Crawley Borough Council set for greener public buildings thanks to ‘NetZero Collective’ partnership

The new contract sets out to make public buildings in Crawley carbon neutral by 2040. NetZero Collective, which was formed in 2020 to spearhead the decarbonisation of UK homes, will work on commercial, non-domestic buildings for the first time as part of the new contract.

The plans build on the cutting-edge research and retrofitting work NetZero Collective has already undertaken on 30 residential homes, including in Crawley. The consultancy contract will see experts delivering a full energy efficiency review of Crawley Borough Council’s 210 commercial properties. This includes everything from leisure centres to cricket pavilions.

NetZero Collective was developed in response to the national challenge to achieve a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. Together with low carbon energy specialists and academic research partners, NetZero Collective is supporting landlords across the UK to produce evidence-based decarbonisation plans.

The review of Crawley’s commercial buildings, will influence the development of a roadmap of recommendations and actions detailing how the town can achieve its goal of net-zero by 2040.

Each public building will be assessed and recommendations will be made for suitable retrofit works, such as the addition of insulation, decarbonised heating and renewable technologies like solar photovoltaic panels and battery storage.

This contract extends an existing relationship with the council. A selecy number of homes belonging to Crawley Borough Council were the first to benefit from NetZero Collective’s retrofitting programme. The first Crawley tenant to undergo retrofit works has reported saving 80% on their energy bills in the first year.

NetZero collective director, Neil Waite said: “Crawley Borough Council has shown genuine commitment to decarbonising and meeting its net-zero goal. They have been one of the founding partners of the NetZero Collective and we are pleased to be continuing this partnership.

“If these recommendations are implemented, it will have significant impacts for the long-term, such as lower costs for customers and lower carbon emissions in Crawley.

“Achieving net-zero in both domestic and non-domestic buildings is a huge challenge but one that we can meet with collective action.”

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For more information on the NetZero Collective, visit: https://netzerocollective.co.uk/