School heated by £3.1m heat pump network

Comberton Village College hopes to cut their bills with the new heating system

A school has undergone a £3.1m revamp to replace its ageing boilers with a ground source heat pump network.

The scheme at Comberton Village College, near Cambridge, is believed to be the largest at a UK secondary school.

It should reduce its carbon emissions by 70% and save it thousands of pounds a year on fuel bills, Cambridgeshire County Council said.

Lorna Dupré from the authority said it was "a great example of how to retro-fit low-carbon heating on other sites".

The project took 18 months to complete and was a collaboration between the Cam Academy Trust, which runs the school, and the council.

It was funded by £1.2m from the local authority and £1.9m from a government scheme for decarbonisation projects.

An array of 60 boreholes running 200m (656ft) deep are connected to two large ground source heat pumps, which are powered by previously installed solar panels.

The heat is then piped to 11 plant rooms around the site to provide heat to the college.

The heat pump network is believed to the largest at a UK secondary school

Ms Dupré, chairwoman of the council's Environment and Green Investment Committee, said the authority planned for "net-zero carbon emissions for Cambridgeshire as a county by 2045".

She said the heat pump network "ensures that we are doing our part to tackle climate change".

Stephen Munday, Cam Academy Trust chief executive, said: "We are strongly committed to green environmental approaches across all our schools, both in terms of education and approaches to our sites.

"This is a very powerful example of this."

He added it would help the state-funded college use more money for "education provision rather than high energy bills".