Overview
In September 2020, the UK Government announced the £1bn PSDS funding initiative for energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects administered by Salix Finance.
In response, over 50 clients requested our support in multiple areas – from surveying to gathering asset data across their estates to support grant fund applications.
The Brief
The Government’s announcement resulted in the rapid mobilisation of a large team of building surveyors and engineers to inspect our client’s sites. On location, we captured asset data on plant, building fabric and more. Their survey programme had a strict, 3-month deadline to meet the timeline for applications.
The Outcome
The Barker team successfully completed over 370 audits in less than 3 months.
Following completion of the data capture, the team then used our EO Portal data analytics capabilities to support the financial modelling of capital bids for projects such as PV panels and LED lighting. Of the audits that we put forward, a staggering 131 projects were approved.
With the funding secured, our team mobilised projects on various sites with the view of delivering them by the March 2022 deadline.
We secured nearly £10m in capital funding through the PSDS scheme, enabling our clients to hit many of their decarbonisation goals – including reducing operational costs, generating major carbon savings and engaging with students on climate change. Crucially it also allowed many trusts to embark on a long-term energy efficiency programme, using data and financial savings to facilitate future programmes of work.
A summary of decarbonisation measures and anticipated outputs is shown below:
Total Number of PSDS Projects: 131
Total Value of PSDS Projects: £8.79M
Total Carbon Saves (Tonnes per annum): 1,180
Total Financial Savings (£ per annum): £1.38M
Number of LED lights installed: 26,800
Number of Solar PV panels installed: 9,050
Read more about our energy & sustainability services here
“With Barker’s assistance, we were able to secure funds from the LCSF round to put together Energy Assessments for some of our schools, and amazingly, secured over £3 million worth of funding with the PSDS round (10% of the overall Multi Academy Trust award) for various carbon reduction schemes; LED lighting installation, solar panel installation, hand dryer installations, and some smaller TRV and insulation works. Barker has been great through the whole process, assisting with the initial skills fund award, the bids, monitoring paperwork as well as project tenders, set up and completion.”
Academies Enterprise TrustTotal Number of PSDS Projects
Number of LED lights installed
Number of Solar PV panels installed