Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded just over £10 million by the government to improve sustainability at Salisbury District Hospital.

The funds will be used to upgrade several buildings and water and air source heat pumps will replace gas fired boilers.

The energy efficiency of the buildings, including the Spinal Treatment Centre and the hospital’s Odstock Health and Fitness Centre, will be improved through new insulation, improvements to the heating distribution pipework and upgrades to the building’s energy management system.

Brian Johnson, director of Estates and Facilities, said: “This funding will enable Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust to decarbonise our heating and hot water systems through the implementation of innovative, multi-stage, high-temperature heat pump systems, improved building insulation and photovoltaic electricity generation.
“We have also secured funding to investigate the feasibility of geothermal energy on our campus.
“Providing low carbon heat to our buildings via a new district heat network, which when combined with building fabric improvements, will enable the Trust to move away from fossil fuel-based systems, while maintaining the resilience required for an acute hospital trust.

“The project supports the Trust Board’s approved Green Plan and the ‘Delivering a Net Zero NHS Strategy’ with its ambition to commit the NHS to net zero (direct) emissions by 2040.

“We are particularly excited that this project is investigating the potential to use geothermal technology that will act as a pathfinder case study for other NHS sites to learn from and adopt.”