14 whole school step-by-step heat decarbonisation plans

Southwark Diocesan Board of Education (SDBE) collaborated with RAFT on a Low Carbon Skills Fund application (LCSF) in 2022, for which they were successful and directly appointed RAFT to deliver 14 whole school step-by-step heat decarbonisation plans (HDPs) along with air leakage and thermographic audits, PV, LED and heat pump feasibility studies

Hand drawn graphic illustration of a section of a school highlighting an existing school building and how it might be retrofitted to improve its performance, e.g. by insulating walls, repairing brick, and fixing leaky gutters.

  • Boucher Southwark

  • Dulwich Village Infants

  • Peter Hills Rotherhithe

  • Reigate Parish

  • St Bedes Redhill

  • St Johns & St Clements

  • St Johns Croydon

  • St Marks Kennington

  • St Mary Magdalene Woolwich

  • St Mary's Lewisham

  • St Matthew's Wimbledon

  • St Michael's Southfields

  • St Saviour's & St Olaves Southwark

  • SDBE HQ

RAFT used online surveys; meetings with headteachers, premises managers, and business managers; and site visits to comprehensively audit the 14 existing buildings’ fabric and services. RAFT then worked with external consultants to create whole school plans for heat decarbonisation that can be delivered as short, medium and long-term measures. All projects achieve over 60% reduction in energy use through short-term and medium-term works with a focus on sensible, non-disruptive and reasonably costing measures that can quickly lead to decarbonisation.

The HDPs have since been used by Salix (the funding body) as exemplars in their training webinars, due to the whole building retrofit approach they take.

Report page from the Heat Decarbonisation Plans, describing the benefits of decarbonisation: e.g. minimising fuel costs, improving attention in classsrooms, reducing carbon emissions.
Report page from Heat Decarbonisation Plan, showing the thermal modelling methodology. We created a thermal model for every school that we surveyed to assess the most appropriate retrofit measures.

RAFT created a thermal model of each school, with the data exported and used within the PHPP modelling software to understand different options for retrofit. The model helps to identify the most effective measures in terms of cost, energy saving, and health and wellbeing.

The RAFT Heat Decarbonisation Plans, always propose a whole building solution approach to retrofit. This gives optimal benefits across cost, energy saving, carbon use, and health & wellbeing. When combined, measures such as insulating a building, can reduce the size of an ASHP, reducing the need to increase electrical loads in schools, whilst maximising the benefit of technologies such as ASHPs.

Report page from the Heat Decarbonisation Plans, discussing the whole building approach to retrofit.
Report page from Heat Decarbonisation Plans focusing on predicted energy consumption and carbon emission reductions if retrofit measures are carried out as soon as possible.
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