An ambitious £24.1 m Net Zero project at the John Radcliffe Hospital and Horton General Hospitals, part of the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH), which is seeing both healthcare facilities 'de-steamed’, is due to complete later this year.
Funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero under the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, the scheme is being delivered by Salix. Chair of the Salix Board, Baroness Natalie Evans, CEO, Kevin Holland, and director of Public Sector Decarbonisation, Ian Rodger, were recently joined by Rob Hewitt, director, Industrial Decarbonisation and Emissions Trading, and Paul Chambers, deputy director, Public Sector Decarbonisation, at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, for a visit to the John Radcliffe Hospital to see the scale and progress of the project. Baroness Natalie Evans said: “It was clear to see the impact of strong and collaborative stakeholder relationships in developing the vision, as well as delivering these kinds of projects. The working relationship between the hospital and its delivery partners has driven the decarbonisation works forward, and will continue doing so as the project progresses.”
OUH staff including Chief Estates and Facilities officer, Mark Holloway, head of Estates and Facilities Operations, Jeenash Mistry, head of Sustainability and Carbon Management, Wendy Cheeseman, and deputy director of Capital Development, Craig Merrifield, also joined the walkaround at the John Radcliffe. Jeenash Mistry said: “We have achieved a huge amount, and it has been a highly complex project; we cannot just turn the power off and get on with work. This is a hospital. and at no point have patient services been impacted. Resilience is very much part of our discussion. The modernisation of the building’s heating and hot water infrastructure will improve our energy efficiency by adopting a range of low carbon technologies, and support our journey towards the national target for a Net Zero NHS carbon footprint by 2040.”
The Net Zero works at the John Radcliffe Hospital are aimed both at making the hospital more energy-efficient, and providing a better patient environment. In all, £24.1 m was awarded to the John Radcliffe Hospital, and £5.7 m to the Horton General Hospital, under Phase 3b of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, with OUH contributing £8.2 m towards the wider scheme, taking the total expenditure to £38 m over a three-year period.
Representatives from the prime contractor, Vital Energi, account director, Steve Black, director of Low Carbon Solutions, Chris Yeo, senior Project manager, Neil Otter, and Contracts manager, Jordan Firth, also attended the visit, and explained the technologies being installed.
