TORBAY LEISURE CENTRE CONTRIBUTES TO NET ZERO CARBON AMBITIONS

Thursday 11 March 2021 – Torbay Council has secured £1.9m in grant funding via the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) for Torbay Leisure Centre to upgrade the heating plant, improve energy efficiency, and reduce the centre’s carbon emissions by 60%. 

This project will play a major part in accelerating progress towards Torbay Council’s ambitions of achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030. Torbay Leisure Centre is managed by Parkwood Leisure who have supported the grant application, and will oversee the delivery of the project.

Central to the proposed project will be the replacement of the existing gas boiler system at Torbay Leisure Centre with an air source heat pump. Air source heat pumps are identified as the most favourable decarbonisation heat technology in the market at present, however they are comparatively expensive to run.

In order to mitigate against the increased running costs, the proposal also includes the installation of secondary technologies within the Leisure Centre, to either generate renewable electricity or improve the efficiency of other plant operations.

Cllr Mike Morey, Cabinet Member for Infrastructure, Environment and Culture, Torbay Council, said; “Reducing carbon emissions within the Torbay area remains a high priority of ours and I am pleased to hear of the success of our decarbonisation grant application. We aim to have net zero carbon emissions by 2030 and this project will play a vital role in achieving that objective.”

Glen Hall, Managing Director of Parkwood Leisure, shared his thoughts: “Torbay Leisure Centre is an iconic facility within the area and I am pleased £1.9m of grant funding has been approved to be spent on improvements at the site. The project will save 318 tonnes of CO2 which will play a significant role in the government’s national objective of being carbon neutral by 2050, and we are proud to play our part.”