End of year spend: an opportunity for sustainability and COVID-19 recovery
In 2020 the Greener NHS team released its Delivering a net Zero National Health Service in response to the NHS commitment to reach net zero by 2040 for its direct emissions, and 2045 for emissions it can influence.
The impact of climate change is evident, with regular extreme weather conditions affecting the UK and the rest of the world. The journey to decarbonise the NHS has begun, with annual targets being set by the Greener NHS team.
However, with a focus on the pandemic over the last two years, it is easy for decarbonisation of the estate to slip down the priority list, but if your trust has a cash surplus to spend before year end, perhaps this creates an opportunity to get some sustainability and/or COVID-19 recovery works in prior to the 31st March deadline for accruals.
With that in mind the PiP partners have collated some suggestions on areas you might want to consider if you have money to be spent.
The focus areas include:
- COVID-19 recovery
- Decarbonisation projects
- Health and Safety
COVID-19 recovery
1. Ventilation
Adequate ventilation in buildings can help reduce the risk of coronavirus exposure and provide a safe environment for patients, staff and visitors. If you are looking to add, improve or maintain ventilation systems within the workplace, there are a number of agreements developed by PiP partners that can provide a compliant route to market for this. These include:
NHS North of England Commercial Procurement Collaborative (NOE CPC): Estates Maintenance and Engineering Services (Hard FM) Framework (Lot 1 – Air conditioning, air handling units, and refrigeration). The framework is free to access and offers a quick and easy route, with both direct award and further competition options for trusts to appoint a suitable supplier. If you need help with the call off process or would like further information, we are here to help. Please email enquiries@noecpc.nhs.uk for more details.
NHS London Procurement Partnership (NHS LPP): Minor Works and Maintenance DPS, which has the added flexibility to on-board your incumbent suppliers before running a quick competition, to allow them the same opportunity to bid for these works. For more information please contact LPPEFPS@lpp.nhs.uk
2. UVC Air Purification Units (standalone or wall mountable)
These units assist where other means of ventilation are inadequate, as promoted for use by NHS England and Improvement in conjunction with the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (ImechE). These can be procured via the East of England NHS Collaborative Procurement Hub’s (EOECPH) UV Infection Control Services Framework (direct award and further competition available) which covers: standalone, wall mountable or ‘in-duct’ units.
Please see EOECPH’s UV Infection Control agreement or contact business.services@eoecph.nhs.uk for more information.
3. Modular Builds
Whilst lead times for modular build projects would usually take any project well into next financial year, some elements could be instructed within this financial year. Instructing design development this year could help speed up any construction projects that are needed next financial year. Early orders can also be placed for critical materials for construction projects such as lifts, air handling units, steelwork for superstructure of building and factory allocation space.
One of the suppliers on the NHS Commercial Solutions Modular/Pre-Fabricated Building Solutions agreement currently has two pre-built theatre facilities which are now factory complete and ready to be dispatched or allocated to a client. Click here for the layout drawings of each of the theatre facilities and view this short video walk-around of one of their theatre facilities to give you a feel of how these look. They are available for both hire and sale on a first-come, first-served basis. The facilities are ready to dispatch to site as soon as a site is ready and will take approximately five weeks from the start of installation to be commissioned and handed over. If you’d like to explore this further, please contact nhscs.estates@nhs.net or click here.
Decarbonisation projects
4. Minor Works
The NHS LPP Minor Works and Maintenance DPS can be used to run a compliant competition in as few as 10 days for standard requirements. You can use this to appoint suppliers for a number of projects that will reduce your overall demand on energy (and therefore help with the cost pressures the current energy crisis brings).
Project |
Rationale |
| Retro for LED lighting | Save electricity costs and increase green credentials |
| eTRV | Smart valves without the need for complicated BEMS system |
| Window upgrade | Replace very old uPVC window wiith more efficient sealed new ones |
| UV/Solar panels | Reduce electricity costs to retrofit UV panels |
While it may not be possible to get some of the works completed by year-end, it may be possible to do a lot of the design work. So if additional pockets of funding become available in 2022/23 to fund sustainability works like these, you’ll have plans ready to go. If you would like to discuss any of these categories further, please contact LPPEFPS@lpp.nhs.uk.
