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11th May 2026

UK's last coal-heated hospital completes switch to clean energy

Two-phase, £34.8m decarbonisation programme at Nottingham City Hospital cuts 16,000 tonnes of carbon and delivers £1.4m in annual energy savings


A landmark decarbonisation programme has brought coal-fired heating to an end across the UK’s NHS estate, with the completion of a major energy transformation at Nottingham City Hospital.

The work was delivered by Vital Energi, which has completed a two-phase, £34.8 million project replacing the hospital’s ageing coal and gas boiler infrastructure with a new energy centre, air source heat pumps, solar PV panels, and a comprehensive LED lighting upgrade of over 6,600 fittings.

A second phase added a 400kW air source heat pump system serving the Maternity and Urology departments, a 160kW waste heat recovery water source heat pump, and a full sitewide Building Management System (BMS) upgrade integrating all systems under a single, modernised controls platform.

Both phases were funded through the Government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), administered by Salix Finance. With more than a full year of independently verified operational data now available, the guaranteed annual energy savings of £1.4m have been realised.  Under Vital Energi’s Energy Performance Contract model, savings are guaranteed from the outset.  The results at Nottingham City Hospital demonstrate what’s possible when that model is applied well.  The BMS upgrade alone has generated annual gas savings of 7,475,244 kWh, nearly five times the guaranteed target, underscoring both the performance of the system and the confidence that comes with a contractually guaranteed outcome.  Across both phases of the programme, the project has delivered significant carbon savings of 16,023 tonnes, the equivalent of taking around 8,000 cars off the road for a year.

All works were carried out in a fully operational acute hospital. The managed transition from the old coal-fired boiler house to the new energy centre - cutting and restoring the hospital’s primary heat source - required precise planning at every stage. Demolition works included two chimney stacks, one directly adjacent to the Cardiac Centre requiring precision demolition and rigorous traffic management to ensure uninterrupted access for high-risk patients, and one at 38m which altered the neighbourhood skyline. LED upgrades were installed across live wards and clinical areas, and plant room work was scheduled out of hours with each task timed to ensure no system was offline longer than could be safely permitted.

Vital Energi’s relationship with Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust dates back to 2017. Before construction began in 2021, the project navigated significant challenges, including changes to NHS funding rules and successive rounds of grant programme development, with Vital Energi working through each obstacle as a proactive funding partner rather than stepping back.

"Nottingham City Hospital was the last hospital in the UK still burning coal, and that chapter is now closed. This was a multifaceted project which required the team to use their broad range of skills to complete. Delivering in a live acute hospital adds a layer of complexity that very few contractors are equipped for, and that expertise is something we’ve built over decades. What makes this especially satisfying is that the results speak for themselves. The savings have been independently verified and we derisked our heating system both primarily plant and the heating distribution system and take the first steps for de-steaming the hospital, a key necessity to achieve the Trust’s Net Zero Carbon target. The hospital now has modern, resilient energy infrastructure built to last."

John Runniff, Account Development Director, Vital Energi

“This landmark project was an important part of moving us away from relying on coal and gas energy and towards clean energy and our ambitious 2040 Net Zero Carbon Goal. We are pleased with the vast reduction of our City Hospital’s carbon footprint, and the cost savings that this decarbonisation has brought to the Trust. Most importantly, the decarbonisation of our City Hospital site and the investment in the behind-the-scenes management systems has enabled us to create more comfortable environments for our patients and staff, both today and for generations to come.”

Alberto Jaume, Programme Manager , Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust

With experience across more than 70 healthcare decarbonisation projects, Vital Energi delivers tailored solutions through its Energy Performance Contract model, which guarantees carbon and financial savings and provides NHS trusts with long-term certainty on both environmental and commercial outcomes.