Manchester hospital celebrates cutting carbon emissions but pledges ‘there’s still more to do’

Our Low Carbon Skills Fund team visits The Christie NHS Foundation Trust and discovers how it is tackling its carbon footprint

A multi-technology decarbonisation project at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust has slashed building energy carbon emissions by an estimated 1,000 tonnes a year - but there is still more to do.

The ambitious Christie project in Manchester has tackled emissions thanks to an £8 million Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme grant supplemented by £6.9 million from the Trust.

This has helped drive the carbon savings and is also saving more than £500,000 annually on energy costs. A big win for the Trust.

However, there is still more to do – which is why the Christie is now navigating a Phase 5 Low Carbon Skills Fund project.

Our Low Carbon Skills Fund team, including Stephanie Slater and Robert Throssell, visited the Wilmslow Road site to look at the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme works but also discuss how it would be using funding from the latest round of the skills fund to further develop their decarbonisation vision.

The Christie was awarded £246,000 under Phase 5 of the Low Carbon Skills Fund.

The buzzing hospital is the largest single site cancer centre in Europe and the first UK centre to be accredited as a comprehensive cancer centre. More than 60,000 patients are treated by The Christie teams every year.

During our visit we toured the Patterson Building home to one of the world’s leading cancer research centres, the energy centre, battery storage room, and the combined heat and power unit.

Our client support officer Stephanie Slater said: “The Christie has achieved a huge amount in a relatively short period of time, but they have a long way to go to meet the ambitious NHS net zero goals.

“The funding from the Low Carbon Skills Fund will now create an essential pivot for the Trust and they can move to the next stages of decarbonisation.”

The Low Carbon Skills Fund work will be used to plan next steps for The Christie. It will include the heat decarbonisation plan, desktop assessment, specialist site surveys and a feasibility study. Looking to take a fabric first approach, roof insultation, pipework insulation and once energy demand has been measured, energy experts will explore further heat pumps and electric boilers.

Both the Low Carbon Skills Fund and the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is a key part of The Christie's sustainable development management plan which will help it achieve the NHS's net-zero emissions goals.

Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and recent works

At the hospital the new integrated energy solution includes a combined heat and power plant, a new energy-efficient boiler, two air source heat pumps, 640 solar panels for independent electricity generation, and a 2MW battery energy storage system (BESS) for storing excess electricity.

This means there is less reliance on external power sources, and it also creates a smart grid from which the local community can benefit.

Energy efficiency upgrades include 3,000 LED lights, replacement of part of the aged steam heating infrastructure with modern high-efficiency low-temperature hot water distribution, improved insulation, and optimisation and upgrades to the existing Building Energy Management Systems.

Head of estates and facilities at the Christie Alex Beedle was able to talk the team through the work during their visit. He said: “Our Christie Leadership are fully committed to achieve net zero and we still have more to do.

“We view the support via Salix, the Low Carbon Skills Fund and the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, as a strategic key pathway enabling us to achieve net zero and within a highly complex specialist cancer treatment and research centre.

“The heat and decarbonisation plan will provide an evidenced based, pioneering, and ambitious launch pad for further phased grant application to enable The Christie to achieve net zero.”

On 1 July 2022, the NHS became the first health system to embed net zero into legislation, through the Health and Care Act 2022. The Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service is now issued as statutory guidance. The NHS is leading by example globally and has set an target to reach net zero by 2040 for the emissions the NHS controls directly. It also aims to reach net zero by 2045 for the emissions the NHS has the ability to influence.

The Christie NHS Foundation Trust has pledged to support the NHS to become a net zero health service.