Green improvements planned for more than 200 council buildings in Hertfordshire by September

More than 200 county council buildings across Hertfordshire are set to benefit from environmental improvements by September.

Air source heat pumps, solar panels, double glazing and cavity wall insulation are among the improvements planned at various sites across the county.

And the work – at 214 different sites – was highlighted to a meeting of the county council’s environment cabinet panel on Friday, July 7.

Assistant director for property, Sass Pledger said the county council had successfully bid for £26m of funding last year.

It includes £11.9m for the installation of air source heat pumps, £8.5m for photo voltaic installation, £5.9m for double glazing and £600,000 for cavity wall installation.

But a condition of that funding is that all of the projects have to be complete by September (2021).

“We applied and we were successful in securing £26m of funding,” said Ms Pledger.

“This funding is going to be used to deliver 214 separate projects across the various schools and non-schools estate within the council.

“The only slightly challenging aspect to the agreement of funding is that this work needs to be delivered by September 2021.

“So, officers across the council have been working really hard on those schemes to ensure that we can deliver by that deadline.”

The funding awarded to the county council is part of a £1billion public sector de-carbonisation scheme launched by the government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Meanwhile, as part of an update on the county council’s sustainability workstream, Ms Pledger highlighted additional projects designed to make schools ‘carbon neutral’.

She pointed to 10 pilot schools that had been identified for ‘heating electrification’

And she highlighted a 100-school pilot to improve performance through heating and lighting efficiency measures.

“We have already done this across out non-schools estate,” said Ms Pledger.

“And it has demonstrated a really good improvement in terms of our EPC ratings and also in terms of cost reductions for energy bills.