Brooksby college campus to get new £2.7M funding

The money will be used at SMB College Group’s Brooksby Campus with a focus on the Brooksby Hall area of the estate, which hosts land-based and sports courses for students.

The current oil-fired district heating system will be replaced, solar power will be introduced and upgrades made to windows.

The funding comes from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, initiated by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Dawn Whitemore, principal and CEO of SMB College Group said the college was ‘delighted’ to get the funding.

She said: “The project will replace the current oil-fired district heating system with greener air source to water source heat pumps, and will include the replacement distribution pipework, the addition of solar power to feed the new system, and upgrades to building fabric to improve efficiency.

“This investment is highly important to the college group as we continue to work towards becoming more sustainable as an organisation.

"Our 850-acre estate at Brooksby is already benefiting from some excellent sustainability initiatives, spearheaded by our fantastic lecturers and land-based students – including a regenerative agriculture project and a river restoration project – and this funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme is an extremely welcome addition to this.”

She added: “Sustainability is one of six key values which underpins everything that we do here at SMB College Group, and we are excited to utilise this funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme to further our developments in this area.”