The community benefits of local authority (LA) leisure facilities extend far beyond sport. Ranging from supporting health and wellbeing to enabling social cohesion, cultural enrichment and economic stimulation, the community value cannot be underestimated, says Steve Wilkinson, Director of Energy Performance Contracts at Cenergist.
Cenergist
According to the Local Government Association (LGA), in 20221, councils in England were significant funders of sports and leisure facilities, spending £1.1bn a year combined with parks and green spaces.
However, they also represent an area that is under increasing threat. In 2022, the LGA stated that leisure operators were facing costs 200% higher compared to 2019.
In one of its most recent surveys, gym and leisure centre industry association ukactive highlighted that these energy pressures remain.
The report said that almost a quarter (24%) of council areas are at imminent risk of losing their leisure centre(s) or reducing services significantly.
Many councils are now looking at their commercial sites as a way of achieving their net-zero goals, and by considering their leisure in these plans, they could also preserve these facilities to maintain their community value. A growing number of LAs are looking at projects to retrofit modern, low-carbon energy, hot water, heating and cooling systems into their leisure centres.
Central Government funding in the form of schemes, such as the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), are being utilised by some LAs, although there are many that are yet to apply for this type of funding.
Leisure centres should be key targets for decarbonisation, but LAs must understand how the nuances of these sites can maximise the value of retrofit works from a running cost OPEX and carbon-saving perspective.
Doing so will also ensure they are better placed to secure external funding such as PSDS.
Appreciate the high energy demands of leisure centres
Compared to other building types that would be in an LA’s building stock, leisure centres tend to consume more energy than a typical office site would use.
This is particularly acute in facilities that have a pool as opposed to ‘dry’ centres without one. As a result, these types of facilities represent an ideal opportunity for low-carbon retrofits.
Elevated energy demands are also seen in leisure centres that rely on fossil fuels, highlighting another priority area for LAs.
However, with these projects, care must be taken to ensure that the system is designed correctly as, unlike many retrofit projects, switching from a fossil-fuel heating and cooling system to an electrically-driven one may cause running costs to increase.
To help overcome these, and unlock extra decarbonisation and energy-saving projects, it is important to consider some of the nuances behind leisure centre heating and cooling systems.
Understand the synergy between heating and cooling
Energy and carbon savings tend to be more significant in ‘wet’ facilities, but, when designed correctly, all leisure facilities have the potential to deliver savings.
The unique opportunity that these buildings provide can come from combining heating and cooling by recycling heat that is not being used effectively throughout the building.
Analysing the potential to optimise heating and cooling in different areas of the building can be a significant benefit of a decarbonisation project and help deliver further savings.
Combine low-carbon technologies
Each type of building within leisure facilities has different characteristics, ranging from size, location and use. This means a holistic, technology-agnostic approach is needed when considering the design of a heating and cooling system to ensure the most potential.
Most solutions comprise heat pump systems, either ground source (GSHP) or air source (ASHP), which offer significant carbon-saving benefits compared to fossil-fuel systems. The efficiency of these types of systems are further enhanced by the consistent heat loads leisure centres tend to require.
However, further consideration is needed with these solutions to determine which type is most appropriate. Aspects, such as available land space for GSHP boreholes and the extra electricity demands heat pumps require, must be factored in when designing systems.
In addition, projects need to balance cost priorities when exploring GSHP vs ASHP options. A GSHP will likely cost more up front, but its lifespan is considerably longer and consumes less electricity compared to its ASHP counterpart.
Onsite electricity generation, through rooftop solar panels, is often a good way to offset the increase in electricity consumption when moving from a fossil-fuel-based system.
Explore the role of water in driving sustainability
LAs need to also consider how to drive more sustainable leisure centres not just through carbon emissions, but also with water use.
Like energy, leisure centres are ‘water hungry’, so they need to look at how to minimise waste to help address shortages, but also further optimise energy efficiency.
Optimising the flow rate in the mains supply and to individual outlets, such as taps and showers, with devices, such as Control Flow with HL2024 technologies, reduces water waste and, in turn, reduces the amount of water being heated unnecessarily, further minimising energy demands.
Plan projects to minimise disruption
Leisure centres also represent a significant asset for LAs and have a crucial community function. Therefore, the disruption created as a result of retrofit works must be minimised.
The ideal time to undertake work is often during closed or quieter periods, although leisure centres tend to open in the early mornings and late evenings reducing the potential for out of hours work. This is where there is an increasing need for careful planning and effective stakeholder management to help minimise disruption for the facility and its users.
Consider funding streams and delivery partners
The combined pressures of managing energy costs, operational expenditures and progressing closer to net-zero carbon highlights significant challenges and opportunities with leisure centres.
Yet considering the unique opportunities presented by these types of buildings gives LAs an excellent chance of accessing funding streams such as PSDS.
Working with a specialised delivery partner, such as Cenergist, can help LAs leverage these investments further. This type of partner recognises the challenges of these types of projects and should offer an agile, technology-agnostic approach when finding the best solution.
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