ESTATES & FACILITIES
guarantee because the trust has such a big central heating system that is, in effect, being replaced “lock, stock and barrel” with a large combined heat and power unit.
“The double-whammy,” he added, “is that the existing boilers would’ve had to have been replaced within a couple of years anyway, but we’re doing this as part of the contract. So it’s saving the trust even more capital.”
Munro stated that a lot of the medical school’s original absorption chillers will be replaced at the facility as part of the contract. “We will also have solar photovoltaics on the roofs of the buildings across the whole campus, and an awful lot of it is being invested in sophisticated control technology,” he said.
At the moment the trust’s heating system in the hospital is ‘on’ or ‘off’, but with the new kit, the estates team will be able to control the climate a lot more effectively.
“We’ll be taking advantage of sophisticated building management system software that allows us to control things room-by-room and floor-by-floor,” said Munro. “The sensors for the technology are all over the trust, but it will all come back to the £8m energy centre, the project’s largest capital investment cost, so we’ll be able to control the energy consumption across the state. The energy centre is basically the brain of the system, which controls everything else.”
Training British Gas said that it will take approximately
18 months to get all the technologies up and running, with around 20-30 people working onsite. Following the installation, British Gas will provide some expertise to the trust’s estates team, because as part of the contract there is a degree of ‘knowledge transfer’ involved.
However, throughout the duration of the contract, the overall maintenance responsibility lies with the contractor. “But the system itself will last longer than 10 years,” said Munro, “so there is a joint working and training objective within the contract, so by the time British Gas are finished we will have enough in-house trained experts to take over from them.”
He added that a lot of the youngsters in the estates team are enthused about the project because a lot of energy centre technology is “touch-screen and PC driven, it isn’t all about valves and handles anymore – it is pretty hi- tech”.
Guarantee
The latest contract is one of eight EPCs that British Gas is currently working on with the NHS, and the company guarantees contractually that the savings will be achieved.
Chessum told us: “If we only save £900,000 because, for instance, we haven’t sized the boiler correctly, or we get the efficiency of it slightly wrong, then British Gas could end up writing the trust a cheque for £100,000 every year for the duration of the contract.
“But the way that the contract works is that, we can do that, or it might be more economical for
us to come in and change some of the system or technologies, at a cost to British Gas. And this is better than paying back that £100,000 each year.”
Once the technology is installed, there will be regular performance reports on how the kit is working. “These will tie-in with our billing regime, which, for the bulk of it, is done quarterly,” said Munro. “We also think that by the time we’ve got it up and running, like a well-oiled machine, it will do more than the guarantee. If you and I were giving a guarantee out, you would give the minimum, rather than being too optimistic with the target.”
Chessum stated that as British Gas is competing against technology and facility management companies to land the EPC contracts, “we want our customers to have the surety that they can achieve whatever is in the business case,” he said.
“These savings are effectively guaranteed by the contract and means the trust can make a positive return on their investment.”
Eric Munro
Mike Chessum
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
opinion@nationalhealthexecutive.com
national health executive Sep/Oct 14 | 41
© Joe Dunckley
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