Greater Manchester awarded £15.5m to upgrade public buildings

Greater Manchester Combined Authority has received a share of new government funding to install low carbon technologies in a range of public buildings across the city region.Greater Manchester Combined Authority has received a share of new government funding to install low carbon technologies in a range of public buildings across the city region.

The £15.5 million awarded will be used to upgrade heating in several notable institutions, including Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, the University of Salford, the National Football Museum and Manchester University, as well as community centres, libraries, leisure centres, schools, resource centres and offices.

Technologies to be installed include air source heat pumps, solar panels, building energy management systems, insulation, double glazed windows, and LED lighting.

The funding comes from the latest phase of the government's Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which was established with the aim of reducing emissions from public sector buildings by 75 per cent between 2017 and 2037.

Greater Manchester organisations were awarded £97 million under the first phase of the scheme in 2021, supporting upgrades in more than 100 buildings, including 36 schools and 22 leisure centres.

Creating and safeguarding local jobs

Mayor Andy Burnham said: "Here in Greater Manchester we know we need to be taking bold and meaningful steps at every level to become carbon neutral by 2038. By moving towards a greener economy we can foster new skills and create thousands of good jobs, powering our recovery from the pandemic and charting a course to a more sustainable, low-carbon future.

"The £100m funding that we’ve been awarded so far is helping our public sector to lead the way in this effort, showing exactly what we can achieve with the right investment and a collaborative approach. We’ve retrofitted more than 130 public buildings and cut more than 8,000 tonnes of harmful emissions, at the same time as supporting and safeguarding almost 2,000 jobs in our local economy.

"We hope this is just the start of a renewed effort to work together at national and local level, helping us to go further and faster in cutting emissions and tackling the climate emergency."

Procurement process

In 2021, Greater Manchester established an 'Go Neutral Smart Energy Framework' for public sector organisations wishing to procure and implement smart energy technologies on public sector properties.

The framework will help public sector organisations to deliver building-integrated or ground-mounted solar PV with battery storage, solar car ports with battery storage, and integrated smart energy systems that includes technologies like ultra-rapid electric vehicle charging, wind turbines or measures to aggregate energy generation or demand.

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