Decarbonising the education sector

How is the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme assisting the education sector when it comes to reducing emissions and becoming energy efficient?

As the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme enters Phase 3c of its funding delivery cycle, more public sector bodies will be in-line to receive grants and support designed to help reduce the amount of carbon emissions their buildings produce.
    
While many public sector organisations such as schools and colleges have moved to or made their premises more energy efficient, there remains a large stock of buildings that require retrofitting due to a lack of modern energy-saving features.
    
The education sector itself accounts for around a quarter of the public sector’s total carbon emissions, making decarbonisation in schools an urgent priority if the UK is to meet its ambitious climate goals.
    
Salix is the body responsible for the delivery of the scheme, with Cheshire College – South and West in the North West of England among the educational facilities to benefit. Their work is proving crucial in helping the wider sector to reduce its collective carbon emissions.

But how is the scheme assisting the education sector when it comes to decarbonising? What is the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and why is it important to decarbonise?

What is the scheme?
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme provides grants for public sector bodies to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures, with the funding distributed by Salix Finance, a Department for Energy Security and Net Zero non-departmental public body.
    
The aim of the scheme is to cut building emissions in the UK by 75 per cent by 2037, compared to a 2017 baseline, a target that was set out in the Heat and Buildings Strategy report, released in October 2021. Meeting it will mark a significant step towards the UK becoming net zero by 2050.
    
Phase 3 of the scheme was launched in October 2021 and is providing over £1.425 billion of grant funding over the financial years 2022/23 to 2025/26.
    
£230 million has been made available for the upcoming Phase 3c of the scheme for 2024/25, which is set to help even more education sector buildings decarbonise and become more sustainable. The budget for 2025/26 is set to be announced in the autumn.
    
Improvements to energy efficiency through retrofitting measures as part of the scheme can also help to bring about long-term cost savings on energy bills. This can save schools and colleges money, which can be re-invested in equipment that can enhance the overall learning environment.
    
By cutting carbon emissions, there is a greater chance of lessening the dangerous risks of climate change, and of course, helping the UK on its path towards net zero.

How Salix supports the delivery of the scheme
When it comes to delivering the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, Salix is responsible for the integration of decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures into public sector buildings across the UK.
    
The non-departmental body administers grant and loan funding to the public sector on behalf of the Department of Energy Security, the Department for Education, and both the Scottish and Welsh governments.
    
Salix also plays a key role in increasing the awareness across the public sector throughout the UK in the importance of energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation.
    
When it comes to the delivery of a project, Salix has expert teams across the business that work very closely with schools and colleges across the UK. Once an organisation has been successful in being awarded government funding, Salix will allocate that project to a relationship manager.
    
During the delivery of the project, the relationship manager, along with Salix’s carbon and technical teams, will liaise with the organisation to ensure it achieves deadlines and reaches important benchmarks.
    
By supporting the education sector to decarbonise its estate, Salix is supporting schools and colleges throughout the country by providing them with greener, more sustainable buildings that will help their communities to thrive.

Salix’s work with Cheshire College – South and West
Cheshire College – South and West is the largest provider of post-16 education in the North West, with campuses at Crewe, Chester, and Ellesmere Port and over 11,000 students and 1,000 apprentices enrolled.
    
In April, the college was one of the successful applicants for Phase 3b of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and secured nearly £2 million in funding from Salix.
    
For Phase 3b, Salix distributed more than £590 million in funds to 144 public sector buildings, with organisations across the public sector in the North West receiving just over
£39 million.
    
In this case, the funding will be used to upgrade the boilers within its Chester campus, which will see the existing end-of-life gas boilers replaced with more energy efficient and eco-friendly air source heat pumps, as well as an electric hot water boiler.
    
The awarding of £1,962,922 in funding has provided the college with a huge boost when it comes to achieving their ambitious goal of becoming net zero across its campuses.
    
Salix is delivering this project in conjunction with the College, which will help its Chester campus to follow in the footsteps of the Crewe facility, with the latter already making the transition to air source heat pumps.
    
Director of programmes at Salix Finance Ian Rodger said: “It’s very important to us at Salix that successful grant recipients like Cheshire College – South and West have the support they need to complete their Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme projects.
    
“This is why Salix offers dedicated relationship managers to work with projects and to have our expert delivery, finance and carbon and technical teams available to support them.”
    
Cheshire College has placed sustainability at the heart of its approach and aims to provide students with a high-quality learning experience in an environmentally sustainable way. This has made its receipt of funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and subsequent work with Salix all the more crucial.
    
Jasbir Dhesi, OBE, principal and CEO at Cheshire College - South & West, explained: “Our College is committed to help improve the environment. Our pathway to achieving net zero is embedded in everything that we do, from delivering innovative courses centred around sustainability, to investing in state-of-the-art digital facilities and equipment; we are striving to be greener across all our sites and operations.
     
“Through this Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme grant and collaboration with Salix, we’ll be able to accelerate our pathway to net zero by significantly reducing our carbon emissions.  
    
“Our construction and engineering students will also be able to work closely with contractors to see first-hand the instillation and commissioning of new technologies. This investment in reducing our carbon emissions will benefit generations to come.”
    
Salix is supporting the College, along with many others in the education sector, throughout its decarbonisation journey and assisting it in meeting net zero targets, as well as benefiting future generations.
    
Salix’s Ian Rodger commended the College on its net zero progress: “Cheshire College-South and West is making significant steps and the project illustrates a huge commitment to helping improve the environment and achieving net zero and significantly reducing carbon emissions.”