£13.7 million funding boost for Gloucestershire NHS environmental projects
Gloucestershire Managed Services has secured £13.7 million to carry out a range of environmental projects at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The project will help in achieving NHS carbon reduction targets and ensure that Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal Hospitals are more energy efficient for the future.
The funding will be spread across a number of developments from heating, lighting, solar panels and energy efficiency measures and should be completed by the end of 2021. The projects include:
- Heating-system upgrade and pipe insulation
- Solar panels to Trust roofs
- Installation of a battery storage system to the Trust electrical distribution network
- LED lighting
- Metering to monitor energy consumption
- Upgrade of the Building Management System that controls the hospital electrical and heating infrastructure
- Installation of a heat pump to create heat from the environment
- Installation of energy efficient fans to the Trust ventilation system
Keith Hamer, Managing Director at Gloucestershire Managed Services (GMS) said: “We are thrilled that this funding will enable us to make some important environmental upgrades to Gloucestershire’s hospital facilities. GMS helps to manage the estate for one of the largest NHS Trusts in the country, and these projects will drive down the carbon footprint and make our operations as environmentally-friendly as possible. Reducing impact on the environment is key to enabling a healthier community and delivering a more sustainable future for the NHS’’.
In December 2019, Gloucestershire Hospitals declared a climate emergency recognising climate change as one of the biggest threats to public health. In addition, a target has been set for all NHS organisations to be carbon net-zero by 2040. This latest funding will go a long way to achieving these goals in Gloucestershire and it is estimated that over the next 7 years it will save the carbon equivalent of 24 football pitches worth of trees.
Professor Steve Hams, Director of Quality and Chief Nurse and executive lead for sustainability said: “This is fantastic news for Gloucestershire Hospitals and a real boost for our greener NHS agenda. Although COVID has been the focus for the past ten months, the climate emergency has not stopped and projects like these will help to make our hospital more sustainable for the future.”
The funding was awarded through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund managed by Salix Finance, which provides Government funding to the public sector to improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and lower energy bills.
