Published: Thursday 14 March 2024
Colville Primary School is getting a green upgrade as part of Council plans to retrofit all the borough’s schools. New pipework, air source heat pumps and radiators are being installed across the building, with the aim of reducing energy bills, making classrooms more comfortable and cutting down on carbon in the area.
Colville is the sixth school in North Kensington to get the retrofit treatment, with works nearing completion in Avondale Park Primary, St Francis of Assisi, All Saints Catholic College, Thomas Jones Primary School and Bevington Primary School.
Jagdeep Birdi, executive headteacher at Colville Primary said:
“We’re really excited about this retrofit project because it’s going to allow our school to have even heating across the school. At the moment there are hotspots around our school which makes it harder for children to concentrate, so this will help children to do even better in their learning, which will make a big difference.
“The children are also excited about the environmental benefits. We’re not going to need to use gas so that’s something we’re really happy about.”
About Colville Primary School
Works have started later on Colville as listed building consent was required for the works on the Victorian building, which was built in 1879. The school has around 450 pupils. The changes we are making are expected to save around 57.4 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
Two new air source heat pumps are being installed. Indoors, large radiators with a bigger surface area will help the spaces to get warm, without having radiators at very high temperatures, making them safer for the children, more efficient and more environmentally friendly.
How is the schools retrofit funded?
In the most recent Council budget, we announced an extra £3.5 million investment in the borough’s schools to make them warmer and greener. This new investment tops up £8 million already being spent by the Council to improve schools.
The Council has also secured a Government award of £3,654,475.00 from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which is run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and delivered by Salix. This money is helping retrofit our schools and two Council buildings.
Notting Dale in North Kensington is one of two Future Neighbourhoods schemes across London and the Mayor of London’s initiative is supporting the retrofitting with £570,000 through Future Neighbourhoods 2030.