The government are set to invest more than £4 million to introduce a variety of measures to save energy at the Hospital of St Cross in Rugby.
University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust has secured funding as part of its Green Plan that will help them improve the air quality and make the site at Barby Road more efficient, as well as helping with financial savings that will allow for more funding to be put back into patient care.
Chief Executive Officer at UHCW NHS Trust, Professor Andy Hardy, said:
“It is terrific news to hear our application has been successful and we can press ahead with this vital work.
Our new Organisational Strategy sets out our commitment to playing a positive and sustainable contribution to the local economy, and this will build on other green developments already completed around the Trust’s estate.
Not only will it assist in delivering our Green Plan, this work will also provide a positive financial saving that can be reinvested in patient care.
We are very proud of our hospital at Rugby and the staff that work there, so we look forward to making these improvements.”
The installation of a 200kw air source heat pump, the removal of a fossil fuel-fired plant and thermal insulation measures are only some of the plans outlined, whilst the utilisation of heat from the air source heat pump will involve the installation of a district heating network that will interconnect the heating loads of the three areas of the site that are currently served by three separate energy centres.
The funding will come from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as part of the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) and will be delivered by Salix Finance, a company that provides interest-free government funding to the public sector, with a focus on improving energy efficiency, the reduction of carbon emissions and lowering energy bills.
Lord Callanan, Business and Energy Minister, said:
“This funding will bring significant savings for taxpayers of well over half a billion pounds a year by making public buildings cheaper to run, heat, and cool, whilst supporting economic growth and jobs.”
The reduction of maintenance costs that are usually associated with gas-fired boilers and the ability to enable the connection of further low-carbon generation systems later on is a key part of the project, as well as the fact that it will also improve the energy supply resilience of the hospital, something that is essential for a hospital that provides patient services 24/7.
1,250 solar panels will also be added to roof spaces, meaning that over 600 tonnes of carbon per year will be saved.
