Diggers begin excavating Essex school site as summer holidays begin

Work is part of £1.6m green project at the heart of the village community

Diggers have started work at a children’s playground and are ready to install Essex’s first school ground source heat pump.

The 172-metre-deep borehole works at Tollesbury School started during the first week of school summer holidays and are part of a £ 1.6 million green project led by Essex County Council alongside the school community.

The Tollesbury School project, which is part funded by Essex County Council received £414, 351 from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

The Tollesbury Climate Partnership, a community climate action group, raised an additional £250k from a community crowdfunding campaign.

Much of the internal work, including insulation, windows, and pipework, has already been completed. The ground source heat pump is the final part of the works, which involves drilling down into the playing field and digging trenches along the school playground for pipework to reach the newly renovated pump room at the school.

At a celebratory event on Thursday, representatives from the school, contractors Mitie, council officials, Tollesbury Climate Partnership and a team from Salix joined forces to cheer the work on.

Headteacher Kate Garnett said: “We are thrilled to have progressed the project to this point.

“We talk a lot about decarbonisation with the children and all the issues around energy and climate change.

“We want the children to take these messages home to their families and to the wider community.

“Whilst we have already done a lot of work, the most significant will be installing the ground source heat pump, we feel like we’ve been talking about this for so long.

“We have grown ever more mindful of the financial benefits of cutting energy costs, taking environmental responsibility, and protecting the future for the next generation.”

Kate, who has worked at Tollesbury School for the last 11 years, says the success of working alongside the contractors in a busy school, is due to good communication.

She added: “Everyone was very mindful that we were trying to teach, and the school had to function despite building work.

“It has been important to us to include the pupils in this project from the beginning. This project is an important educational tool when it comes to carbon literacy.”

She said many of the children would be visiting during the school holidays to see the drilling progress. However, they will be thrilled to eventually have their playing field back after it has been fully reseeded and landscaped in early 2025. 

She added: “We have learned so much about how we use our energy, I have learnt so much and I keep asking the questions!”

Facilities Manager at Essex County Council Lisa Freshwater said: “This is a flagship project for the council because it is our first ground source heat pump installed at a school.

“Everyone has worked so hard to get the project this far and we are all excited to have this technology on site.”

Director at Tollesbury Climate Partnership (TCP), Mark Howland added: “We are very proud to get to this point and largely thanks to the passion from everyone at the school, the teachers, the children, the governors and of course we’re all grateful to have the backing and guidance of Essex County Council.

“We are in a climate emergency, and we need to act now.”

The 14 boreholes will take all summer to drill in the school playing field. Workers are currently drilling down around 100 metres a day as part of the ground source heat pump works.

Mitie project manager Glenn Taylor has had the huge task of liaising with neighbours as well as co-ordinating the works team. He said: “We have a good team, and we are working to schedule.

“The children have been very engaged and when I explained to them how the heat pumps work and used an analogy of a pillow, they understood it!

“We have also been talking to the neighbours here a lot, as we have to be mindful this is a lovely village and there are houses very close to the school.

“But everyone has been so understanding.”

Glenn has worked closely with Sean McDonald, core programme manager at Mitie. Sean has been responsible for project design and ensuring notices and building control applications were in place at the right time.

It’s clearly an impressive team effort.

As part of the project, the school will also install ground-mounted solar PV in the playing field.

Inside the school, we can already see how double glazing, pipework improvements, radiator replacements, insulation, and LED lighting have had a positive impact on the site.

It is estimated that once all the works are complete, the school’s carbon emissions will be reduced by 90%, saving it £14,000 per year on energy bills, rising to £38,000 after 10 years. 

Programme Manager at Salix Finance Rebecca McNamara said: “It is incredible to see the progress at the school.

“We visited last year and joined the children for an assembly, and they were buzzing with excitement about this project. 

“Although it may be quiet now during the holidays, you can certainly feel the children’s energy as this important part of the work must still be done.

“We will certainly be visiting again in the autumn to celebrate the completion of all the works, and we cannot wait.”

Essex County Council aims to reduce the county’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, in line with UK statutory commitments.

Works at Tollesbury School include:

• Replacing all windows with double glazing which will save 64MWh of energy per year.
• Adding loft insulation which will save 33MWh of energy per year.
• Cavity walls will be filled with the latest insulating material which will save 9MWh of energy per year.
• LED lighting will be added throughout the school saving 5MWh of energy per year.
• A modern ground source heat pump will be connected to the existing radiator network. 
• A 68kW solar PV array will be added to generate electricity for the ground source heat pump.

The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is run by the Department for Energy and Net Zero and is delivered by Salix in England.

Tollesbury Climate Partnership (TCP) is an Essex based which established a community share offer to help fund the work.

Mark added that he hoped the Tollesbury Climate Partnership would be able to use their fundraising model to improve other village buildings in the future. But for now is fully engaged in supporting the school and seeing the project succeed.

He explained that Tollesbury Climate Partnership is led by volunteers who have put in around 2,000 unpaid hours of work into the village project.

Kate added: “We cannot wait for the time we can replant the school playing field and get the children planting some new trees. They can watch them grow throughout their years here at Tollesbury School.

“That will certainly be an event, it’s never ending!”

Thank you to everyone at Tollesbury School and Essex County Council for inviting us along and to the Mitie team for explaining the works so well.

We cannot wait to come back and join the children in 2025 when they plant their trees and lay down further roots for the future.

Tollesbury offers many lessons in inspiration, determination, and teamwork—core values the children will take with them into their futures, knowing they have made a difference to the environment they live and work in.