The Government has announced a £500m fund for energy efficiency upgrades in schools and colleges. This cash investment is designed to shield England’s schools from high energy bills and boost to budgets.
Schools and colleges in England will be allocated a share of £500 million to spend on energy efficiency upgrades. The idea is this will help them to save on bills during the winter months and manage energy consumption.
Fund your BMS upgrade (or your move to the cloud)
This Department for Education cash can be used by schools to fund a move of ‘on premise’ BMS / building control functions to the cloud. Our Priva Digital Services are already in use in schools across the UK and offer a cost-effective subscription-based approach to building management.
The Government says it hopes that such investments in energy efficiency will not only help to save schools money, but it will make them more energy efficient during the cold period and increase winter resilience for future years.
UK Government
According to Government data, estimations show that on average, a primary school will receive approximately £16,000 from this funding, whilst a secondary school will get £42,000 and a further education college group will benefit from £290,000.
The money must be spent by April 2025m, and improvements can include installing better heating controls (including BMS controls), insulation to reduce heat loss from pipes or switching to energy efficient lighting.
This funding mechanism is designed to build on the Government’s Energy Relief Scheme which is supporting schools and colleges this winter, and will run until spring 2023.
Useful guidance & next steps
The Government’s official guidance on energy efficiency for schools and colleges offers plenty of tips and advice.
We also recommend that anyone managing energy for a school or a group of schools talks to us, or one or our experienced Priva Partners, to explore ways to use some of this funding to cover the cost of upgrades to the most up-to-date Priva controllers – or the move to the cloud. The benefits of this fall into three main groups: resource optimisation, ease of management, and access to upgrades and maintenance. (We have plenty of information what this means in practice – which we’re happy to talk you through or share – just let us know!)
Drop us a line at [contact.priva@priva.co.uk] – or call the office on [+44 (0)1923 813 480] to discuss the options.
