Wye Valley NHS Trust has taken a significant step to lower its carbon footprint as part of a £4.7 million energy upgrade at the Hereford County Hospital site, which is due to be completed this year.
The funding comes as part of a wider national decarbonisation plan supported by a grant scheme from The Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) delivered by Salix Finance, which helps the public sector work towards their net zero goals.
Centrica Business Solutions will deliver the multi-million pound upgrade to provide greener energy and efficiency to Hereford County Hospital and six of the older buildings on the site, including the Education and Development Centre, Post Graduate Medical Centre, Longfield House staff accommodation and Lionel Green building, which was previously used as nurses' accommodation 20 years' ago.
Work has already started with the installation of 3,170 low energy lights in the main hospital building. This will be followed by more than 300 rooftop solar panels, which will provide enough energy to power the equivalent of 27 UK homes per year. Modern switching mechanisms, 1,163 pipework insulation jackets and 263 metres of pipework lagging, to reduce heat loss, are also being installed in the buildings across the site.
A ground source heat pump network - which involves drilling 47 boreholes 200m into the ground - is also now being installed at locations around the hospital grounds. Nearly six miles long in total, this will pump water, naturally warmed by the earth, and convert it into usable heat for six of the buildings on the site.
Alan Dawson, Director of Strategy and Planning at Wye Valley NHS Trust, said: "We're very pleased to receive this grant to enable us to undertake this exciting and significant move forward to help reduce our carbon footprint and improve our environmental sustainability. We have already taken a number of steps to reduce our carbon footprint at our community hospitals and this builds upon that progress.
"We are committed to reducing the impact our activities have on the environment by introducing these new technologies, which will reduce our carbon emissions at this site by 510 carbon tonnes per year and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels for a greener future."
Tony Orton, Head of Healthcare Business Development at Centrica Business Solutions, said: "The Trust should be congratulated for taking a further big step towards Net Zero - bringing significant improvements in efficiency and sustainability across the estate."
Sameen Khan, NHS programme manager for Salix Finance added: Wye Valley NHS Trust began to engage with Salix quite early in their project development process. These discussions came at just the right time - preparing the Trust to benefit from an early application submission to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
"The project team has remained enthusiastic and engaged with the measures and Salix to achieve all the benefits of their decarbonisation projects."
The project has been funded by The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (referred to as the Grant Scheme) via Salix Finance.
Further information: https://www.centricabusinesssolutions.com
