The new-build 24-bed Malvern Community Hospital at Malvern Link, scheduled to open this autumn, will utilise renewable geothermal energy for heating, cooling, and hot water, using ground source heat pumps to harness solar energy absorbed by the earth.
It will also generate low carbon electricity using combined heat and power (CHP) that will meet a significant proportion of the building’s needs. Both technologies are being supplied by Greater-Manchester-based ENER-G as part of an “eco-friendly” design brief set by Interserve, contracted by Worcestershire Primary Care Trust to build the £17.7 million hospital. Capita Symonds is providing building services engineering, and BREEAM, consultancy. The ground source system will incorporate 25 boreholes and two heat pumps with combined capacities of 125 kW for both heating and cooling. The CHP system is a reciprocating gas engine rated at 33 kW of electrical output that will generate 55 kW of useful thermal output for the building and the ground loop for the heat pump. By generating its own “green” power, the hospital is projected to save £8,700 per year on its energy bills. The hospital will include inpatient and outpatient facilities, X-ray and ultrasound, day rehabilitation and therapies, palliative care, and a visiting mammography and MRI scan service.
