Cheshire schools chosen for £18.6m decarbonisation pilot

GRAHAM Asset Management will install low-carbon heating solutions and improve the fabric of Acton Church of England Primary Academy in Nantwich and Calveley Primary Academy in Tarporley.

The sustainability improvements are part of the Department for Education’s £18.6m decarbonisation pilot.

Improving energy efficiency in schools and universities would aid the UK public sector in achieving its net zero carbon goals – with educational facilities representing 36% of total public sector building emissions, according to a Department for Education policy paper.

It would also help save money. That same paper stated that schools spent around £630m per year on energy in 2019 – a figure the department estimates to be much higher this year.

Accordingly, the DfE’s decarbonisation pilot programme has been rolled out to seven schools across the country. In the North West, the schools chosen are run by the North West Academies Trust.

The Department for Education utilised two Fusion21 frameworks for the project: the Merseyside-based company’s £750m decarbonisation framework and its heating & renewables framework.

The work to Calveley Primary Academy is valued at £1.8m, while the Acton CofE Primary Academy is valued at £2m.

GRAHAM is one of three companies to work on the decarbonisation pilot. The other two are Kensa Contracting and Dodd Group, which will be handling projects in Yorkshire and the South, respectively.

Fusion21 head of category Oliver Mooney commented: “It is fantastic to have been involved in such an important Department for Education project and to support the schools who used our framework to appoint the contractors for these transformational, multi-million-pound improvement works which will vastly improve the buildings, bring huge energy savings and carbon emission reductions and ensure pupils, teachers, and parents are playing an important role in decarbonisation and net zero ambitions”.