Office space in a converted mill in rural Lancashire that aims to attract young growing businesses has won part of £500,000 worth of grant funding in a Government community green makeover competition.
Halton Mill near Lancaster is one of twelve projects across the country that are benefiting from millions of pounds worth of
Government funding to help install new
green technologies, such as solar panels, hydro turbines and energy saving insulation.
The
Low Carbon Communities Challenge was set up to help local communities
cut carbon and save money on energy bills. Most of the projects to have been awarded funding are to help householders rather than businesses, but Halton Mill is part of a mixed-use development, which will eventually also include 32 residential homes that will be built to Passivhaus standards.
Jon Sear project manager at cooperative neighbourhood scheme Lancaster Cohousing is behind the Halton Mill green refit. He says before the Low Carbon Communities Challenge came along, the organisation was looking at doing a “cheap and cheerful” refurbishment of the mill. “We didn’t really want to do this because we knew we would be wasting so much energy in such an old building," he said.
The mill is about 100 years old and a lot of the retrofit will involve fully insulating the building.
Lancaster Cohousing, which submitted its application for funding to the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) in December, is going to spend another tranche of the grant on
solar PV – 32 kilowatt in total. This will be split across three buildings – the mill, a workshop and a training centre. Rather than managing the PV systems itself, the co-op will lease the roof space to a third party that will manage an income generation from the PV installations through the Government’s
Clean Energy Cashback scheme set to launch in April.
Some further funding will go towards a biomass boiler for the mill, and Lancaster Cohousing also hopes to be able to get some of its electricity from a hydro turbine that is being installed in the River Lune and is also receiving funding through the
Low Carbon Communities Challenge.
Around 30 per cent of the workspace in the mill will be designated for the residents living on the adjacent housing development. Sear hopes to get small businesses from around the area to occupy the rest of the 15 or so units, which he says will be marketed as a "green business cluster".
Some of the other community projects to have won funding from the Low Carbon Communities Challenge include 2500-strong community Hook Norton, near Banbury, in Oxfordshire; Ashton Hayes, near Cheshire, which is aiming to become England’s first carbon neutral community; and ‘eco town’ Whitehill-Bordon in East Hampshire.
“The huge enthusiasm for the Low Carbon Communities Challenge demonstrates that local people are passionate about building a
low carbon future in the UK,” said Energy and Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock. “Today’s winners will act as a test bed for green action, and show us all what a greener future looks like.”
Related News:
Environmental Funding NewsClimate Change NewsClean Energy Cashback SchemeSustainable Building NewsRelated Links:
www.decc.gov.uk