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Vital Energi’s fleet has distinguished itself as one of the greenest around after emissions from their vehicles were found to be less than 25% of other organisations.

Pendragon Vehicle Management recently undertook an audit of their clients who had taken delivery of 20 or more cars over the previous year. Vital Energi topped the league table of sustainable performers by coming in with an average of 20.7 Co2 g/km. The average for similar sized clients was 85.2 Co2 g/km.

Fleet Manager, Paul Carberry explains, “We are helping to decarbonise cities, campuses and developments through our energy generation and energy conservation projects and it’s great that we can contribute, as a company, to reduce the carbon emissions of our company fleet.

“We were early adopters of low emission petrol and diesel vehicles, then mild hybrids in 2009, plug-in electric vehicles (PHEV’s) vehicles in 2014 and more recently, in 2019, battery electric vehicles (BEV’s), which can be charged by the Solar PVs at our Blackburn headquarters. By constantly being at the cutting edge of technology, coupled with choosing sustainable behaviours, we are able to outperform other similar organisations and contribute to the UK meetings its carbon targets.”

Over 70% of Vitals’ current fleet are either BEV’s or PHEV’s, which give the fleet average emissions of 48.21 Co2 g/km.  With another 95% of the 21 vehicles that are currently in the order bank being BEV’s or PHEV’s, the fleet is only set to become greener in the future and will continue to position Vital Energi at the forefront in the UK’s journey towards net zero.

The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme has released details of the organisations who will receive almost £1billion in funding. We are delighted that eight of the projects we are delivering have been successful in Round 1 and will result in carbon reductions in excess of 20,000 tonnes per annum.  

Overall the PSDS has awarded a total of £977,283,766 in Phase 1 and Vital Energi are delivering projects worth in excess of 10% of the total funded. Further funding will be announced for Phase 2 of the PSDS.

We have supported several of our partners through the application process, representing the healthcare, local authority and education sectors.  These projects will be strong examples of how public sector bodies can decarbonise by adopting the latest technology.

Speaking about the Government’s approach to decarbonisation, Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “We were the first major economy to put into law our target to end our contribution to climate change, and today we’re taking steps to be the first major economy to have its own low carbon industrial sector.

While reaching our climate targets will require extensive change across our economy, we must do so in a way that protects jobs, creates new industries and attracts inward investment – without pushing emissions and business abroad.”

Ahead of COP26, the UK is showing the world how we can cut emissions, create jobs and unleash private investment and economic growth. Today’s strategy builds on this winning formula as we transition low carbon and renewable energy sources, while supporting the competitiveness of Britain’s industrial base.”

Backed by more than £1 billion investment, today’s plans will make a considerable dent in the amount of carbon emissions emitting from our economy and put us on the path to eliminate our contribution to climate change by 2050.”

Vital Energi are happy to support public sector organisations on their decarbonisation journey.  If you would like to discuss your project, please email [email protected]

The University of Salford are running a series of Domestic Retrofit Webinars and on Tuesday 4^th May, from 1pm to 4pm. Gemma Dyson and Glenn Harrison from Vital Energi will be discussing heat networks and touching on a wide array of subjects ranging from technical design through to end user experience.

Gemma has led Vital Energi’s bids for successful low carbon energy schemes at Paddington Village for Liverpool City Council, University of Keele, University of Sheffield, University of Edinburgh and Glenrothes Heat Network for Fife Council. Glenn works with heat network operators and suppliers to identify opportunities for network data management and consumer management platforms. Access to performance and operational data from network assets helps shape consumer behaviour and drive efficiencies in system operation.

The session will give a practical overview of domestic heat network schemes and be of interest to architects, surveyors, consultants, project managers, contractors and any other professions involved in delivering sustainable developments.

To join the session simply use the Zoom link here.

Over the last five years, former graduate Reece Roberts has climbed the career ladder, and has put his wealth of knowledge into practice with the design and development of our £2m Training Academy where new recruits will begin their journey.

Impressed by Vital’s sustainability vision and position at the forefront of the industry using renewable technologies, Reece met with a representative at a UCLAN careers fair to find out more about the company, and then joined the graduate scheme in 2015.

Thanks to all the support he’s received, Reece has progressed from a graduate to a Senior Architectural Technologist in a remarkably short time.

