The amount of investment needed to decarbonise the UK’s public sector estate is likely to reach £100bn, according to Rapleys.
Sustainable building experts at the firm have warned the government could have underestimated the cost of retrofitting the estate, with indicative figures reportedly standing at £25-35bn.
Rapleys said while the figures are not deliberately misrepresentative, investment into supporting infrastructure is needed to make the original spending work.
The price of an air-source heat pump was used as an example. While it costs around £45,000, the overall minimum investment would total £135,000 when installation costs and potential electrical substation upgrade costs are factored in. This excludes accounting for the potential size of the substation or the duress it is shouldering from demands elsewhere on the grid.
Lee Fraine, head of sustainability and building services at Rapleys, said: “It’s certainly not a good idea to play the quick game and invest in off-the-shelf solutions to tick a box when, in reality, significantly more infrastructure and a budget three times that spend might be needed to ensure the initial equipment works.
“Otherwise, you end up with a ‘whack-a-mole’ situation whereby you are spending on one thing and that pops up another problem and another that becomes a black hole of expenditure that no organisation can afford right now. Transparency, understanding and expert forward planning is key.”
Rapleys added that cost is not the main challenge when it comes to decarbonising the nation’s real estate, but the complexities of the sites themselves. The vast majority of public sector buildings are old and inefficient, with some involving heritage attributes that require more intensive and expensive solutions.
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