Nearly £4m to be spent on making West Norfolk and King's Lynn buildings greener
The Borough Council's been awarded two grants.
£3.8m is going to be spent on making Borough Council buildings in West Norfolk and King's Lynn greener.
Two grants have been awarded to the authority from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and are part of a wider Decarbonisation Scheme fund.
Councillor Klunes, who's the Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Commercial Services, explained: "These grants mean that we can make our buildings more environmentally friendly through adapting to low or non-carbon generating technologies, such as solar PV panels and air and ground source heat pumps.
"This is really exciting news and means a very big step forward in the Councils aim to become Carbon neutral as soon as possible.
"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."
Which building's are going to have work done?
Seven buildings were included in the first-round application:
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)
What happens now?
Now the project moves into a detailed design stage, which includes things like getting any necessary consents for the work.
It is part of a wider Re:Fit programme from the council to remove carbon from it's existing stock of buildings.
The work is 100% grant funded and will be considered by Cabinet on the 16th March 2021.