From the day he started, Reece has been heavily involved in a number of our big projects, from liaising with the local authorities, designing and developing the proposal, and co-ordinating external contractors on one of the UK’s largest Heat Networks, the £35m Leeds PIPES  project, to the detailed design of The University of Strathclyde’s £20m energy centre overhaul and new district heating network installation.

Thanks to continued career support he’s received, Reece obtained his Chartership in February 2020, and become a member of the Chartered Institution of Architectural Technologists.

After amassing a wealth of knowledge over the last few years, Reece has reached a point in his career where he’s influencing large scale projects from start to finish, and so he became heavily involved with the design and development of the £2m 600m² Heat Network Training Academy, a facility which will allow apprentices and existing staff to develop their skills and progress within their own careers.

“This was such an exciting project to be involved in, and it was great to see it through from concept to completion. I feel really proud of the work I’ve put in, and it’s like coming full circle, benefitting those who are in the same position I was when I first started,” said Reece.

“I developed the scheme to a workable Stage 3 design for planning submission, which was later developed to Stage 5 ready for construction, whilst assisting the project team with co-ordination and control of progress on site.

“To meet the conditions for construction, I co-ordinated the design of both mechanical and structural packages throughout the stages of development, working closely with the Planning and Building Control Authorities. I also developed enquiry packages and appraised potential supplier proposals, whilst liaising with the commercial team. This was something I hadn’t done before, but it was great to be involved in this part of the process to broaden my understanding.”

We are committed to helping the UK achieve their net zero ambitions, and after identifying a shortage of skilled specialists within the district heating sector, we developed a state-of-the-art Training Academy to help close the skills gap facing the industry and support the workforce that is set to deliver the UK’s low-carbon future.

The Training Academy aims to be a centre of excellence, and is home to a 60-seater lecture theatre and seminar-style classrooms, providing pioneering demonstrative training resources and collaborative programmes. The Academy also features two purpose-built demonstration trenches, one internal and one external, which will be used to educate students and employees about techniques such as jointing and welding pipes, insulation processes and moisture control.

We plan to recruit 20 new apprentices in 2021 across all areas of the business, site and office based, from design engineers through to project delivery engineers and operational engineers as well as support service opportunities.

To learn more about apprenticeships and wider opportunities at Vital, please contact [email protected].

Vital Energi is proud to announce that the Meridian Water Heat Network project has been rated Excellent in the design stage assessment by BREEAM, the world’s leading sustainability assessment method for projects, infrastructure and buildings.

BREEAM assess and rate the environmental impacts arising from a newly constructed building development at two life cycles; design stage and post construction stage. The Excellent rating relates to the performance of the building, including offices and meeting rooms, within the Meridian Water Energy Centre which fall under the new build assessment criteria and shows that they have been designed to high sustainable standards.

Measures we have included in the design will see us install a unique combined PV array and green roof, utilise rainwater harvesting and take waste heat from our energy centre to heat the offices.  The green roof combined with bat boxes and insect hotels within the structure will not only improve local biodiversity but will improve the local ecology by enhancing the habitat. The nearby brook will be enhanced by removing invasive species and adding native planting.

In addition, we will install submetering of services for the offices and toilets, including leak detection and flow control devices, cycle storage and changing facilities, and undertake seasonal commissioning, to ensure our installations perform as they are designed to.

Design Director Elliott Sharpe explains, “BREEAM has assessed the buildings performance at the design stage as excellent, which is fantastic news.  We implemented a range of sustainability measures to ensure the project performs well, and we made improvements to the surrounding ecology.   It is great that all these measures have been recognised with an Excellent rating at the design stage.

“Here at Vital, we’re committed to helping Enfield reach their Climate Action Plan carbon neutral target by 2030 and we’re proud to be implementing low carbon solutions for Energetik, across their community heat networks. This is a great first step for the project, and hopefully our dedication to sustainability will be recognised at the final stage too.”

We are delivering the Meridian Water Heat Network project on behalf of Enfield Council’s heat network company, Energetik, who are passionate about providing better value energy that’s reliable and environmentally friendly.

The Meridian Water Heat Network forms just one part of the wider project of decarbonising heat within Enfield, along with the three already operational heat networks at Ponders End, Arnos Grove and Oakwood. All of these projects will work hand in hand to reduce CO2 emissions across Enfield, by providing thousands of homes and businesses with a near zero carbon waste heat source providing a sustainable and environmentally friendly heating solution.

The project will be assessed again during the Post Construction Phase which will lead to a final BREEAM rating.