NET ZERO BUILDINGS
Devizes facility – a ‘pioneer in green estate design’
NHS Property Services (NHSPS) recently opened a new Integrated Care Centre in Devizes in the heart of Wiltshire, which is now is now open to patients. Here, Andrew Strange, Regional Partnership director – Midlands, at NHSPS, gives us ‘a deep dive’ into how the project first started, the challenges faced, what the centre will be used for, and why sustainability is so important for the future of the NHS.
Carbon emissions play a key role in contributing to global warming and climate change. Climate change, of course, not only affects the environment, but also our health, contributing to, and indeed worsening, conditions like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and respiratory diseases such as asthma. By working towards a smaller carbon footprint, we can simultaneously reduce the burden of disease from factors such as air pollution. The NHS estate can play a big part in reducing carbon emissions and helping to tackle climate change, but how much does the NHS estate contribute to our carbon footprint?
As a whole, healthcare buildings belonging to the NHS contribute 15% of the total NHS carbon footprint, and the NHS is responsible for around 5.4% of the UK’s total carbon emissions across all its activities. The NHS is aiming to achieve a Net Zero carbon status by 2040 through the COP26 Health Programme, which aligns with the Government’s ambition set out in its Build Back Greener strategy.
A ‘pioneer in green estate design’ Last October, we saw the £365 m Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme open – a
NHSPS says the opening of the Devizes Health Centre – built by Kier – has provided much-needed additional space for health services in the area.
funding scheme to support organisations, including the NHS, to invest in low-carbon heating and energy innovations.1,2
of this scheme is to help the UK reach its carbon reduction targets while reducing energy costs and supporting energy resilience. A couple of months later, in December 2022, NHS Property Services (NHSPS) opened a new sustainable health centre to patients in the heart of Wiltshire. Belonging to a very small group
The goal
of sustainable facilities across England, Devizes Health Centre is a pioneer in green estate design. Unsurprisingly, many properties in England and Wales do not have great energy efficiency, with an average Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of D. This has a significant impact on the UK’s carbon emissions, as buildings are responsible for nearly a fifth of UK emissions. However, the Devizes site has an energy EPC rating of A+, which achieves a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) rating of ‘Excellent’. The positive rating of the health centre is a significant achievement.
NHSPS says the new community healthcare facility ‘highlights the benefits and advantages of a collaborative effort and joined-up thinking from different teams’.
The latest ‘green’ technology Alongside this, the site utilises the latest green technology, including heat pumps and solar panels that generate heat and electricity, to enable it to be self-sufficient and reduce reliance on fossil fuels. While retrofitting existing buildings with, for example, new HVAC plant, lighting, or insulation, to improve their energy rating is a key part of estate sustainability, we should also build efficiently for the future – the Devizes Health Centre is a prime example of this.
April 2023 Health Estate Journal 47
Photo used courtesy of Kier
Photo used courtesy of Kier
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