The work included; installing large-scale heat pumps, a 1MW solar photovoltaic array, producing 300,000 kWh of electricity each year, the equivalent of powering over a hundred 2-3 bedroom homes. Along with a new electricity substation, safely demolishing a 38-metre high chimney and replacing 780 windows whilst ensuring the hospital continued to function and serve its patients, visitors and staff.
The work will improve comfort for staff and patients through enhanced insulation and energy-efficient measures and will generate a projected 75% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030. It has created a substantial decrease in the hospital’s carbon footprint and will save the trust approximately £500,000 per year in energy costs and reduce the chance of power outages, which would critically impact the hospital.
Jonathan Kershaw, Managing Director at Dalkia (Energy Services) said: “This project demonstrates technical innovation that delivers significant decarbonisation and the benefits of the great teamwork and collaboration that has existed between Northumbria Healthcare Facilities Management, the Trust and Dalkia. I am grateful to the teams for all their hard work that has helped us get to this point. Dalkia are looking forward to working with the Trust on the next stages of their Net Zero journey .”
Damon Kent, Managing Director at Northumbria Healthcare Facilities Management said: “We’re delighted that this work is complete at North Tyneside General Hospital. This has been an extremely important project for us and is another way we have invested heavily in our estates and facilities, ensuring new developments and refurbishing existing buildings to make them as sustainable as possible. A significant amount of work has been undertaken to complete this project and we’d like to thank everyone involved who helped us reach this milestone.”
Clare Winter, Head of Sustainability at Northumbria Healthcare said: “This project sets a very clear statement about the Trust’s ambitions to decarbonise our estate. We take our Community Promise and our Net Zero Northumbria plans very seriously. We are proud of our achievements at North Tyneside General Hospital, it sets the benchmark going forward.