Using your funding with LASER: Customer Examples

To date, we estimate that around 200 public bodies more than a quarter have successfully bid for PSDS grants totalling well over £250M across the LASER group.

It is not just a case of ‘here is the money, go spend it’ for public sector bodies, with grants such as the Low Carbon Skills Fund (LCSF) and Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) being highly complex processes, in both planning and delivery.

To highlight those complexities, here are a handful of examples to show how we have helped public sector bodies be successful with their bids, no matter where you are at on your journey.

City of London

The City of London came to us for LED consultancy during the initial phase of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS1) during the pandemic.

What usually would have been a routine exercise for our LED team to complete onsite, the introduction of Covid restrictions meant that we would have to adapt our approach accordingly.

With a nation-wide lockdown in place, it was impossible to visit any of the core buildings we would need to assess, so our team set out to create an overall assessment on floor plans and maintenance information alone.

This allowed us to remotely work up a schedule of the suggested lighting that should be placed in each of their buildings/locations and an estimated cost for parts and install, as well as an overall estimate of the savings they could expect to see in return by replacing legacy lighting with LEDs. This information allowed City of London to make a bid for the lighting to be replaced under PSDS1.

Overall, City of London were successful in their bid, securing £3.25M of funding

Manchester University Hospital

Once your bid for funding is accepted, you are often left with a very short window to deliver the projects you have secured funding for.

As we touched upon in our Steve Baggs on PSDS Funding interview, many suppliers will be faced with the big challenge of sourcing primary products and materials, finding compliant contractors, or even looking at frameworks that can do the above for them.

One university decided to do just that.

Manchester University Hospital used Lot 2 of our Electricity Flex framework to procure a large rooftop solar project, funded by their successful PSDS bid. Unlike City of London, the university didn’t come to us for consultancy, but for a compliant procurement route to deliver the project.

Having no prior relationship with LASER, Manchester University Hospital were able to quickly and efficiently access an experienced solar installer via Direct Award through the additional services Lot of our energy framework to deliver their large rooftop solar project, costing in excess of £1M.

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

After initially being turned down for funding for the Low Carbon Skills Fund (LCSF) due to oversubscription, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council (TWBC) were retrospectively awarded £70K on the run up to Christmas after another public sector body were unable to fulfil their bid.

With a deadline of March 31st to spend the £70K fast approaching, this left TWBC very little time to act, and they reached out to our team between Christmas and New Year asking for our help.

As it transpired, some of the elements on their initial bid were not deliverable. The team began by reshaping their plan into something that was deliverable with the funding they were granted, and we immediately jumped in to action, organising Heat Decarbonisation Surveys for 15 of their buildings.

The team carried out most of the survey work in-house, with partners procured through our framework carrying out the elements we couldn’t deliver ourselves.

During the process, TWBC were also selected for an audit via Salix, and we were able to provide invaluable knowledge and assistance which guided them successfully through the process.

We are also in the process of helping TWBC to deliver on their successful PSDS3 bid. We will be helping prepare tenders and/or design works on multiple sites, as well as the procurement of decarbonisation technologies.

Cranfield University

The University have a large and complex campus including labs, teaching spaces, a library and even an airport! They are committed and active in taking the University to net zero by 2030.

As part of a successful bid into PSDS2, Cranfield University were awarded a grant of £4.9M. The improvements from this funding centred around the university’s heating system.

With a 24-year-old inefficient boiler heading towards its end-of-life usage, part of the funding went to replacing this with an air source heat pump, which will help reduce the running of the gas-fired combined heat and power unit.

As well as upgrading the building management system and installing LED lighting, the University’s solar farm will also be extended to help balance the electrical system, as reliance on the existing gas-fired combined heat and power is reduced.

LASER supported the LED lighting element of the project by providing a compliant procurement route as well as project managing the entire LED works from initial survey, cost and carbon saving estimates to selecting installers, specifying equipment light fittings and managing all works on site.

The project was sizeable and required management of two separate contractors to complete the work within the funding deadline.

In addition to the PSDS works, LASER (supported by a consultant procured via our CDI DPS framework) have assisted the University in a substantial bid to the LCSF to for feasibility and design of a ground source heat pump system intended to make another large step towards net zero.