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Manchester City Council has announced the completion of the majority of carbon-cutting works to council-owned buildings.
The £19m programme has seen 13 buildings across the city benefit from a combination of energy-efficiency measures, renewable energy generation (such as the installation of solar PV) and switching from gas to electricity (with a mixture of ground source and air source heat pumps being installed.)
This includes sites such as Manchester Aquatics Centre, the National Cycling Centre and the Town Hall Extension.
The news comes one year after the council secured £19.1m from the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, as part of a joint bid co-ordinated by Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
The schemes will collectively save around 2,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year – around 40% of the target saving for council-owned buildings by 2025 under the Council’s current Climate Change Action Plan.
Councillor Tracey Rawlins, Executive Member for Environment for Manchester City Council, said:
“Taken together these projects are making a sizeable contribution to the Council’s goal of halving our direct carbon emissions by 2025 as part of the transition towards becoming a zero carbon city.
“As well as removing thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year, these improvements will also help keep down the energy costs for these public buildings – a real issue at the moment – and help them have a sustainable future.
“We will continue to pursue funding for further retrofitting schemes like these for our buildings, as well as exploring options for the council’s housing stock.”
