Wye Valley NHS Trust is to lower its carbon footprint as part of a £4.7 million energy upgrade at the Hereford County Hospital site, which is due to be completed this year.

The funding comes as part of a wider national decarbonisation plan supported by a grant scheme from The Department for Business Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) delivered by Salix Finance* which helps the public sector work towards their net zero goals.

Centrica Business Solutions will deliver the multi-million pound upgrade to provide greener energy and efficiency to Hereford County Hospital and six of the older buildings on the site, including the Education and Development Centre, Post Graduate Medical Centre, Longfield House staff accommodation and Lionel Green building, which was previously used as nurses accommodation 20 years ago.

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Work has already started with the installation of 3,170 low energy lights in the main hospital building. This will be followed by more than 300 rooftop solar panels, which will provide enough energy to power the equivalent of 27 UK homes per year. Modern switching mechanisms, 1,163 pipework insulation jackets and 263 metres of pipework lagging to reduce heat loss are also being installed in the buildings across the site.

A ground source heat pump network, which involves drilling 47 boreholes 200m into the ground – is also now being installed at locations around the hospital grounds. Nearly six miles long in total, this will pump water, naturally warmed by the earth, and convert it into usable heat for six of the buildings on the site.