Dereham Leisure Centre Feasibility Study
The path to carbon neutrality
The ambition
Parkwood Leisure, who manage 75 facilities on behalf of 31 local authorities throughout England and Wales, were looking at opportunities to incorporate renewable technologies at Dereham Leisure Centre on behalf of Breckland District Council. The key motivations for both Parkwood Leisure and Breckland District Council were reducing the outgoing costs of maintaining the centre, whilst simultaneously contributing to the council’s Net Zero by 2035 targets by reducing their carbon emissions.
The solution
The project started with RenEnergy’s consultancy team and in-house surveyors who carried out a technical feasibility study of the leisure centre to determine the most appropriate solution for meeting the aspirations of Parkwood Leisure and Breckland District Council, taking into consideration the availability of space and key technical constraints of the site.
From an initial desk-top analysis of the site, our team proposed to explore the feasibility of both roof-mounted solar PV and solar carports. To determine the viability of these options, our experienced surveyors visited the site to assess the key features of the carpark such as layout, topography and ground condition as well as the key features of the roof such as structural condition, roof material, access arrangements, internal and external electrical connection routes, sources of shading and scaffolding requirements.
This comprehensive site assessment enabled the consultancy team to accurately model the proposed technologies and make recommendations based on actual details as opposed to theoretical information. From the modelling, we were able to determine the key performance metrics of the roof-mounted solar array and solar carport, demonstrating to the client exactly how much energy would be generated from each of the systems as well as how much of the energy they would be consuming vs exporting and what percentage of their total energy demand would be covered by the renewable electricity. From this information, our team also demonstrated the financial savings which would be afforded by the technologies and the overall business case including Return on Investment, Internal Rate of Return and payback years. These details enabled the client to make an informed decision on the most appropriate solution which meets their carbon reduction targets whilst remaining within budget.
Not only did the technical feasibility study provide the client with a detailed analysis of the opportunities available for renewable technology at the leisure centre, but the study was also used by Parkwood Leisure for their application for Sport England’s Swimming Pool Support Fund. The fund was initially announced in June 2023 and offered a £60m pot for capital investment to help make facilities more energy efficient and included investment into solar PV.
Read our blog on energy efficiency in UK pools - Swimming towards sustainability
Applicants were required to demonstrate how they aligned with the fund’s core objectives which included reducing the carbon output of facilities in line with the government’s Net Zero by 2050 target; the feasibility study prepared by RenEnergy was therefore used by Parkwood Leisure in their submission as it comprehensively demonstrated how the site would benefit from the adoption of solar PV and therefore how it met the eligibility criteria for the funding. As a result, Dereham Leisure Centre was awarded £264,758 of funding from Sport England for the development of roof-mounted solar PV.
“RenEnergy’s role on this project was to gather all the information to form a report that needed to go to Breckland Council and Cabinet for a decision. RenEnergy’s study went towards forming the report that went to Breckland Council and Cabinet. It received an unanimous decision to proceed with the project and also gained feedback that it was a really clear report so I was really pleased about that. It was successful in the application for funding for the Sports England swimming pool fund and as a result of that we are able to fund the whole project through the Sports England fund rather than it coming from Breckland Council itself. I was really impressed with RenEnergy’s attention to detail and quality, especially working with Fiona Keysell who was extremely patient. She was so flexible as when had to make short-term changes to dates and so on. You can clearly see that they know their subject when they are able to explain really technical information in very simple terms. That was really helpful for me. Being able to condense all that information into a report and we received the feedback of being really clear, was a huge win and I’m really grateful to them”.
Fiona Wilson, Project Manager, Breckland District Council
Dereham Leisure Centre Feasibility Study
The path to carbon neutrality