Brunel Museum awarded funds for community energy saving projects in Southwark
The Brunel Museum, in Rotherhithe, has received £15,000 to conduct a Heating Decarbonisation Feasibility Study, focusing on retrofit opportunities for the site and buildings, including upgrades to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
Katherine McAlpine, Director at the Brunel Museum, said: “The Brunel Museum has a strong track record in putting sustainability and climate resilience at the heart of what we do. We launched our Sustainability Policy in 2021 and became the first museum to offer Sustainable Travel leave. I was nominated for a Radical Changemaker award for climate work, and we regularly deliver programming that engages our local communities with nature, sustainability and the environment. This funding from Southwark Council will allow us to take this essential work to the next step and assess how we can embed sustainability across our site and buildings, not just our programmes.”
The Brunel Museum is one of twenty local community energy projects have secured a share of more than £400,000 through the latest round of Southwark Council’s Community Energy Fund. Projects will help to tackle fuel poverty and save local organisations money in energy costs, helping make the borough affordable, safe and green.
An estimated 40 tonnes of carbon will be saved per year from the six capital projects, and a further 300 tonnes could be saved if all feasibility projects progress to capital works. The fund provides grants of up to £60,000 as part of the council’s aims to take serious action to tackle the climate crisis.
Councillor Eloise Waldon-Day, Executive Member for Co-ordination and Climate, said: “Southwark Council is proud to support local groups to run clean energy projects in their neighbourhoods. This funding helps organisations including youth clubs, faith groups and local theatres to cut their energy bills, bring people together and improve awareness of sustainable energy sources, like the sunshine above us. It’s fantastic to support residents to have a real stake in the clean energy transition that our society urgently needs. Communities producing their own energy means more of the benefits stay here in Southwark – helping to reduce costs, strengthen local organisations and make our energy system fairer and more sustainable.”