Veolia has been awarded a £27m energy management contract to upgrade the 459-bed Eastbourne District General Hospital, part of East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust.

The contract, which extends to 2040, includes a multi-million pound construction scheme during 2023 that will deliver wide-ranging energy upgrades and target carbon savings of 4,129 tonnes per year.

Delivered through Veolia’s Building a Zero Carbon Future programme, with funding provided through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme for affordable, low-carbon energy efficiency upgrades across the public sector; the scheme is one of the first t take a whole-building approach.

This accounts for how facilities and the energy delivery systems interact with each other, while maintaining an indoor environment that enhances patient care.

A secure energy supply is essential to maintain a modern patient care environment for the hospital, which has 457 beds and treats more than 470,000 patients per year.

To meet this energy demand, and achieve carbon and energy cost savings, Veolia will manage projects covering the design, delivery, and installation of a range of energy upgrades. These will guarantee the hospital meets the NHS carbon reduction targets for 2030 and is supported by a 24/7 operations and maintenance contract.

The energy plant upgrades include desteaming the site, solar arrays giving a total of 1.1MWp renewable electricity, improved ventilation systems, and a dual-stage heat pump system to supply 3.2 MWth of low-carbon heat with N+1 redundancy that gives system availability in the event of component failure.

To ensure this heat is efficiently used, the project covers fitting of 17,300sq m of insulated roofing, replacing older single-glazed windows, with 4,540sq m of high-efficiency double glazing, and 12,972sq m of insulating cladding. 

John Abraham, chief operating officer for Veolia UK & Ireland’s industrial, water, and energy division, said: “Using the whole holistic building approach is part of our Building a Zero Carbon Future programme and is key to advancing healthcare energy efficiency, cutting carbon emissions and providing cost savings that can be redirected to patient care.

“By targeting annual carbon savings of 4,129 tonnes, we are actively supporting the NHS decarbonisation programme and delivering lower-cost energy for the healthcare sector.” 

Chris Hodgson, director of estates and facilities at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, added: “This project will make a significant contribution to the trust’s goals to reduce our organisational carbon footprint.

“As well as the significant carbon savings that the project will deliver, the additional cladding and insulation to the hospital will create a more comfortable environment for both our patients and our staff.”

Veolia has been working with East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust since 2009 and currently provides energy and facilities management to over 100 hospitals in the UK, helping to reduce CO₂ emissions across the healthcare sector by 120,000 tonnes.