Eco heat pumps, solar panels and LED lights will be installed on buildings across Manchester as part of a £6m investment to cut carbon emissions. Manchester council has secured £4.9m in government grants for further work to cut carbon emissions from more council-owned buildings across the city.
A further contribution of £1m from the council will take the total investment into seven buildings - including the National Football Museum - to almost £6m. It comes as the local authority aims to halve its direct carbon emissions by 2025 and works towards making the city net zero carbon no later than 2038.
The town hall has been cutting its own emissions, but Manchester is still some way off its target of becoming a completely net zero city in the next 16 years. The council's carbon emission calculations also exclude those associated with the Manchester Airports Group which the local authority has a 35.5 pc stake in.
The latest government grant comes from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme following a joint bid from Greater Manchester Combined Authority. A previous £19.1m award under the same scheme has already funded work to reduce emissions in 13 Manchester council buildings including the National Aquatics Centre, National Cycling Centre and the Town Hall Extension building.
The latest investment will predominantly be used for the installation of air source heat pumps, with additional funding for solar panels and LED lights. The buildings which benefit from the improvements are:
- The National Football Museum
- Wythenshawe Active Lifestyle Centre
- Claremont Resource Centre in Hulme
- Harpurhey district social services offices
- Hall Lane Resource Centre in Wythenshawe
- The Place at Platt Lane in Fallowfield
- One Central Park (Arbeta) in east Manchester
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Labour councillor Tracey Rawlins who is the executive member for environment at Manchester council, welcomed the latest investment. She said: "Council buildings are our biggest source of direct emissions.
"Taking action to retrofit these buildings and significantly improve their energy efficiency is one of the ways were are facing up to the urgent challenge of climate change. I am pleased that we have been able to secure futher funding to support this ambition.
“We will continue to pursue the potential for retrofitting, whether for our buildings or the city’s wider housing stock.”
Arthur Jones is a programme co-ordinator at Salix Finance which is delivering the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme on behalf of the UK government. He said: "We are delighted to be working with Manchester City Council on the decarbonisation journey.
"The Council has been an ambitious target of halving its direct carbon emissions by 2025 as it works towards becoming net zero carbon by 2038. This will have a significant impact for the wider community as a whole."