5. Consultancy
In addition to the above, you might want to consider appointing consultants to work on some of the following areas, so that you have the data and designs to hand for future Public Sector Decarbonisation Fund (PSDF) applications or similar. Again if you would like to discuss any of these opportunities, NHS LPP has a route to market via its Estates and Facilities Consultant DPS - please contact LPPEFPS@lpp.nhs.uk.
Project |
Rationale |
|
BEMS Building Energy Management Systems |
Often neglected or old, employ a consultant to undertake a survey then rewrite the specifications in preparation for a tender to upgrade |
|
BREEAM ‘In Use’ Assessment |
Appoint a specialist to undertake a survey to assess buildings and recommend approvals to improve environmental performance and building management |
|
Carbon Consultant |
Appoint a consultant to recommend changes to reduce carbon across all categories to meet Net Zero |
|
BIM |
Commission BIM drawings to improve data held on how buildings are maintained |
|
EV Charging Survey and Points |
Survey to assess what the fleet demands are to ensure you specify the right systems when procuring EV charging points |
|
Asset Mapping/Management Consultant |
Often left for the FM Provider to manage, but recruiting a consultant to manage this could provide options to improve |
|
Building Condition Survey |
Obtain a complete report on what works needs to be in pipeline to reduce reactive work and reduce energy costs |
|
Redesign and rewiring/replace sockets etc. on old circuits |
Upgrade old wiring to increase safety and reduce failure and chance to redesign some areas to improve access to points (e.g. Add Data Points for equipment) |
NOE CPC’s Estates Consultancy Services Framework (Lot 8 – Environmental and Energy Services or Lot 9 – Renewable Energy Consultancy, project management and related services) also provides a quick and easy route, with both direct award and further competition options for trusts to appoint specialist professionals. Please contact enquiries@noecpc.nhs.uk for more details.
The NHS Commercial Solutions Property and Estates Consultancy Services agreement also has a direct award option which could help meet end-of-year timescales, allowing audits, surveys and assessments to be completed by year end. You could instruct services in: Land and Property Appraisals, Design Services, Environment and Sustainability, Health and Safety Advisory Services, Property and Estates Strategy Services, and Rating, Valuation and Specialist Services.
Please click here for more details or contact nhscs.estates@nhs.net directly.
Health and Safety
6. Lighting, Heating, Combined Heating and Power (CHP) and Building Management System (BMS) controls
Is your trust further along in the journey and looking for specialist suppliers? NOE CPC’s Estates Maintenance and Engineering Services (Hard FM) Framework (Lot 4 – Electrical works, Lot 8 – Heating and plumbing systems or Lot 13 – Standby power systems) can help meet your needs. Framework suppliers offer the relevant Health and Safety and Industry accreditations to deliver projects scoped for LED Lighting, CHP and BMS/Heating Control installation.
The framework offers a quick and easy route, with both direct award and further competition options for trusts to appoint a suitable supplier. If you need help with the call off process or would like further information, we’re here to help. Please email enquiries@noecpc.nhs.uk for more details.
7. Fire Safety
Fire safety measures are crucial for the safety of our patients, staff and visitors. To ensure trusts remain compliant NOE CPC’s Estates Maintenance and Engineering Services (Hard FM) Framework (Lot 5 – Fire alarm, emergency lighting and firefighting equipment, Lot 6 – Fire doors or Lot 7 – Fire risk assessments and associated works) can help.
If your trust has remedial works outstanding to address actions from the fire risk assessments, the framework offers a quick and easy route, with both direct award and further competition options for your trust to appoint a suitable supplier. If you need help with the call off process or would like further information, please email enquiries@noecpc.nhs.uk.
You can download a PDF version of this article here.
We're here to help
The NHS Procurement in Partnership (PiP) team are here to support your estates needs. If you would like to contact us about the above or any other estates requirement you hace, please feel free to get in touch with our Estates colleagues:
NHS CS: Phil Spicer philip.spicer@nhs.net
NHS EOECPH: Simon Norden simon.norden@eoecph.nhs.uk
NHS LPP: Adrian Woodmore adrian.woodmore@lpp.nhs.uk
NHS NOE CPC: Imran Ahmed imran.ahmed@noecpc.nhs.uk