the UK since 2009.

The efficiency upgrades mean the Ri has met the target rating expected for all commercial buildings from 2030, hitting the milestone four years ahead of schedule. The achievement proves that London's historic architecture can become a leader in sustainability without sacrificing its heritage. The project also protects the environmental future of the facility and provides a modern home for Undaunted, a climate-tech partnership between the Ri and Imperial College London that supports early-stage climate innovation across the UK.

As part of the 'Project FootpRint' initiative, the Royal Institution has:

• installed air source heat pumps to ensure only electricity is used to run the very building where Michael Faraday discovered electromagnetic induction.

• installed a new intelligent building management system that will learn how the building works over the course of a year to maximise efficiencies – for example, CO2 sensors in the 225-year-old Lecture Theatre will monitor how much fresh air is required for different numbers of people at different times of the day.

• improved thermal insulation.

• upgraded LED lighting in the Lecture Theatre (which has hosted world-leading scientists including Michael Faraday, Pierre and Marie Curie, Sir David Attenborough, Professor Hannah Fry, Sir Jonathan Van-Tam and Dame Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock).

• eliminated natural gas for all but necessary scientific use in the Ri's working laboratories.

• applied an innovative new solar-reflective coating to the building's Georgian Windows – pioneered by a UK start-up company who have been part of the Better Futures Project run by the GLA and others, including Undaunted, the Ri's climate-tech partnership with Imperial College London.

The upgrades were successfully completed with only strictly necessary public closures to the Ri's free science museum. The facility maintained most of its public engagement initiatives—including the 200th series of its CHRISTMAS LECTURES®—while simultaneously shielding live research projects from building dust that could disrupt highly sensitive laboratory machinery.

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The building holds deep historical ties to climate science. Between 1859 and 1861, John Tyndall used the basement laboratories of the Ri to prove that gases like carbon dioxide and water vapour absorb and radiate infrared heat. His research demonstrated that these gases trap heat within the atmosphere, indicating that changes in their concentration could alter the global climate—a phenomenon now widely referred to as the Greenhouse Effect.

The Royal Institution's archive retains an internationally significant collection of scientific items connected to the work conducted at the site over the past 227 years. This collection includes Tyndall's personal notebooks spanning 1859-62 containing his greenhouse gas experiment write-ups, his notes for the related CHRISTMAS LECTURES®, and first editions of his 1862 book Contributions to Molecular Physics in the Domain of Radiant Heat. The rudimentary apparatus developed by Tyndall to prove his atmospheric heat theories remains on public display in the free museum.

A long line of pioneering scientists have lived, worked, or achieved major breakthroughs inside the Albemarle Street building, including Michael Faraday, Humphry Davy, Kathleen Lonsdale, James Dewar, William and Lawrence Bragg, and Sir George Porter. The multi-use history of the building as a residential space, workplace, and public meeting arena added complexity to the recent upgrades, which were challenged by centuries of structural reconfigurations.

The project was delivered by heritage conservation specialist Coniston Limited as the principal contractor. The completed works ensure the building remains a suitable base for the Ri's educational charity work and its partnership with Undaunted. Climate tech startups going through Undaunted's accelerator programmes have gone on to raise over $1.3 billion in investment and generate more than 1,600 jobs across 30 countries.

Katherine Mathieson, Director of the Royal Institution, said: "While the science of the greenhouse effect may have been established at the Ri, today we faced the same challenges as the UK's many other iconic heritage spaces, in adapting our 300-year-old building to meet our climate responsibilities.

"We are extremely grateful for the Mayor of London's visionary support, which has demonstrated that the UK's hard-to-tackle older buildingscan achieve dramatic carbon reductions while preserving centuries of history. We would be delighted to share our learnings – including the challenges – from our project with custodians of other such cherished assets who are looking to start a similar journey.."  

The Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Mete Coban said: "The Mayor is proud to have invested in the transformation of the Royal Institution, one of London's most prestigious heritage buildings and the home of climate science. 

"This incredible transformation shows how every organisation can play their part in tackling the climate crisis, regardless of the age or status of commercial buildings, and acts as an inspiration to other historic organisations across the city. It shows how by working together we are building a city for the future and a fairer, greener London for everyone."

Scott Evans, Project Manager, Coniston, said: "When you're working within a Grade I listed building that's evolved over two centuries, every time you open up a floor or start tracing pipework you uncover another part of its story. You're constantly learning how the building has changed over time.

"What made it genuinely fascinating was doing all of that while the building stayed operational as far as possible. Every crane lift, every roof installation, every system changeover was planned around the day to day life of the building.

"Beyond the technical achievement, there's a real sense of history here. Seeing a Grade I listed building lead the way as an example for decarbonisation at this scale, feels like a full circle moment. It's the kind of project you're proud to be part of."

Alyssa Gilbert, Director of Undaunted, Director of Innovation at Imperial's Grantham Institute, and Co-Director, Imperial School of Convergence Science: Sustainability, said: "Project FootpRint is a great example of the kind of pilot scheme that helps Londoners understand the direct benefits of new technologies – as well as getting a sense of how these technologies can help us tackle the climate crisis.

"In many parts of our lives, our homes and other buildings included, it's going to take a pioneering attitude to help validate and scale new green technologies in a real-world setting. It's fantastic, and valuable, to see this project come to fruition with such success. If you're a potential corporate sponsor or you have a pilot project in mind, reach out to us at Undaunted to see how we might work together."