Hunters Wins Green Grant
27/1/09
Hunters Project Management team have won a valuable sustainability grant on behalf of St GeorgeÂ’s University of London, to retro-fit photo-voltaic panels on the roof of Horton Halls Student Accommodation in Tooting.
This is a step towards the University reducing its CO2 admissions in line with the Climate Change Act targets of CO2 emission reductions of 34% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. This type of initiative is an essential part of Decarbonising the HE estate where more than 40% of the Higher Education estate was built between 1960 and 1979.
The £132k grant came from the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) (the most that can be granted is £150k). Higher Education establishments should seek this type of grant for retro-fitting to enable them to reach their Carbon Reduction Commitments. This initiative will do just that for St George’s University of London whilst also improving their rating in the Green League table for HE establishments, ‘The People and Planet Green League’ where they currently stand at 98.
Hunters reviewed three technologies; ground source heat pumps, solar thermal panels and photovoltaic panels investigating what is available and what is ‘good value’. The team worked closely with St Georges’ estate department and their own in-house sustainability team, whose members are made up of different building professionals from across the practice including architects and cost-consultants. This happened in conjunction with assessing the practicalities of applying it to the accommodation including analysing load bearing and good design practice.
The roof will house 288 Photovoltaic panels and the assessment of the projects success will be made through the reduction in utility bill costs. The PVs are around 1.5m x 1m in size.
Eddison Alexander, Hunters Project Manager said:
‘We were really keen to enable this project to happen, as retro-fitting environmental products becomes more important for HE establishments who have tough targets to meet on reducing carbon dioxide emissions within a very short period of time. The grant has given the University more flexibility in the choice of products available and reduced the build costs by nearly 50% .’
Hunters are awaiting confirmation of a second grant from the Community Sustainable Energy Programme (CSEP) for up to £50k.
•The grant application took place in November 2008. Construction of the panels is due to commence in April
•Horton Halls is the student accommodation for St Georges University, Tooting, South London
•The green university league table compiled by People & Planet, the student organisation that seeks to end world poverty and protect the environment
•The People and Planet organisation has ranked all British universities, from whether they have an environmental policy to how much recycling they do and their C02 emissions
•Currently St Georges University stands at 98 out of 121 and curremtly has 0 points for renewable energy
