Report of the Head of Estates and Facilities.

This report describes the activities and progress to date on the decarbonisation of Manchester City Council’s operational estate. It describes the Zero Carbon Estate Programme, including MCC and grant funded retrofit projects delivered under the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, as well as major capital schemes that are delivering energy efficiency and carbon reduction measures. The report also describes projects that are in development.

The committee considered a report of the Head of Estates and Facilities which outlined the activities and progress to date of the Zero Carbon Estate Programme and the decarbonisation of Manchester City Council’s operational estate. These included MCC and grant funded retrofit projects delivered under the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and major capital schemes that were delivering energy efficiency and carbon reduction measures.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• The Council declared a Climate Emergency in July 2019 which recognised the need for the Council, and the city as a whole, to do more to reduce CO₂ emissions and mitigate the negative impacts of climate change;
• 316 buildings were reported against in the Buildings & Energy section of the Climate Change Action Plan 2020-25, including offices, depots, leisure centres, libraries, markets, properties that provide social care services to adults and children, buildings in parks and buildings owned by the council but operated by third parties;
• CO₂ emissions from the operational estate had reduced by 7,161 tonnes (29.7%) compared to the baseline set by the Council’s Climate Change Action Plan 2020-25;
• The completed phases of the Zero Carbon Estate Programme which upgraded energy conservation measures and invested in heat decarbonisation, energy efficiency and generation projects in 11 leisure centres;
• £18.2m of funding was received from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) for phases 1 and 2 and a further £3.1m had been awarded for phase 3a. A third bid for £1.2m of PSDS funding to support energy efficiency projects at the Town Hall Extension and Woodhouse Park Active Lifestyle Centre is awaiting decision;
• The projects currently being delivered;
• 80 Energy Audits had been  commissioned from Equans to inform the long-term strategy for investment, the total scale of opportunity and key challenges;
• Other projects that are being delivered in addition to the Zero Carbon Estate Programme, which support the decarbonisation of the estate, including the refurbishment of the Town Hall; and
• Potential challenges to decarbonisation.

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussions included:

• Welcoming progress to date;
• Whether the Council would be able to continue decarbonisation works at the same pace in order to meet ambitions, given the challenges identified in the report;
• How guaranteed future funding was and where this could from and if it would be sufficient to continue the Council’s decarbonisation agenda;
• Whether there was any health and safety impact on Council staff following installation of LED lighting in the Town Hall Extension;
• How decarbonisation was being approached in buildings which the Council owned but did not manage or operate;
• Why the graph of Council buildings emissionswithin the report did not include future projections;
• Why local authority-maintained schools were not included in decarbonisation plans;
• How much decarbonisation had occurred in Council buildings as a result of programmes to decarbonise the National Grid;
• Welcoming the installation of renewable energy generation capacity, and querying what more could be achieved by installing more solar panels;
• Why the National Football Museum was withdrawn from the scope of the works;
• Why there were no plans to make the Town Hall a zero carbon building;
• How often carbon emissions were measured; and
• If a financial figure of savings as a result of decarbonisation works was available.

The Head of Estates and Facilities introduced the item and explained that the carbon emissions from the Council’s operational buildings amounted for around three quarters of the Council’s total emissions, which meant it was a focus area for the Climate Change Action Plan.

The Executive Member for Environment and Transport informed the committee of the Zero Carbon Coordination Group, which brought all Council directorates together to ensure a coordinated approach and to share learning and explore challenges. The Council also had a dedicated Zero Carbon section on the website and quarterly Climate Change Action Plan updates were reported to the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor Mandie Shilton Godwin, Chair of the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee, submitted representations through the Chair and expressed her disappointment in the withdrawal of the National Football Museum from the scope of the Zero Carbon Estate Programme and stated that this demonstrated the present unsatisfactory national government system of allocating funding for such projects. She stated that this approach was constraining the city’s ambition and queried why this had been withdrawn and whether it could be included in a future phase of the programme. In response, the Head of Estates and Facilities advised that the National Football Museum was a complicated building in terms of fabric and construction. There was also a challenge around using PSDS funding for works to this building as it stipulated that heating sources had to be changed from gas to an electric solution, which would require a ground source heat pump, and there was a lack of space around the Museum to enable this. He explained that some works had been undertaken at the Museum such as upgrades to air handling units to improve efficiency and contribute to reducing carbon emissions. The Council would also be able to take forward elements of the programme, such as LED lighting upgrades, for the Museum in the future.

In response to a member’s query around funding, the Head of Estates and Facilities explained that there was a mix of different funding streams available, and the Council pursued external grant funding where possible and practical. There had been two successful funding bids for PSDS, and a third bid was hoped to be approved soon. There was also a significant amount of the Council’s own resource invested in the programme, including on an invest-to-save basis, and some major capital schemes included firm commitments to reducing carbon emissions through these projects. There were plans to continue the carbon reduction programme, although it was not yet known if the PSDS would continue in the same form as previously, and the Head of Estates and Facilities confirmed that he was confident in the ability to continue the programme.

It was acknowledged that the future of the carbon reduction programme would change given the challenges outlined in the report and that the next phase of the programme would focus on larger Council-operated buildings which emit less carbon than those worked on in previous phases. There had been significant learning from previous phases for the Capital Programme, Energy Management and Finance teams and there had been investment in capacity to enable delivery of decarbonisation projects.

The Head of Estates and Facilities acknowledged the importance of sufficient lighting with the Town Hall Extension and explained that lighting had been upgraded throughout office spaces within the building. An advantage of this was that LED lighting levels were more adjustable compared to traditional lighting and the Health and Safety team were involved in the installation of this to ensure that lighting levels were adequate.

A query was raised regarding works to buildings which the Council owned but did not manage or operate and the committee was informed that some buildings had proposals for decarbonisation works in development and some works had been undertaken at Bridgewater Hall, such as connection to the cyclical heat network and LED lighting upgrades, and the Art Gallery.

In response to a question regarding a lack of future projections within the council building emissions graph, it was stated that this was due to accessibility of data as the Council’s energy usage was based on meter readings in buildings and future usage and carbon emissions could not be predicted. Members were advised that there are targets set for future emissions and that the Council was currently meeting these.

It was clarified that decarbonisation of local authority-maintained schools was under consideration by the Council, but this fell within the remit of a different service. The Director of Education had recently met with schools to devise a plan for decarbonisation and officers from the Energy Management and Capital Programmes teams were assisting in this by sharing their learning and experiences.

The Head of Estates and Facilities expressed his hope that Energy Audits, which were underway and due for completion in May 2023, would identify where additional capacity was available to install more solar panels.

It was also clarified that the Town Hall was not included in the project’s scope to become a zero-carbon building because of its status as a Grade I Listed Building, which restricted the ability to add significant retrofit elements.

Information on the amount of emissions reduced as a result of decarbonisation works to the National Grid and financial savings would be provided following the meeting.

Decision:

That the Committee notes

1. the activities and progress to date on the decarbonisation of Manchester City Council’s operational estate, and
2. the pipeline of future projects that are in development.