Leisure energy savings

Wiltshire Council's leisure members are enjoying high-energy workouts in low-energy facilities following a range of initiatives that will help to reduce energy bills and carbon emissions.

The council expects that when the work is complete, along with other initiatives being carried out at more buildings it runs, it will save over 900 tonnes of CO2 per year. Work so far has included heat pump upgrades from gas to electric, air handling unit upgrades and the installation of solar PV panels at a number of leisure centres and library buildings. All of the work has been delivered by the council's Strategic Asset Maintenance & Facilities Management (SAM&FM) Energy Team and funded through the government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS).

All council sites are now supplied with renewable energy through the green tariff scheme. Once these works are complete Five Rivers Health & Wellbeing Centre in Salisbury, The Olympiad in Chippenham and Springfield Community Campus in Corsham will be carbon neutral in their operation.

Further funding has also been secured from the PSDS to replace fossil fuel gas boilers with low carbon biomass boilers at three buildings, including two Leisure Centres (Warminster Sports Centre and Lime Kiln Leisure Centre in Royal Wootton Bassett). Subject to successful planning permission, this work will reduce carbon emissions from the council's property by a further 400 tonnes of CO2 per year.

The public sector decarbonisation grant from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy provides grants for public sector bodies to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures.

The council is also funding projects through its own Property Carbon Reduction Programme, including upgrades to the centre Building Management Systems (BMS) and Solar PV installations -to further decrease carbon emissions and energy costs across its estate.

Cllr Nick Botterill, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Climate change said, These projects show that we are committed to making council buildings more sustainable and maximising our opportunities to attract funding into the county.

I'd like to thank the Energy Team for their hard work so far in obtaining the available government funding and working hard to put the changes in place at our buildings to reduce our carbon emissions.

Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Leisure and Operational Assets, said: This is a really important and relevant challenge and we're delighted that we're making leisure centres across the county more sustainable and environmentally conscious, while providing space for local people to be more active.  

Leisure centres are integral to local communities and it's more important than ever that we maintain facilities that have longevity and identify and grasp new opportunities to improve their environmental footprint.

To find out more about the council's Climate Strategy, which was recently adopted, people should visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk/climate-change.

More information about the council's leisure services can be found at www.witshire.gov.uk/leisure.