CARBON AND ENERGY REDUCTION Low carbon electricity
Using an energy source that uses low carbon electricity is key to achieving a zero-carbon hospital. National grid projections indicate that the grid could be zero carbon by 2030, so a fully electric hospital can make the operational energy of the building zero carbon to make use of the continually decarbonising national grid. Design teams must engage with city- wide stakeholders and evaluate all options for energy strategy against costs, programme, and feasibility, in close dialogue with the hospital Trust, key service-providers, and the city council, to arrive at a pathway best suited to achieve a Net Zero Carbon Hospital design. Based on the reduced carbon factors with the rapidly decarbonising UK grid energy, we can present different energy strategy choices to a hospital Trust and stakeholders to help us arrive at the best Net Zero Carbon pathway suited for a project. Our research shows that when compared with a gas-based or hybrid system, a fully electrified energy pathway will achieve the most energy-efficient building with minimum or no future carbon offsetting costs for the project to achieve a net zero carbon status. However, the hospital Trust may have current service contracts that may require a phased transition to fossil fuel-free energy, which may indicate that a hybrid system approach may be best to utilise local district heating networks with the co-benefits of supporting a local circular economy.
BMS DATA COLLECTION
DATA ANALYSIS
FEEDBACK AND PLAN
ONSITE ANALYSIS, OPTIMISING AND TRAINING
OPTIMISE
REVIEW
MONITOR
‘Monitor and improve’: Including Estates & Facilities management teams in discussions around energy in use targets, design, and servicing strategies, is key to a low energy hospital.
6: Monitor and Improve Last but not least, post-completion verification, monitoring, and measuring, helps optimise energy efficiency in hospitals. Buildings are traditionally handed over with little training or insight as to how the building and its systems were designed, and how they should be operated. Including Facilities management teams in discussions around energy in use targets, design, and servicing strategies, is key to a low- energy hospital.
Another key element is seasonal commissioning. The UK climate can vary
significantly from winter to mid-season to summer; thus, depending on when the hospital is handed over, the engineering systems can operate very differently. Fine-tuning during different seasons will help close the gap between the detailed simulation assessments and the real-world building. This offers the opportunity for Estates and Facilities teams to learn and understand more about the systems and seasonal variance. It also identifies key areas of improvement where energy consumption can be reduced to enable the Operations team to take corrective measures. Crucially, it will help set industry benchmarks, and to inform and shape NHS estate development across the UK for a net zero carbon future.
Early engagement
Engaging the Estates & Facilities and Operations teams in the early stages of design helps to arrive at a low-energy building. These teams manage and operate healthcare buildings and the associated systems day in, day out. Estates & Facilities and Operations managers can provide examples of systems that work well, or don’t, and where improved performance can be gained.
Early engagement with these teams also helps them to be part of the journey, and to feel valued as part of the overall team in delivering and operating net zero carbon buildings.
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Anuradha Sabherwal
Anuradha Sabherwal – senior associate at NBBJ, has more than 20 years’ experience in the design and delivery of healthcare projects, encompassing acute, cancer, women and children’s, diabetes, clinical office, and medical research. Designing for health, wellness, and environmental sustainability, has been her focus and passion in all her work, and she leads NBBJ’s UK Sustainability Group, driving the agenda forwards and the practice’s commitments to the RIBA 2030 goals. She has a particular focus on the NHS’s Net Zero Carbon targets.
70 Health Estate Journal September 2021
Jon Nuttall
Jon Nuttall – associate director at Hoare Lea, is a mechanical engineer by training. He joined the leading engineering practice in 2010, and became a leading member of its Sustainability Group. Passionate about designing sustainable healthcare developments, he is supporting on the operational energy and building performance for the new Whipps Cross Hospital, was Energy Simulation lead for the new Alder Hey Hospital, and is collaborating with NBBJ on a number of sustainability initiatives looking at how the NHS may reach its Net Zero Carbon goals.
©Hoare Lea
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