All you need to know about the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund (LCSF)

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Hi everyone, and welcome to this Linkedin live. based on the low carbon skills fund. So my name's Andrew Whitworth, head of building energy services for Veolia and my colleague Lucy. Hi, I'm Lucy Stephenson, and I'm the business development lead for the South region. and within that portfolio falls many, public sector and energy projects.

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So we wanted to put together, something that just to run through what the LCSF is and how it can help public sector organizations. Just quickly before, getting into the main presentation, I guess, you can get a copy of this, presentation afterwards and a little bit more information on our website. We'll show this at the end as well.

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So there's a QR code. If you give that a scan, it will take you through to our website. Or feel free to reach out to myself or Lucy. if you do have any direct questions. So first of all, what is the CSF? It's the low Carbon Skills fund. and essentially a pot of money that's been put together by the Department for Energy Security, net zero for projects in England to essentially, put together heat decarbonization plans, using the skills and expertise of the private sector.

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Fundamentally, the 16 million pounds available and the it really is a key, a key driver to then how do you turn these, these potential plans into capital projects.

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And then Lucy. So now to who is eligible and how to apply. So this is a public sector funding. So any contracting authority in England as per the Public Contract Regulations 2015 can apply. So NHS trusts and foundations trusts, local authorities including nurseries maintained by local authorities, central government departments and emergency services and education, including universities and schools within the state system.

00:03:30:15 - 00:04:04:17
So ineligible organizations include public corporations, private sector organizations, registered charities and social housing. This is a public sector funding. There may be other funding available for those in eligible organizations. So quick wonder on this slide about the application process. as I'm going to go into a little bit more detail, the next one. So there is a form that must be filled out completely, and it must be submitted between the window of 2 p.m. on April 17th through to 2 p.m. on May the 1st.

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Once the window closes, the applications will be randomized and they will be then checked against a scoring framework and successful applicants will hear about July time. So next slide please. So as promised I'm going to go into a little bit more detail about the application process because there has been some changes when compared to the previous phases.

00:04:26:02 - 00:04:53:12
So the biggest change which is a direct result from feedback is randomized allocation. So previously this was a first come, first serve process. that caused a bit of chaos around the opening time at 2 p.m. with many organizations logging on. and it's been a bit of a race for application. So now the full window, from 17th to the 1st May is there to be used.

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And it is that so that people can have a better experience through application, less rushed, less mistakes. So the process that areas that once the window closes, all of the submissions will be randomly, randomly organized. meaning that the first and last application have the exact same chance of success. They will then be checked and the funding will be awarded to successful applicants.

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So will then have the value ranges, which isn't a new concept, but we've got slightly new ranges there, as seen on the pie chart. On screen, it's give or take about a third per each. value banding starting at sub 100,000, right through to the maximum allocation, which is 1 million. That is a new application form which needs to be completed in full.

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Now, this form is already available for you to look at on the Salix website, and I highly recommend doing that. so you can become familiar with with the set up of that form, there is a detailed guidance tab as well as a scoring matrix tab on that, for you to review at this stage. So each section of each question has guidance and requirements for it.

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A successful application will hit all of that requirement. For all of those questions, there is an end of life heating system requirement for some of the funding activities, which I'll go into in the next slide. another change is that public sector organizations, inhabiting a building on a long term lease, are actually eligible for this funding as well.

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But you will need to evidence that long term lease, and you must be there for a period of time to benefit from the decarbonization. The figure that's that's promoted is 20 years. so one application per organization is the next new requirement. So consortiums are welcome to apply for this. But if you are an organization applying as a consortium, you couldn't then apply as an individual so strict on the one application per organization.

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Okay. Next slide please. I promise to talk about the end of life heating requirements. So this comes into this updated eligible activities. Part of that as you can see the visual on the screen shows three elements of three types of activities are eligible. So with the first on the left number one being strategy stage. So this is your highest level, activity.

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This is the development of a decarbonization plan. This is desktop level. And this is looking at where your end of life heating assets are. And you don't necessarily need to know beforehand where their end of life heating asset is. This could be used to identify that to allow prioritization then come through to the next layer number two which is your feasibility stage.

00:07:52:00 - 00:08:22:07
So this is slightly more detail. You're looking at specialist surveying. and it's a feasibility study grid. This will require the building in question to be serviced by an end of life heating. end of life heating. Final stage is your design stage. So this is the highest level of detail needed. It's an investment grade audit audit. and it's it's really the most detailed stage, ready for, for implementation.

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So the other element to this visual, you see, is that there is some recommended combinations of these, three activities you can apply for each individually, but you can also apply for combinations. So the suggested combinations are stage one and two. So you could apply for a decarbonization plan as well as a feasibility study. Or you could apply for two and three.

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So a feasibility study as well as an investment grid audit. Just a note that to apply for stages two and three you must evidence your work to contribute to one. So you must have a heat decomp plan in place to apply for two and three. Next slide please. So this is just another visual to really show the heating end of life heating element.

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Stage one is for any building with any system, any heating system. It is just to identify if your strategy is to identify your prioritization. Stages two and three. The feasibility and your detailed design must be serviced by at least one end of life heating system. And back to you under. I think the next slide. So then the big question is once you've you've developed your your heat decarbonization plan and you've done your feasibility study, you've done the detailed design.

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Where do you go from there? And ultimately, what we're trying to achieve with the GSF funding is how do we receive grant funding that can then enable capital projects? So there's the public sector decarbonization scheme that, is fundamentally focused on a fabric first approach for decarbonization of buildings or the Green Heat Network Fund. It may be that you're close to a district heating network, and connection to that network would be be the best route forward for your you're given building.

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so the the SDS scheme is the main one that can drive these projects and designated is allocated just under 1.2 billion. over the next four years for the SDS phases that will come out the phase four in autumn. But fundamentally both of those are there to deliver capital projects, whereas the CSF is more focused on the plans or the designs to get to that stage.

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And just, you know, as a, as a proof of concept to somewhere where this worked, we're just completing, Eastbourne Hospital, which was, a benefactor of the SDS scheme. Just jump on right through this nice, nice images. So, Eastbourne Hospital serves 12 million patients annually. they've they've been developing the energy system over time.

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But in 2009, new CHP went in. It's been delivered by steam. the SDS project ultimately removed the steam distribution element to the project, to the hospital. Sorry. and then added a solar array in the car park, the first of its kind for the NHS in the country. 3.2MW of, cascade heat pumps. And then the, the big, benefit for the hospital was this, view of encapsulating.

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To reduce that, he needed to, actually heat the hospital up. So cladding on the external walls, insulated roofing and double glazing and all of these factors are reduced to just over 4000 tonnes of CO2 reduction per year. And this was only possible through the and the CSF, CSF has also been used in that process as well.

00:12:07:11 - 00:12:29:22
So just an example of where this can ultimately go. So that's that seat in terms of just real quick whistle stop tour of what the CSF is. As promised. Here's the here's the QR code to be able to come through and to check back in, we can issue these slides. We can get in contact with myself or Lucy.

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we were waiting to see if there are any questions, but I. I presume we've explained it so well, there are no questions. so feel free to to reach out to us and have a chat. But thank you very much for your time today.