Goodbye to the 1970s at Northampton General Hospital as it celebrates net zero works

Patients, staff and visitors to benefit from more comfortable spaces thanks to £20m works to reduce its carbon footprint

The future looks cleaner and more energy efficient at Northampton General Hospital thanks to the completion of a multi-million-pound net zero project.

The hospital was awarded a £20.6m Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme government grant in 2022 to install a range of energy efficient measures. The project has now completed, and the team cannot wait to start seeing the benefits of the work.

The funding, which is delivered by our teams at Salix, has meant the hospital has been able to remove old fossil fuel boilers from the 1970s and install state of the art technology.

This most recent work, which replaces the Trust’s old steam system, has meant installing a modern low temperature water system powered by electricity and solar panels.

We went along to meet the teams from the Trust, Vital Energi and the Carbon Energy Fund (CEF) who have worked together on the ambitious project and to discover the impact the new technologies are set to make on the 40-acre site.

Our team included programme co-ordinator Hira Rashid, client support officer Olivia Crocker and assistant director of programmes Heather Jones.

The hospital’s environmental challenge is significant because it is made up of buildings from multiple eras dating back to its opening on its current site in 1793.

Dr Clare Topping, head of sustainability at Northampton explained that the new technologies had ‘future proofed’ the site.

She added: “There are so many challenges to working in a hospital environment, it needs to keep running as we combine the new technology with the old, we cannot just turn things off.

“For us de-steaming the site has been a major accomplishment, and we could not have done it without this funding.

“The partnerships have been so important, and no hospital could do this alone, we just would not have the expertise.

“This project is a major step forward in our plans to completely remove fossil fuels for power on our hospital sites. Whilst we’re delighted with this phase of the project, we cannot wait to get on with our next steps.

“We are ready to start talking about the next technologies and we need to start thinking about where we would put another heat pump, if that’s what we decide to do. However, we could not have put in another heat pump if we had not de-steamed, so we have more options now.”

University Hospitals of Northamptonshire NHS Group, which runs Kettering and Northampton General Hospitals, is aiming to be carbon net zero by 2040 in line with national NHS targets.

As well as removing the old boilers, new efficiency measures at Northampton include roof-mounted solar panels, 3,500 LED lights, insulation and 81 more efficient motors and fans used in hospital heating and ventilation.

During the visit we toured the site and visited the plant rooms gaining a real insight into how the power is now travelling through the hospital buildings. 

We were also able to climb onto a roof giving us an understanding of the scale of the project. Whilst solar panels offer an impressive visual display, planning has been paramount.

It’s clear that a major part of the success of the work has been the way the various stakeholders have collaborated, including the Vital Energi team that has worked on the £15.1m replacement of the steam infrastructure which will help reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint by about 3,445 tonnes a year.

Vital Energi account director Steve Black said: “The biggest challenge for this project has been to de-steam an acute hospital site, whilst not impacting on patient services during these works.

“Through close collaboration and excellent teamwork, we have been able to transition the site from an olds steam system to a modern, efficiency lower temperature hot water system without impacting on clinical services.”

Northampton General Hospital’s Director of Facilities Paul Shead added: “Installing the new low temperature hot water system, alongside all the other work we have done, has enabled us to make soke major progress towards out decarbonisation gaols and made the hospital a more environmentally friendly part of its local community.”

Our programme co-ordinator who has worked closely with the project Hira Rashid, said: “It’s been a very well-run project, and I am delighted that it can now start delivering important carbon savings.

“We look forward to visiting in a year’s time, to discover the impact all of this work has made. Well done to the teams here.”

Andy Yates, head of projects at the Carbon and Energy Fund (CEF) said: “We were delighted to be asked by the Trust to lead on the development of their Salix application and subsequent procurement of their energy efficiency and energy generation project to net zero. 

“Our CEF experts drew on their unparalleled NHS experience to complete this important project. Well done to all those involved.”

Northampton General Hospital recently achieved a Green Accreditation with the national Investors in the Environment (iiE) scheme for the way it is working to reduce its carbon emissions and waste. Achieving a Green Accreditation means the hospital has demonstrated it is focused on sustainable development and carbon emission reduction and is committed to finding ways to achieve these goals.

Thank you to Northampton General Hospital for hosting us on the day and to Vital Energi and CEF for joining the tour.