Public Sector Decarbonisation - Greater South East Net Zero Hub

Projects to cut carbon from public sector buildings and sites reduce the cost of heating and powering them and help public sector bodies to achieve their net zero goals. These projects might involve:

Adding insultation
Installing more energy-efficient lighting
Introducing low carbon heat technologies such as heat pumps to replace fossil fuel boilers
Connection to or development of a heat network
Generation of renewable power from solar panels, or wind or hydro turbines.

Many public sector organisations find that they lack the skills or resources they need to deliver these projects. The Greater South East Net Zero Hub can provide free advice and support to help you achieve you goals. As well as local authorities, we assist schools, universities, the NHS, and the police and fire services. The Hub has supported over 90 public sector decarbonisation projects in the region worth over £27 million, and has helped to deliver initial assessments on over 170 sites. Scroll down to find out more.

Go to net zero with help from the Net Zero Go service!

Net Zero Go helps local authorities to deliver local net zero projects by offering free access to a library of guides, articles, case studies, toolkits and datasets, alongside tailored assistance from its network of experts. For example, take a look at the Public Sector Decarbonisation Guidance HERE, which can help you to work out what your building decarbonisation project will cost and to apply for public sector grants such as the Low Carbon Skills Fund and Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
The facility is provided by Energy Systems Catapult and supported by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Click HERE to register for this free service.

How the Greater South East Net Zero Hub can help

We can help you to identify the optimal technical approach for your building or site, and to prepare a robust project plan and business case for your project. This makes projects ready to apply for grant funding opportunities as they arise or prepares them to access other financing.

The Hub can provide you with access or support to use the OnGen software tool, which helps to identify opportunities for deployment of key money and carbon-saving technologies within your buildings and sites.

If your project is underway, we can act as a critical friend to review your project and provide an additional level of confidence in its success. Larger-scale projects can sometimes experience difficulties with connection availability or cost. We can support discussions with your distribution network operator.

If you are a public sector organisation in the Greater South East Region, please contact us to explore how we could support you: info@gsenetzerohub.org.uk.

“The support offered to Waverley at the conception stages of the Memorial Hall decarbonisation project was vital in enabling us to apply for Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme 1 successfully. The project has now been completed and is projected to achieve a 40% reduction in carbon emissions year on year.”

Waverley Borough Council, Surrey

High Heat Demand and Innovation

Local authorities are responsible for a wide variety of property and sites. Some of these have a particularly high heat demand, such as leisure centres, swimming pools and crematoria. The Greater South East Net Zero Hub has helped public sector organisations to explore innovative approaches to these more challenging decarbonisation projects and can offer you the benefit of its experience.

Contact us if you have a challenging building or site to decarbonise info@gsenetzerohub.org.uk.

Case Studies

CLICK HERE to view a selection of case studies from across the region that focus building decarbonisation, and find out more about the measures that have been introduced and the impact they have had.

Funding and financing

Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme

The latest round of the government-funded Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 3c has now closed. Click the button below to access further information about the scheme from its administrators, Salix Finance.

Further rounds of the Scheme are anticipated to be in high demand and the application windows to be short. We have helped to deliver £8 million of this funding in the region by providing critical friend support. If you want to your project to be ready for this opportunity, please contact us info@gsenzetzerohub.org.uk.

Are you already in receipt of Scheme funding but have run up against a barrier to your project? We have worked with Salix Finance, the UK Government and distribution network operators to successfully unblock over £68 million of stalled projects. If you need help, please get in touch info@gsenzetzerohub.org.uk.

Access more information about the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme HERE

Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund

The Low Carbon Skills Fund, which is supported by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, has provided grants for public sector organisations to engage the specialist advice needed to create a robust heat decarbonisation plan and/or detailed designs to prepare for heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency works.

The latest round of the Fund (Phase 4) has closed and will be delivered in 2023/24. Salix Finance has administered the scheme on behalf of the Department. Click the button below to access further information about the scheme on the Salix website.

Access more information about the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund HERE

Other ways to finance building decarbonisation

For further information about funding and financing opportunities, click the button below to visit the Finance section of our website, or contact us for a discussion info@gsenetzerohub.org.uk.

Other routes to financing

“Discussions with the Net Zero Hub helped our Trust to be crystal clear on exactly what information we were being asked for and how to present it in our final bid response [to the Low Carbon Skills Fund]…Having a contact that we could go to for general queries really made the process more straightforward and less stressful.”

Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust

Other guidance and resources

Public Sector Decarbonisation Guidance

Public Sector Decarbonisation Guidance, developed by Energy Systems Catapult and commissioned by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and the Government Property Function, aims to help public sector bodies and their partners understand the best route to net zero. The Guidance seeks to enable delivery of decarbonisation projects at scale, as well as support grant funding applications, to enable rapid progress on reducing carbon emissions.

Access the Guidance here

Webinar Series: Heating for Net Zero - Decarbonisation of Buildings and Estates

A series of seven, one-hour webinars are available here for you to listen to at your convenience. The series, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK KTN Net Zero Places Innovation Network and the Greater South East Net Zero Hub answers key questions from local authorities about the decarbonisation of buildings and estates. Topics include fabric efficiency, heat pumps, integration of technology, data and modelling, and grid constraint.

Browse the webinar series here

Hub Guides

The Greater South East Net Zero Hub has developed a series of downloadable Hub Guides that cover a range of net zero themes and technical issues, and will be useful to anyone who is involved in a net zero project. Provided on this page are four of these Hub Guides, which provide information and advice relating to four different aspects of building decarbonisation projects. If you need further help, please contact us to explore how we could support you: info@gsenetzerohub.org.uk.