Green improvements in our buildings
We're working to reduce the carbon footprint of our buildings
Latest information
Work to make our buildings more environmentally friendly and energy efficient is taking place at seven libraries, six fire stations and a day centre over the next few months as part of a £7.9m investment to drive down the carbon footprint of 14 council buildings.
A range of measures to reduce carbon emissions will be installed across the sites, including air source heat pumps, new windows, improved insulation, and solar panels. The aim is to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and enable buildings to operate using renewable energy sources.
This exciting project supports our Climate Change Strategy target to be a carbon neutral and climate resilient organisation by 2030.
Which buildings are involved?
Libraries:
Crawley Library
Durrington Library
Southwick Library
Broadfield Library
Horsham Library
Haywards Heath Library
Storrington Library
Fire stations:
East Grinstead Fire Station
East Wittering Fire Station
Petworth Fire Station
Haywards Heath Fire Station
Midhurst Fire Station
Steyning Fire Station
Centres:
Glebelands Day Centre
Libraries
Due to the nature of the works, scheduled to take place between December 2023 and March 2024, there is likely to be an impact on the day-to-day running of libraries involved.
How will these works reduce carbon emissions?
Burning fossil fuels, such as gas or oil, to heat our buildings is a major source of our carbon emissions. To reduce these emissions, we need to replace fossil fuel heating systems with low carbon alternatives and improve the energy efficiency of each building to minimise heat demand.
We produced detailed heat decarbonisation plans for each building to identify the specific energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation measures that would be most cost-effective for reducing emissions. The works taking place across these 14 sites are based on the recommendations identified in the heat decarbonisation plans and are expected to save over 200 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, as well as enabling future carbon savings as the electricity grid decarbonises further.
The carbon reduction measures that will be installed differ depending on the building, but include replacing gas boilers over 10 years old with air-source heat pumps, improving wall, floor and roof insulation and installing double-glazed windows to reduce heat loss, upgrading heating controls and sub-metering to better monitor and manage energy consumption, and installing solar PV panels to supply renewable electricity.
If you’d like to find out how you can reduce your own carbon footprint please visit our climate action webpages.