Photos and video: eco-friendly upgrades at Storrington Library as £8.2m programme reduces carbon footprint of 14 West Sussex County Council buildings

The work was part of an £8.2m programme to reduce the carbon footprint of 14 West Sussex County Council buildings.

The council said the programme was supported by over £1.4m in funding from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which is run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and is administered by Salix Finance. Representatives from both organisations attended the event.

Russell Allen, WSCC head of library services welcomed everyone before WSCC Leader Paul Marshall made a speech.

Mr Marshall said: “Climate change is one of our biggest challenges, globally, nationally and locally, and as a County Council we are as committed to making our organisation net zero by 2030.”

He thanked everyone who helped the project, including Chanctonbury Leisure Centre for supporting access to library services while work was carried out.

Mr Allen said: “It is an important step in the right direction towards our greener challenge, both locally and also for our future generations.”

WSCC councillor Deborah Urquhart, cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change said: “Through funding from both the Low Carbon Skills Fund and the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme we’ve been able to make these significant strides in our efforts towards a more sustainable future.”

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She said works at 14 sites were ‘meticulously designed’, adding that heat decarbonisation works are complete at seven libraries, six fire stations and at the Glebelands Day Centre in Shoreham.

Mrs Urquhart said: “By replacing gas boilers with air source heat pumps, installing better insulation on roofs and in walls, and upgrading doors, windows and heating controls we have significantly improved the energy efficiency of this building and many others.”

She continued: “We have also taken steps to make use of renewable energy sources by installing solar panels at many of our sites. This Storrington Library with its beautiful new glass roof lights and impressive solar panels now runs entirely on renewable energy from its two air source heat pumps. This gives a 61 per cent reduction in carbon emissions, saving over 12 tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere each year.”

Councillor Duncan Crow, Cabinet Member for Community Support, Fire and Rescue, said: “One of the reasons work like this is so important is we can make our public buildings, like our libraries, fit for the future and serve our communities in the most sustainable way in the long term.”

Dr Daire Casey, WSCC Energy Services Manager, said: “Air source heat pumps are one of the more efficient ways of generating the heat we need to keep our buildings warm and comfortable. Heat pumps work on the basic principal that there is dispersed heat in the air all around us. Air source heat pumps are essentially there to take that heat from the air and then compress it.”

He said: “They are then able to put that into the radiators and into the distribution systems heating our buildings.” He added that this technology is coupled with fan coil radiators, which are highly effective at delivering heat to communal areas.

Guests at the event enjoyed cakes by Juby Lee Bakes.