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Thanet District Council’s Ramsgate leisure centre rooftop solar story
Learn how Thanet District Council helped power Ramsgate leisure centre’s sustainable future with clean energy.
- Local Authorities
With over 35 sites and a commitment to reach Net Zero by 2050, the Force faced a challenge familiar to many: moving from a high-level strategy to an actionable plan, meaning the need to identify priority projects, determine feasible timeframes and understand the next steps for implementation.
Kent Police have been actively reducing their carbon footprint since 2008/2009 and aim to reach Net Zero by 2050. Since the beginning of their journey, they have continued to review their Carbon Management Plan (CMP) on a 5-yearly basis to support emissions reduction. In 2022, we worked with Kent Police to establish a Roadmap strategy, followed by a tailored Carbon Descent Plan (CDP).
During 2024, Kent Police commissioned LASER to:
To reduce emissions associated with the heating of buildings, detailed design work was also undertaken at one of Kent Police’s sites, so that the building’s needs could be understood and an engineering solution provided.
LASER’s services enabled the Force to move from previous high-level strategies to a more specific and granular action plan. Alongside the production of carbon footprints, consumption and financial costs, BAU forecast and a year-on-year comparison, LASER combined different approaches to produce a single Carbon Reduction Model and pathway for the Force. An approach was selected for each site, based on status and levels of emissions, to allow higher levels of assurance around estimates for key sites:
During an Options Appraisal workshop, the projects identified using these approaches were reviewed by Kent Police. These were discussed and then projects for inclusion in the modelling were selected and timeframes for implementation were outlined. The Carbon Reduction Modelling generated using this process, helped the Force to visualise both the emissions and financial trajectory, and provided details of projected investment, ongoing costs, potential savings, and the overall financial impact.
Additionally, for selected sites, a benchmarking assessment was carried out. This included an overview of the energy consumption and emissions for each site, and made a fair comparison between sites by accounting for size, occupancy hours and heating fuel. The assessment played a key part in determining how sites and associated potential projects were prioritised.
Energy surveyors visited Kent Police’s selected sites to identify measures that could reduce costs and provide energy savings. As well as including the identified projects in the Carbon Reduction Modelling, a bespoke report was produced for each site, including:
In addition to the building audits and feasibility studies, working with a specialist subcontractor, a detailed design was produced at one site to specify a practical, low-carbon heating solution.
The work undertaken by LASER's net zero consultants, as part of the Kent Police SALIX LCSF5 programme, was simply outstanding. Their professionalism, expertise, and thoroughness shone through every step of the way through this very challenging piece of work. The final report was clear and actionable, and their dedication to customer satisfaction was greatly appreciated. The efforts shown have exceeded my expectations. Thank you for your excellent service!
By conducting a review of their current status, Kent Police were able to understand their position and how they were progressing with their Net Zero journey. The benchmarking assessment demonstrated the performance of selected sites within the Force’s portfolio, and identified sites performing poorly in comparison to others, allowing for site and project prioritisation. The increase in the level of granularity of the Roadmap Services, as well as building confidence in the forecast carbon emissions savings and financial impacts for projects, helped support a further understanding of:
For the lower priority sites and their associated energy consumption, reviewing projects at high strategy level demonstrated the challenges still remaining, allowing Kent Police to understand the overall impact of projects identified and selected for specific sites.
Kent Police now have a clear, actionable Roadmap which, alongside the building audits and feasibility studies, will guide the Force in prioritising and implementing projects to further reduce their carbon emissions. It will also give them a good understanding of the financial impacts of the projects. The detailed design work allowed for an in-depth exploration of alternative heating solutions and presents a solution if Kent Police wishes to proceed with this project.
LASER remains committed to supporting Kent Police on their journey, with our dedicated account managers who will regularly check in to offer ongoing support with our Roadmap service. The Carbon Descent Plan can continue to be developed by incorporating further detail and information – this can be from outputs of additional building audits or information from other sources. We can also support progress monitoring of projects, understand reductions and remaining emissions, and update and evolve the Force’s Carbon Descent Plan, as well as supporting with project implementation with our Net Zero frameworks.
To find out how we can help you maximise your energy and utility opportunities, contact us today.
Learn how Thanet District Council helped power Ramsgate leisure centre’s sustainable future with clean energy.
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