Last coal-heated hospital in the UK completes switch to clean energy

Nottingham City Hospital replaces its coal and gas boiler with an energy centre, air source heat pumps, solar panels and LEDs.

The work was delivered by Vital Energi, which has completed a two-phase, £34.8mln project.

A second phase added a 400kW air source heat pump system serving the Maternity and Urology departments, a 160kW waste-heat recovery water source heat pump, and a full sitewide building management system upgrade integrating all systems under a single and modernised controls platform.

Both phases were funded through the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, administered by Salix Finance. Across both phases of the programme, the project has reportedly delivered carbon savings of 16,023t.

All works were carried out in a fully operational acute hospital. The managed transition from the old coal-fired boiler house to the new energy centre - cutting and restoring the hospital’s primary heat source - required precise planning at every stage.

Demolition works included two chimney stacks, one directly adjacent to the Cardiac Centre requiring precision demolition and rigorous traffic management to ensure uninterrupted access for high-risk patients, and one at 38m which altered the neighbourhood skyline.

LED upgrades were installed across live wards and clinical areas, and plant room work was scheduled out of hours with each task timed to ensure no system was offline longer than could be safely permitted.