Five Rivers Leisure Centre goes green

Five Rivers Leisure Centre has had one of the biggest air source heat pumps in the country installed.

The heat pump, alongside photo voltaic solar panels, will produce around £140,000 worth of energy.

It's part of a programme of work where new air source heat pumps have been installed at a number of Wiltshire Council leisure centres. It means the facilities are now carbon neutral for all their energy use.

The installations have taken place at Springfield Campus, Corsham and Olympiad, Chippenham, and Salisbury.

The work has been delivered by the council’s Strategic Asset Maintenance & Facilities Management (SAM&FM) Energy Team and funded through the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS). The public sector decarbonisation grant from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy provides grants for public sector bodies to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures.

An air source heat pump works much like a fridge operating in reverse by transferring heat from outside air into water, which can then heat rooms via radiators or underfloor heating. It can also heat water being stored in a hot water cylinder for hot taps, showers and baths. The pump will use zero-carbon electricity to run but uses less electrical energy than the heat it produces, making it more energy efficient.

Cllr Richard Clewer, Wiltshire Council Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate Change, said, “We are committed to making our council buildings more sustainable and lowering our carbon output, which we hope inspires other organisations to do the same. This project is a great way of implementing our business plan priority to become carbon neutral as an organisation by 2030 – something we are very much on track to achieve.

“Thank you to our Energy Team for their work in obtaining the grants and implementing these hugely positive projects, and we’ll continue to look for ways to keep this momentum going.”

Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Wiltshire Council Cabinet Member for Leisure and Operational Assets, said: "Installing these air source heat pumps shows our commitment to the climate strategy, with all three centres now fossil-fuel free when heating the buildings and the water in the swimming pools.

“The installation at Five Rivers is one of the largest air source heat pumps in the country. The leisure centre is also expected to generate approximately 420,600 kWh/a of photovoltaic energy from around 1200 rooftop solar panels, with an additional car park solar canopy installation generating a further 140,000 kWh/a when it is installed early next year– which combined will be worth approximately £140,000 of electricity per annum.

“Leisure centres are integral to our communities, and as such, it’s important that we maintain these facilities and lead by example by improving their environmental footprint while continuing to help improve people’s health and wellbeing.”

To find out more about the council’s Climate Strategy, which was recently adopted, people should visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk/climate-change.

The council recently provided an update on its efforts to tackle the climate emergency locally, with a vast range of projects either in place or in the pipeline to respond to these global issues. More information can be found at https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/news/council-continues-to-lead-from-the-front-on-climate-change.

More information about the council’s leisure services can be found at https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/leisure.