Pembroke Awarded £700k Grant for Decarbonisation Project

We are delighted to share that Pembroke has been awarded a grant of £726,710 from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, marking a second major milestone in our journey to Net Zero.

The grant will fund a project to decarbonise heating in the Rokos Quad, following similar works successfully carried out in the Hall and GAB in summer 2023. Once complete, a total of 45% of the College estate will have decarbonised heating.

The Rokos Quad was built with a ground source heat pump system, but currently relies heavily on its back-up gas boilers to supply sufficient heating and hot water for residents.

The decarbonisation of the quad, scheduled for summer 2025, will see all gas boilers replaced with Air Source Heat Pumps and an electric boiler. This will bring the number of student bedrooms served by fully decarbonised energy to 181, amounting to over half of our undergraduate accommodation.

We are committed to reducing out impact on the planet, and as a College have set an aspiration of achieving Net Zero operational carbon by 2030. Last year, a £1.36m grant allowed us to decarbonise heating in our historic Dining Hall, as well as much of our offsite accommodation. Sixteen air source heat pumps were installed across both sites, reducing our yearly carbon emissions by ~200tCO2e/a and representing a 30% reduction in our gas consumption.

Elsewhere in College, refurbishment works underway in the Grade II listed accommodation staircases in North Quad will involve added insulation to improve energy performance, as well as the installation of oversized radiators to accommodate Air Source Heat Pumps in the future. The newly-completed GAB2 graduate accommodation buildings incorporate a waste water heat recovery system, reducing the energy used to heat water by around 40%. And we are looking to the rest of the College site, developing detailed plans for building fabric improvements and how to achieve the integration of heat pumps in all areas.

Our full Sustainability Strategy is now available to read here, along with further information about our sustainability targets, plans and initiatives.

We are excited to take this important step in our decarbonisation journey, and look forward to sharing more news and updates as we strive to preserve our College, community and environment for the next 400 years.