LORD CARTER INNOVATION AWARD 2019


Carbon reduction initiatives recognised with award


A Northern Irish NHS Trust’s efforts to significantly reduce its carbon footprint and fossil fuel usage, and increase its use of renewables, via what its Estates engineering team dub ‘an innovative multidisciplinary approach across the mediums of software, hardware, plant, design, contract analysis, and training’, were rewarded when it won the Lord Carter Innovation Award 2019 at an IHEEM event held in Westminster in mid-November. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.


Anthony Trimble, head of Estates Operations, and his colleague, Robert Spence, head of Specialist Services, at the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, received the coveted award from Lord Carter at a celebratory lunch held in the Cholmondeley Room and Terrace in the House of Lords on 14 November. The lunch followed a morning seminar, entitled ‘NHS Engineering & Estates: A Vision for 2030’ (see pages 19-23) which took place a short distance away at Broadway House in Westminster, and at which speakers included IHEEM’s President, Ian Hinitt, Sir Robert Naylor, BESA’s Chief Executive, David Frise, the Executive director at the BRE Trust, Deborah Pullen, and IHEEM CEO, Pete Sellars.


Highly Commended


QE Facilities Limited (QEF), part of the Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust (GHNT) – which was established in 2014 ‘to create a new model for the delivery of non-healthcare services to the NHS’ – received a Highly Commended certificate for achievements ranging from reducing staff sickness and reviewing its maintenance activities to maximise efficiency, to improving its space utilisation, and reducing carbon footprint through ‘greener travel’ and an Energy Reduction Strategy. Peter Harding, QE Facilities’ managing director, received the certificate from Lord Carter, who congratulated both the winning and Highly Commended entrants, and praised this year’s high standard of entries. The winner of the Lord Carter Innovation Award for 2019, the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, is a sizeable Northern Irish Trust with an estate of ‘140+ buildings’, for which heat, light, and power are supplied by a mix of gas, oil, biomass, and electricity. The Trust serves a 345,000-strong population across the South & East of Northern Ireland, and had a 2017/18 carbon footprint of 18,521 tonnes of CO2 (126,526,445 kWh). Its award entry


e


Lord Carter, speaking at the lunch at the House of Lords, praised the quality of entrants this year to the award given in his name.


explained that, with ‘an intrinsic link’ between carbon/particulate emissions to atmosphere and respiratory issues, reducing these emissions was ‘core’ to its Estates and Facilities Department’s goals. The Department’s targets included: n Reducing carbon emissions by at least 3.5%.


n Reducing grid electricity and fossil fuel usage.


n Increasing/maintaining the Trust’s use of renewables (PV and green wind power from the grid).


n Continuing to maintain ISO 14001 accreditation.


n Complying with the goals of the Chief Executive’s Sustainability Report.


n Reducing CRC (Carbon Reduction Commitment) costs.


Key plant installation To achieve these targets, Estates engineering staff activity included installing:


n 531 kW of photovoltaic panels Trust- wide (2,124 panels), accredited by Ofgem to allow accrual of Renewable Obligations Certificates – current certificates held were valued at £95,000 in 2019.


n Four CHP plants, with a combined electrical generation capacity of 878 kW.


n Two biomass boilers, with a combined thermal generation capacity of 2.1 MW.


n 16 air source heat pumps, with a thermal generation capacity of 256 kW.


n One experimental solar thermal array of 41 kW.


Faults promptly logged and quickly addressed


Trust Estates staff ‘on the ground’ are equipped with tablets (iPads and Android devices), and use BackTraq software to link directly with the Estates Help Desk. As faults are logged, they are uploaded to mobile devices for immediate attention. A building energy management system, (with a Trend 963 ‘front end’) installed on a ‘virtual server’, allows ‘dial-in’ to boiler/ system controls from any Trust computer or safe device, ‘anywhere’. Boiler controls or settings can thus be checked, and any faults or inefficiencies found, fixed immediately. Analytics software (TEM – Trend Energy Manager), again installed on ‘virtual’ Trust servers, allows remote access from any location, and is used both as a profiling database for usage profiles across all fuels, and as a fault-finding tool. Zetasafe software is used for plant maintenance recording, profiling, and water safety (again, installed on virtual servers).


The South Eastern HSC Trust says there is ‘excellent communication’ between all levels of staff and the Estates and Facilities management team, and that each Estates officer has ‘clear, focused action in mind, the tools to do it, and the support to achieve it’.


The ‘results of their actions’ can be clearly identified by the Trend Energy Manager system. ‘Successes are highlighted and celebrated’, either within


January 2020 Health Estate Journal 51


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76