Grants to make council buildings greener awarded to the Borough Council

Borough council buildings are to become more environmentally friendly thanks to decarbonisation grants worth more than £3.8M.

Buildings around the borough are to be made more environmentally friendly through adapting to low or non-carbon generating technologies, such as solar PV panels and air and ground source heat pumps thanks to two grants from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and are from the Government’s £1 billion Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) fund.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Commercial Services, Cllr Kunes said: "The council’s first bid for £2.84m was successful in January and this was followed by a further grant of just over £1m in February. The work should be completed before the end of this year. The reduction in carbon emissions from the overall project is estimated at a total of 494 tonnes per year.”

Seven buildings were included in the first-round application. The buildings/sites and the proposed technologies are:

• Lynnsport - Solar Photovoltaics (SP) & Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP)
• Downham Market Leisure Centre – Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP)
• St James’ Pool - ASHP
• King’s Court – ASHP, Timerclock controls
• Fairstead Community Centre – Loft insulation improvement, SP, ASHP
• Valentine Road offices, Hunstanton – Timerclock controls, SP, Loft insulation improvement, GSHP
• Council Depot (Factory 1), Hardwick – SP, cavity wall insulation improvement, GSHP

The second-round bid covered the following buildings and technologies:

• Oasis, Hunstanton - Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP)
• Guildhall, King’s Lynn – ASHP
• South Lynn Community Centre -ASHP, Solar PV
• Dutton Pavillion, King’s Lynn – Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP)

T&A asked the Borough Council: "Both of the Hunstanton sites, Valentine Road & The Oasis had been rumoured to have limited life expectancy. Are there any assurances of the ongoing likelihood of these sites not being either re-developed or sold off for a different usage within say 5 years or so?"

A spokesperson for the Borough Council has responded today saying: "There are no current plans to redevelop or sell-off either site within the time frame of the grant."