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  4. A net zero energy strategy for Royal United Hospitals Bath

A net zero energy strategy for Royal United Hospitals Bath

Our work will help the trust reduce its carbon emissions by supporting decision-making on changes to equipment, buildings and infrastructure.

The climate emergency is also a health emergency that, left unchecked, will affect people at every stage of their lives. With poor environmental health contributing to major diseases, including cardiac problems, asthma and cancer, NHS England has committed to achieving net zero in the emissions it controls directly by 2040, and in the emissions it can influence by 2045.

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust occupies a 52-acre site about 1½ miles from Bath city centre. It provides 759 beds and a comprehensive range of acute services, and employs over 4,500 staff. Having established its own carbon reduction strategy, the trust asked WSP for help to understand how it could reduce the emissions it controls directly. Achieving net zero on a busy hospital site that includes a mix of 80-year-old and new buildings is a major challenge, and the trust wanted our expertise to inform its decision-making.

Location

  • United Kingdom

Project Status

  • Completed in 2021
In our net-zero strategy we placed a specific focus on reducing scope one and two carbon emissions to zero by 2030. WSP’s work will inform how we get there – how we will deliver that reduction through the infrastructure, buildings and equipment we have on site.
Hayley Williams Head of Sustainability, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

Our strategy will look at all options to decarbonise the site and enable our client to assess different scenarios against other considerations, such as potential disruption to services.

Our approach: three key areas

In our work with the trust, we’re focusing on three strands:

  1. Reducing energy demand by optimising existing equipment and through upgrades
  2. Maximising renewable generation on site through solar PV
  3. Eliminating fossil fuels by electrifying energy use on the site

On a site which has a 2MW gas-fired combined heat and power plant, and which uses gas for space and water heating, eliminating the use of fossil fuels is particularly challenging. Swapping boilers for heat pumps or any other low carbon systems would require a major redesign of systems and pipework, given the existing steam-based systems. In addition, the site is already close to its grid capacity and any more demand – such as from new electric heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment and electric vehicle charge-points – would require an upgrade to the local distribution network. What’s more, with buildings housing vital healthcare services that run 24 hours a day 365 days a year, it’s crucial that switching to electricity for both power and heating does not compromise resilience. We had to keep all this in mind as we explored the options.

We created scenarios to help the trust explore the pros and cons of different options. For example, converting gas boilers to heat pumps and upgrading insulation is expensive, technically challenging and potentially disruptive. Other actions, such as improving energy efficiency in the short term, were technically and financially viable. We assessed all the scenarios against environmental benefits, technology maturity and potential investment needed for implementation.
Alessandro Ciampechini Associate, WSP

A major programme of works to implement carbon reduction measures is a daunting prospect in any environment, and even more so in a hospital. One way to reduce the impact is to tie work in with planned construction projects. The trust has an opportunity to do this, having secured seed funding from the New Hospital Programme to create a strategic outline case for building upgrades and construction across the site. Combining this with work to implement measures identified in the energy strategy could minimise overall disruption.

Once complete, our strategy will enable the trust to begin implementing the smaller interventions we identified and begin identifying funding options for larger, longer-term measures such as electrification of heat. With the strategy to guide them, the trust’s team can begin the journey to net zero.  

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Other challenges that we have overcome