Fife students and leisure centre users will benefit from green scheme thanks to funding boost

More than £2.4million has been awarded to Fife Council for decarbonisation works at St Andrews RC High School and Beacon Leisure Centre.

Two venues in Fife are set to benefit from green upgrades thanks to an exciting decarbonisation scheme driven by the local council.

The works will focus on upgrades to two sites known as some of the highest consumers of gas across the council estate: St Andrews RC High School and Beacon Leisure Centre. Both sites will be used as a part of a pilot programme to inform future decarbonisation works across council-owned buildings.

Jonathan Coppock, lead professional net zero at Fife Council, said: “We are thrilled to receive funding so that we can improve the emissions from these buildings and learn from the experience to target similar building types in future phases of our decarbonisation program.”

The high school has been educating adolescents in the east and north of Fife for over half a century. The leisure centre is a popular community facility serving locals and visitors to the area, providing them with facilities and opportunities they may otherwise be unable to access.

Upgrades are being praised for not only the emissions reductions that will result, but also for improving the environment of the buildings themselves. This includes confidence in a reliable supply of heating and hot water attributed to the works. 

Jonathan added: “These works will help to save energy and improve comfort conditions for building users.”

To support the works, the council has been awarded £2,404,911 in funding through Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund. Funding is delivered by Salix on behalf of the Scottish Government. 

About the sites

St Andrews RC High School in Kirkcaldy is a mixed-gender school for children aged from 12-18 and currently supports more than 880 pupils. 

Works at this location will replace 50% of the boilers currently used to heat the building and upgrade these to air source heat pumps. 

Additional energy efficiency measures including the installation of solar panels and building insulation upgrades will also be implemented to lessen the heat and electrical demand of school buildings.

Beacon Leisure Centre is situated beside the links on the seafront of coastal Burntisland. It opened in 1997 and is home to a leisure pool, gym and fitness studios. 

At this location, a combination of air source heat pumps and water source heat pumps will be installed alongside additional optimisation measures to ensure best efficiency when heating the space.

Fife’s commitment to climate action

Similarly to many other local authorities, Fife Council declared a climate emergency in 2019. They have set themselves the target, in line with the Scottish Government, to achieve net zero by 2045 for their built estate.

Jonathan said: “Our focus has now very much shifted towards how we can reduce the carbon impact of our gas heated properties.”

Earlier this year, Fife Council published Climate Fife 2024, a strategy and action plan which details a phased approach to decarbonisation and net zero, beginning with council estate decarbonisation pilot projects. Within this strategy, they have committed to investing over £13.6 million to decarbonise 22 existing buildings across their estate by 2028. 

You can find out more about Fife Council’s approach to climate change through their website.

About Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund

Launched in July 2023, Scotland’s Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund made grant funding available for projects to decarbonise heating systems by replacing them with zero direct emissions systems. 

It also includes funding for retrofit energy efficiency measures to support the overall decarbonisation of heat in buildings. 

The scheme will deliver funding to successful applicants for projects due to complete by the end of financial year 2024/25. 

We expect to publish a full list of successful applicants later this summer.

You can read more about the scheme through our website.