A major decarbonisation programme at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has brought coal-fired heating to an end across the NHS estate, with the completion of energy infrastructure upgrades at Nottingham City Hospital.
Delivered by Vital Energi, the two-phase £34.8m scheme replaced ageing coal and gas boiler systems with a new energy centre, air source heat pumps, solar PV panels and a site-wide LED lighting upgrade involving more than 6,600 fittings.
The second phase of the programme added a 400kW air source heat pump system serving the hospital’s Maternity and Urology departments.
The phase also included a 160kW waste heat recovery water source heat pump and a full upgrade of the site’s Building Management System
The upgrade brings all energy infrastructure under a single control platform.
Funded through the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, administered by Salix Finance, the programme has now recorded more than a year of independently verified operational performance data.
According to Vital Energi, the project has achieved guaranteed annual energy savings of £1.4m.
Across both phases, the scheme has reduced carbon emissions by 16,023 tonnes, equivalent to removing around 8,000 cars from the road for a year under UK Government conversion factors.
The works were completed while the acute hospital remained fully operational.
The transition from the former coal-fired boiler house to the new energy centre required staged heat source changeovers, while demolition works included the removal of two chimney stacks, one adjacent to the hospital’s Cardiac Centre.
LED upgrades and plant room works were also carried out across live clinical environments and wards.
Vital Energi said the BMS upgrade alone generated annual gas savings of more than 7.4 million kWh, significantly exceeding original performance targets under the company’s Energy Performance Contract model.
“Nottingham City Hospital was the last hospital in the UK still burning coal, and that chapter is now closed. This was a multifaceted project which required the team to use their broad range of skills to complete,” said John Runniff, Account Development Director at Vital Energi.
