London Fire Brigade has revealed its first ever zero carbon fire station.
Walthamstow Fire Station has been transformed with a mix of low-carbon and renewable technologies, including solar panels an air source heat pump and LED lighting.
The retrofit measures included:
- solar panels with the capacity to produce 50 kilowatts of electricity every day – on average, enough to meet the fire station’s needs as well as export power to the national grid.
- gas boilers and gas-powered water heaters replaced by an air source heat pump (ASHP), which provides heating and hot water for the station.
- LED lighting has also been installed, helping to reduce energy by as much as 60% compared to conventional lighting systems.
- The station’s ‘green roof’, consisting of natural wild planting, is helping keep the building cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
- The Building Estates Management System has been upgraded helping to reduce energy consumption across the whole of the brigade’s estate.
The brigade has also recently been awarded funding of around £1.4 million from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) to undertake similar work at five more fire stations by the end of 2024.
We are really proud to have made Walthamstow Fire Station carbon net zero to support the Mayor of London’s net zero 2030 target. The project has not come without its challenges, but crucially, it has proven that we can reduce the Brigade’s dependency on gas.
But we see this as the first step in a long journey and we have another 102 fire stations to move this forward to which we are planning for now.
However, the trial at Walthamstow has enabled the brigade to develop a comprehensive carbon net zero strategy which, with the funding to replicate these changes across the estate, means we can become carbon net zero by 2030, helping London to become a cleaner and greener city.
