The government has awarded Harrogate District Hospital £14m to reduce its carbon footprint by 25 per cent.
The funding will be used for a series of initiatives: perhaps the most noticeable to visitors will be the installation of solar panels on the roof to provide more green energy.
An air source heat pump, which extracts heat from the air which can then be used to provide heating and hot water across the site, reducing the consumption of natural gas, will be bought.
Some of the site’s long-standing maintenance issues will also be fixed, including repairing and replacing flat roofs that leak and old windows.
It is hoped the measures will reduce the carbon footprint of the hospital site by 1,100 tonnes per year.
The works will be carried out by the hospital’s estates and facilities subsidiary company, Harrogate Integrated Facilities in partnership with Imtech and its specialist energy performance business, Breathe.
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Harrogate and District NHS Trust said in a statement today the funding would also benefit the local economy because local businesses will be involved.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy awarded the grant from its public sector decarbonisation scheme. Public sector organisations submit bids to the scheme.
Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of Harrogate Integrated Facilities, said the grant was “brilliant news for us, everyone who works here and patients who access services here”. He added:
“We have a firm ambition to reduce the carbon footprint of Harrogate District Hospital by as much as possible, and as quickly as possible.”
The hospital already has a 25-year carbon reduction project with the Carbon Energy Fund and Imtech, which it says delivers energy savings of around £680,000 each year.
Gary Parke, managing director of Breathe, said:
“The new energy saving installations will enhance and accelerate the savings our team has delivered over the last few years.
“As well as ensuring further cost and carbon reduction benefits for the trust and a better environment for staff, patients and visitors to the hospital.”
