The Association for Decentralised Energy
St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is the largest healthcare provider in South West London. A staff of 8,500 serve a local population of 1.3 million people. Around 800,000 patients are treated in the hospital each year, including more than 5,000 babies delivered.
The Tooting site also acts as a teaching hospital and advanced medical research centre.
The location had been served by a 40-year-old energy centre. This had grown increasingly inefficient, and incapable of meeting new environmental targets.
In response, the Trust partnered with Centrica Business Solutions to create a new energy strategy for the hospital as part of a 15-year Energy Performance Contract (EPC).
The contract includes the installation of two Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units and four boilers, which form the energy centre. Centrica Business Solutions also introduced a number of schemes across the site, including lighting, a building management system, chiller replacement and split unit air conditioning optimisation.
During the work on the energy centre, it was crucial that the boiler house remained operational as the steam generated by the boilers is used to generate heat and hot water for the rest of the hospital. Centrica Business Solutions managed the installation without any impact on the hospital and its patients.
The Trust is guaranteed to save more than £1m a year during the 15-year contract with Centrica Business Solutions. It will also save 6,000 tonnes of carbon a year, the equivalent of the emissions from 3,000 cars. The savings allow the Trust to invest more in patient care and teaching medical staff. The environmental savings help the Trust meet regulatory compliance, and act as a benchmark to other healthcare providers.
Kevin Howell, Director of Estates & Facilities, St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said:
By saving £1m annually for the next 15 years, the contract will go a long way to help us maximise the resources we can put into patient care. It also massively cuts our carbon emissions and improves our overall sustainability.
