2. Estates & Facilities

The NHS estate and its supporting facilities services – including primary care, trust estates and private finance initiatives – comprises 15% of the total carbon emissions profile (NHS Carbon Footprint Plus).

Delivering a net zero health service will require work to ensure new hospitals and buildings are net zero compatible, as well as ensuring improvements are made to the existing estate.

For the existing estate a wide range of interventions including air conditioning and cooling, building fabric, LED lighting, space heating, ventilation and hot water could all be rolled out to further reduce carbon emissions.

  Estates and Facilities at SFT

We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and our Estates team have made significant progress with actions across a range of initiatives, which include:

• In 2014 we invested in photovoltaic ‘Solar’ Panels, generating 4% of our electricity
• 40% of our electricity demand is generated onsite via a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generator.
• In 2021 we invested £100k in LED lighting systems
• All waste is disposed of through contracts which ensure that opportunities are maximised for recycling, with no waste going to landfill. Our clinical waste is incinerated and the heat generated supplies hot water to Bournemouth Hospital.
• We have developed a recycling centre, which has been the subject of national interest. Volunteers work with procurement and staff to recycle, repair and repurpose as much furniture, mobility aids and other items, as possible.
• The grounds team have been marking and conserving areas of wildflowers since 2018, and a Nature Guide has been produced, funded by League of Friends.