NET ZERO
Case study A packaged plant room solution for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde needed to replace ageing boiler plant while protecting continuity of patient care at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital’s Maternity Unit, a retained 1970s building. The challenge was complex: the Trust required a more efficient heating system, minimal disruption to a live healthcare environment, a safer working space for operatives, and a solution that would remain flexible as wider estate plans evolved. Working with Craig Gallacher at WGM Consulting Engineers, Baxi Packaged Solutions provided a containerised plant room housing three condensing boilers with a combined output of 3,600 kW. By moving the new plant into an externally sited, prefabricated facility, the project team avoided the constraints of the existing boiler house and helped reduce the impact of
A packaged plant room in place.
works on the Maternity Unit’s day-to-day operation. The solution delivered immediate
operational benefits for the Trust. The high- efficiency boilers improved the performance of the heating system, supporting NHS GGC’s drive to reduce energy use and carbon emissions across its estate. The packaged approach also shortened installation time compared with traditional onsite construction, reducing onsite labour and enabling the contractor to progress other works within a tight programme. Safety was another important benefit. With asbestos-related risks in the existing plant area requiring careful management, the new containerised plant room created a separate, purpose-designed environment for maintenance teams. Factory manufacture, quality assurance, and end-of-line testing further supported build
quality and reliability before the solution arrived on site. Crucially, this solution also gives the
Trust future flexibility. The container has an expected service life of 20 to 25 years and has been designed so it can potentially be redeployed elsewhere on the estate. It also allows space for additional equipment, supporting possible future connection to a district heating system or other estate-wide decarbonisation plans. For NHS GGC, the result is a solution that addressed the urgent need for reliable, efficient heating while also supporting longer-term estate strategy. Combining proven boiler technology with offsite fabrication and a flexible packaged plant room will maintain service continuity, improve efficiency, protect operatives, and create a practical route towards future low- carbon heating options.
healthcare and heat networks. Modular plant can be designed for easier access, maintenance, and integration with wider building management systems. This provides peace of mind and reassurance to hospital estate teams that the technology can be supported over the long term. Your chosen provider should offer long term support
in the form of aftercare, maintenance, and spares support as well as lifecycle planning and future upgrades for integrated packaged systems. This single- point responsibility streamlines servicing and is yet another benefit of off-site compared to multi-vendor arrangements.
Tony Falconar
Tony Falconar is national sales manager at Baxi Packaged Solutions. With over 35 years’ experience in the HVAC industry – and 25 in the off-site sector – Tony has built a career delivering reliable, energy efficient, and compliant mechanical engineering solutions across a wide range of sectors. This includes the healthcare sector, where Tony has worked on hospitals, clinics, and specialist medical environments that require the highest standards of environmental control, infection prevention, and regulatory compliance.
when needed, reducing storage needs and double- handling for minimal disruption. Off-site fabrication can reduce waste and improve productivity with better resource planning within factories leading to fewer site delays and disputes. This helps NHS Trusts accelerate projects across their estates.
n Futureproof design: crucially, the off-site process provides hospitals with the ability to modernise systems while maintaining the reliability on which healthcare depends. For example, prefabricated plant rooms can be designed to ensure that ageing assets in the system can be replaced, capacity can be extended or the system reconfigured without major disruption. This includes introducing low-carbon technologies while keeping essential services operational. As such, if offers hospital estates managers the opportunity to design a flexible solution capable of adapting to future changes in clinical demand and regulatory requirements.
n Lifecycle benefits: long-term reliability is critical, especially for mission-critical applications such as
88 Health Estate Journal October 2026
Conclusion For hospitals, the route to Net Zero will not be achieved through a single technology or one-off intervention, but through carefully planned, phased strategies that reduce carbon while protecting the reliability of critical services. Off-site fabricated plant rooms and packaged energy solutions offer a practical way to deliver that balance. By shifting more work into controlled factory environments, Trusts can reduce disruption on live healthcare sites, improve quality assurance, shorten programmes, and create heating and hot water systems that are easier to maintain, adapt, and upgrade over time. As NHS estates teams face the combined pressures of ageing infrastructure, operational continuity, cost control, and ambitious decarbonisation targets, modular off-site solutions offer a strategic delivery model. With early engagement, robust design and long-term support, off-site solutions can help healthcare providers move from reactive replacement towards resilient, future-ready infrastructure. In this way, hospitals can ensure consistent, quality patient care today while preparing their estates for the low- carbon systems of tomorrow.
References 1 NHS England. Five years of a greener NHS: progress and forward look
2 Greener NHS. Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service
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