Public Sector Decarbonisation Feasibility and Design

Support better Low Carbon Skills Fund applications and develop detailed feasibility studies for investible decarbonisation measures – such as low carbon heating

Feasibility and Design

Who is the Theme 2 guidance for?

These guides and tools support public sector bodies and their decarbonisation partners. They help delivery-level, strategic and technical teams to:

Develop better funding applications faster, eg. Low Carbon Skills Fund applications
Appraise technical options and know what to ask for
Prioritise projects for the delivery of your decarbonisation strategy across public sector buildings and estates
Develop a feasibility study for one or a suite of investible decarbonisation measures
Secure budgets and determine project timescales.

Skip to tools and guides

Theme 2 of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Guidance has been developed in collaboration with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Cabinet Office. Our Feasibility and Design guide is also recommended via the Salix website.

VIDEO: Design the projects for your decarbonisation strategy

Main Guide - Feasibility and Design

As part of your strategy development, you should have a clear picture of your estate, emissions and the prioritised projects you wish to take forward. This guide covers undertaking feasibility and design studies, including information on the different types of studies and how to ensure they support your funding applications and ultimately reduce carbon emissions.

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Feasibility and Design: Extra Guides

Discover eight available guides and one coming soon

AVAILABLE NOW

Understanding six activities that make up feasibility and design
Local Distribution Network Operator (DNO) capacity guidance
Decarbonisation Pathway Report
Site survey and building audits guide
Site energy demand estimator guide
How to treat technologies and what to ask for
Heat Pumps; which one is right for your site and what else to consider alongside
Heat networks guide

COMING SOON

Energy flexibility and storage guide

Understanding six activities that make up feasibility and design

This guide expands on the main theme 2 guide, providing more information on six activities you might undertake as part of your work on feasibility and design. The guide covers what the 6 activities are, how to differentiate and choose between them, and how they fit in with the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) plan of work.

Local Distribution Network Operator (DNO) capacity guidance

A guide on how to establish, at a high level, what the local Distribution Network Operator (DNO) electricity capacity is for a site.

Decarbonisation Pathway Report

An example of the output of decarbonisation planning activity, providing a carbon reduction pathway for a site using visual and quantitative information to enable decarbonisation planning and detailed design activity, allowing carbon neutrality by 2050.

Site survey and building audits guide

This guide provides a description of how to carry out a site survey along with a helpful checklist.

Site energy demand estimator guide

This document is the user guide for the ‘site energy demand estimator’.

How to treat technologies and what to ask for

This guidance will help you understand the technology options available for site decarbonisation. It provides background information, insights, actions, and considerations when undertaking feasibility studies for technology integration.

Heat pumps; which one is right for your site and what else to consider alongside

This guide covers the types of heat pumps suitable for non-domestic applications, feasibility considerations and complementary technologies to improve system efficiencies. Examples of alternative electric heating solutions are also provided.

Heat networks guide

This guide has been designed to support non-domestic organisations, that are looking to connect to district heat networks, navigate the new heat zoning regulations. The guide covers what a heat network will look like at a high-level, the process for assessing the technical and economic feasibility of connecting to a scheme, stakeholder engagement and how to optimise commercial contracts.

Building Retrofit Planning – RIBA Plan of Work

This guide outlines the actions and processes involved in a building decarbonisation retrofit project, aligning them with the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) Plan of Work.

COMING SOON: Energy flexibility and storage guide

This guide introduces various storage technology options, their applications, and business models. It will also explore methods for deploying flexibility and provide insights on how public sector organizations can evaluate and determine the most suitable options for their specific needs.

Feasibility and Design: Tools and Tutorials

Discover seven available tools and accompanying tutorials

AVAILABLE NOW

Site information gathering template
Half-hourly energy consumption benchmarks
BMS intervention estimator
Building fabric intervention estimator
Lighting intervention estimator
Site energy demand estimator
Standard scope of works for Feasibility and Design studies

Standard scope of works for Feasibility and Design studies

This tool will help you produce first draft specifications for feasibility and design studies.

Site information gathering template

This template helps you to collate relevant site data as part of information gathering. It contains all the useful information that could be gathered, with colour coding to help you easily differentiate between must-have information, should-have information and non-essential information.

Half-hourly energy consumption benchmarks

These half-hourly benchmarks have been created for different building use types on campus-style sites. The benchmarks have been produced as part of a consistent approach to assessing decarbonisation for scaled delivery. They are a standard set that can be used to split aggregated site energy consumption into a building-by-building profile for representative days of the year. Data to inform the benchmarks has been made available to Energy Systems Catapult through its work with various public sector departments.

BMS intervention estimator

This tool provides an estimation of costs and energy efficiency benefits when you upgrade or install a new building management system (BMS) on a campus-style site or at an organisational portfolio level. Using this estimator will provide a repository of site information represented in a consistent format.

Last update: 12/03/24

Building fabric intervention estimator

This estimator is designed to support the assessment of site building fabric and give an understanding of relevant energy consumption on either a campus-style site or at an organisational portfolio level. Using this estimator also provides a repository of site information represented in a consistent format.

Last update: 12/03/24

Lighting intervention estimator

This estimator is designed to provide an estimation of costs and energy efficiency benefits of upgrading existing lighting to light-emitting diode (LED) lighting on a campus style site or at an organisational portfolio level. Using this estimator also provides a repository of site information represented in a consistent format.

Last update: 12/03/24

Site energy demand estimator

This estimator provides a breakdown of site energy demand, disaggregated at the building level by fuel source (Electricity, Gas, Biomass and Heat Network), based on aggregated site information and a series of benchmarked building types against which this is scaled. Using this estimator provides site energy demand information in a consistent format.

Feasibility and Design: Case Studies

Discover four available case studies

AVAILABLE NOW

Catterick Garrison case study
RAF Leeming case study
Winchester City Council case study
Natural World Centre case study

Catterick Garrison case study

RAF Leeming case study

Winchester City Council case study

Natural World Centre case study

Phase 5 Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has made available up to £16 million of funding for Phase 5 Low Carbon Skills Fund that will provide grants for public sector organisations to engage the specialist and expert advice and skills required to establish or improve an existing heat decarbonisation plan.

Next Theme: Procurement

Helping you identify relevant procurement frameworks, write high quality tenders and evaluate the responses.

Move to Theme 3

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Public Sector Decarbonisation Guidance

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