North East Schools decarbonisation project

Client Department for Education

Sector Facilities Management

Location North East

The groundbreaking Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) North East Schools project comprised of six primary schools and six secondary schools built under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme in conjunction with the Department for Education (DfE).

Following the construction of the schools, Galliford Try has maintained a whole life-cycle interest in the schools, with Galliford Try Facilities Management providing maintenance services and support to the School Premises Officers for the buildings, including training, as well as collaborating closely on reporting back on building performance.

As part of GTFM’s role, it has undertaken a decarbonisation project on behalf of the client, commissioning decarbonisation reports for two schools in the batch to identify a range of potential options to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. These reports led to the main energy consuming items of plant being identified and recommendations made for saving energy.

Short-term options considered included training for staff in the more efficient use of energy consuming equipment, LED lighting installation, fitting energy saving devices to fridges and freezers and timers on point of use water heaters and the potential for Photo Voltaic panel installation.

The reports have also recommended longer term solutions, including the future installation of more energy efficient catering equipment as part of planned lifecycle replacement and switching from gas boilers to heat pumps for heating and systems.

Galliford Try continues to collect energy consumption data and shares this on a monthly basis across the PSBP, fostering a spirit of competition between the schools to compare their energy consumption.