£30M to be saved for Scotland on public sector energy bills

A major programme to make public sector buildings more energy efficient gets underway today.

The Scottish Government announced in summer 2015 that improving the energy efficiency of all of Scotland’s buildings will be designated a National Infrastructure Priority. The cornerstone of the National Infrastructure Priority will be Scotland’s Energy Efficiency Programme which will support the delivery of energy efficiency by cutting energy and maintenance costs and reducing carbon emissions across all building types.

A total of 12 suppliers have been appointed to a procurement framework to deliver energy efficient retrofit works and services that will improve the energy performance of the public sector.

The scale of the retrofit opportunity across Scotland is estimated to be £300M, with associated savings to public sector energy bills of up to £30M per year.

The scheme will be accessible by all Scottish public sector organisations, registered social landlords and third sector.

Energy Minister Fergus Ewing said: “This scheme could transform our public sector buildings and has the potential to save taxpayers millions of pounds.

“These projects pay for themselves as energy savings will, over time, pay for the installation costs and will also deliver a variety of wider community benefit including employment opportunities and business growth opportunities for the Scottish supply chain.”

Iain MacLean, Head of Service at East Renfrewshire Council said: “Having been directly involved in its development, I am very encouraged by the proposed launch of the national non-domestic energy efficiency framework next month. Energy efficiency retrofit provides a real opportunity to explore estate wide improvements that will ultimately pay for themselves.”

The post £30M to be saved for Scotland on public sector energy bills appeared first on UK Construction Online.