Salt Ayre begins bid to be first facility of its kind to be carbon neutral in UK

Thursday, 3 March 2022 10:28

Bosses are aiming to make Salt Ayre Leisure Centre the first facility of its kind to be carbon neutral in the UK.

To do that, work on a multi-million-pound project is underway that its hoped will eliminate onsite CO2 emissions generated by the centre, as part of Lancaster City Council's ambitions to be net zero carbon by 2030.

The council has received £6.8million in funding from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) to replace existing gas boilers with air source heat pumps, provide external LED lighting and upgrade glazing to reduce energy consumption.

A solar farm is also being built on the adjacent disused landfill site at Salt Ayre to generate electricity, which will then be provided to the centre using a direct wire.

The funders of the project have carried out an assessment of Salt Ayre, and have reported excellent findings of the scheme. The onsite review covered, heating, renewable energy, insulation - building fabric, hot water, Building Management Systems, LED lighting, capacity improvements, electrical distribution, incoming electricity provision, and heat meters.

In a letter, technical consultants, Briar Engineering Consultants, said: ‘’Our overall opinion is that this is an exemplary scheme, which the Consultants and Contractors involved should be immensely proud of their achievements. In addition to this, the scheme could be a good case study by Salix.

‘’It can be confirmed that the installation works carried out on site appear to be in line with the Salix Compliance Tool and the Tender Specifications provided."

A further audit will be undertaken post completion of the projects funded with this PSDS grant. This final audit will comprise a technical onsite visit and a financial audit of the grant.