Treasured buildings get new lease of life as part of Hillingdon’s net zero commitment

Redundant chimneys now part of ambitious tech design which commits to borough's carbon reduction

Clever design solutions and net zero plans at landmark London buildings have been celebrated during a special visit to the sites.

Hillingdon Council received £13.75 million from the government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme. The scheme is run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and delivered by Salix.

The funding will help the borough to work towards its commitment of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, investing in energy savings to reduce carbon across its estate.

During a tour of three of the sites our Salix team was able to meet the key stakeholders and discuss how the scheme has brought new life to some of London’s most well used buildings.

The Hillingdon Civic Centre, Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex and the Winston Churchill Theatre all benefited from funding under Phase 3b of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

Salix programme co-ordinator Benedita Baroseiro has worked with the council for nearly a year and couldn’t wait to see how works have progressed and discuss what is to come.

She said: “It’s an incredible mix of buildings, from three listed buildings to two leisure centres, so it’s a real variety.”

Our team started their tour at the listed Hillingdon Civic Centre. The huge building was opened to the public in 1976 and originally cost £18.5m to build involving 40 sub-contractors.

It’s poignant the civic suite houses a giant yew wood sculpture which hangs the length of the stairwell. The abstract pieces weighing a total of 350kg, were created by sculptor John Phillips. He had saved the wood from destruction when the trees were cut down in Buckinghamshire for M40 works.

The artist had brought new life to the redundant trees, much as project managers are today breathing new life into part of the council buildings no longer used.

A large feature of the project has been the heat pump installations. And we were on the eight-acre site back in August this year when five giant heat pumps were installed on the roof of the building with further heat pumps placed inside. 

Engineers had spent hours planning the moment the Thermonova heat pumps could be placed on the roof ensuring the surface was strong enough to take the weight of each one tonne pump.

For more information about that visit see here.

Inside the Civic Centre there are vast open-plan office floors, linked to a civic suite of meeting rooms, councillors' offices, the Mayor's parlour, the council chamber, civic hall and registry office.  Today the challenge here is simply the amount of energy the enormous building consumes.

Director of operational assets at Hillingdon Gary Penticost, said: “The Hillingdon Civic Centre is a very large building with the high energy use, so it is an essential part of the borough's decarbonisation plan.

“We always knew that we had to tackle this early on, and it’s been a challenge.”

The building is split into quadrants, each of which is currently being refurbished. Each quadrant is at a different stage in the process. This means our team could clearly see each stage of the project as they moved from floor to floor.

Challenges

Gary explained that due to the buildings age, a lot of other work had to be done to enable the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme works to take place. 

This included insulating all the lofts in the building, replacing 950 valves and 700 windows, and putting in zonal controls to make sure that the buildings heat could be managed from a central location.

Benedita added: “This entire project has elements that attest to the borough's commitment to reduce emissions and waste. 

“For instance, the redundant chimneys are now used to house the cables and pipes that connect to the heat pumps and buffer tanks. 

“Additionally, the existing heating system that will be removed will be stripped for parts that will be reused in other projects, reducing the overall project waste. It’s incredible, every detail has been carefully designed with the planet in mind.

“It’s inspiring to see what has been achieved and how the team has come up with creative solutions to the challenges they faced.”

During the visit, the team also got to see the work being undertaken in the Middlesex Suite. This was built in 1939, and it is a beautiful art-deco building that is currently being refurbished into a library. 

In order to maintain the overall art-deco aesthetic of the building, project managers used the original company that manufactured the windows and commissioned them to build new double-glazed windows that fit perfectly with the building’s aesthetic. 

Our team also got a chance to see Hillingdon Sports and Leisure Complex, built in the 1990s, which serves a large part of the borough's community. During the summer up to 2.3k people are known to spend time at its 1930s lido.

As part of the 3b Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme project, the borough installed pool covers to reduce the leisure center's energy bills, the installation of five air source heat pumps, and the installation of PV on the roof and behind the lido's mound.

The site has also benefitted from new technologies including two Supanova air source heat pumps, solar PVs, upgrades to radiators, a new DNO substation and new roof covering.

The final stop for our team was a visit to the Winston Churchill Theatre in Ruislip where heat pumps have been installed alongside the building. They have been carefully designed to make the most of the planting around them.

Built in the 1960s, this building houses a number of different activities ranging from plays to Pilates classes, all of which require different levels of heating. Therefore, it was incredibly important to do away with the existing end of life system and replace it with a low-carbon solution that could incorporate a Building Management System that accounts for all different scenarios.

Gary said: “This has been one of the most technically interesting projects we have ever worked on, and I would like to thank the whole team involved in the project for all of their hard work on this project.”

Benedita added: “The delivery of this project is a huge credit to the teams at Hillingdon and to their passion and care for these incredible buildings, which are so different and serve the community so well.

“A lot has been achieved in these buildings and we look forward to seeing what’s next.”

We would like to thank Gary and the team for hosting our team and explaining the challenges faced as Hillingdon Council progress its net zero journey.