Patience and perseverance propel positive outcomes in Manchester

We’re celebrating project completion at Manchester Communication Academy after a few months of unforeseen delays.

Driven by Greater Manchester Academies Trust, who run the school, the project focused on moving the school from expensive and inefficient fossil fuel heating to a low-emission air source heat pump. Additionally, solar PV and battery storage was introduced in a bid to reduce the school’s reliance on the grid.

The project faced months of delays attributed to the delivery of a custom part that would allow the heat pumps to work on a cascading system, and sign-off from the distribution network operator on full usage of their solar PV array and battery storage.

Aptly demonstrating the values of patience and perseverance taught to its students, trust representatives are keen to take forward lessons learned from this experience for future works. 

Andrew Woolley, school chief operating officer and vice principal, said: “During our programme we had a number of issues that we had to overcome. One of our biggest issues was our supply chain using the current MBC’s that we have, they’re no longer produced in the United Kingdom.

“We had to wait [for the] best part of nine months to have a custom part manufactured in Italy to ensure that the project went to plan. That did delay our project but the people at Salix were very understanding regarding that.”

Alexander Pierre-Fallman, our client support officer who has been working with the trust, said: “The project has proven to be a great example of how you can overcome hurdles and complete a decarbonisation project that is proving to be a great source of inspiration, paving the way for others to follow.”

The project removed two nearly 20-year-old boilers that were becoming less reliable and efficient with time. Loft insulation was installed to ensure better heat retention as the site previously saw a high level of heat wastage. Solar PV and battery storage was introduced to address the increasing demands of the site for energy consumption while ensuring carbon emissions did not as a result of this.

Now complete, the trust is proud to see project outcomes demonstrated through not only financial and carbon savings, but also through educating its students on the climate crisis and importance to persevere even when things don’t go to plan.

Andrew added: “There is no more important action than schools investing in low carbon technology to reduce energy costs and to reduce our carbon footprint.”

Since all parts of the technology went live on 11 July 2024, the school has been actively monitoring outputs and is happy to see both direct and indirect carbon emission reductions coming to fruition thanks to both low-carbon heating and off-grid energy generated through the solar PV.

Read more about the positive outcomes of the projects for staff and students through the news story on our website or watch our short video above to hear more from Andrew and our team at Salix.