A new survey from Baxi has showcased overwhelming commitment from schools when it comes to cutting carbon emissions from their heating systems, yet more than a third still face daunting technical, power‑capacity and budgetary hurdles.
The survey of 200 state school estates managers, consultant engineers and M&E contractors found that 90% of school estates managers class net zero delivery as a top priority, with 99% already working to a formal plan. Experience with low‑carbon technology is similarly strong: 95% of estates managers have installed at least one heat pump, and 97 % rate both performance and running costs positively.
Skills and grid capacity top the list of obstacles
Enthusiasm, however, is not translating into easy progress. 36% of estate managers – and 39% of consultants and contractors – cited the ‘technical difficulty’ of replacing legacy boilers with low‑temperature systems as the single biggest barrier to deployment, pointing to a lingering skills gap across the supply chain.
Concerns over electricity supply follow close behind. More than a third of consultants warned that additional grid capacity would be required before larger heat pump projects could proceed at pace – an issue compounded by high power prices relative to gas.
For estates managers, the picture is further complicated by tight refurbishment windows restricted to the summer holidays, as well as doubts over the financial and technical feasibility of deep retrofit in older buildings.
Could hybrid heat pumps be the solution?
One potential solution is the hybrid heat‑pump system, which marries a heat pump to a condensing gas boiler. 80% of consultants surveyed said they would recommend a hybrid arrangement, and support among estate managers rises with school size – largely because hybrids can be slotted into existing pipework and installed within the limited summer break.
Yet grant support for hybrids under the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) remains patchy, limiting take‑up. That’s largely because hybrid heat pumps still rely on fossil fuels being burned – therefore, while it cuts carbon emissions compared to a traditional boiler, it doesn’t take advantage of the potential use of renewables that comes from using a fully electric heat pump on its own.
Despite this, Baxi still believes that it is the ideal solution for schools that are struggling to switch over to a heat pump on its own. That’s why it’s calling on the UK Government to unlock progress by focusing on four key steps:
- Extend public‑sector funding schemes to cover school heating upgrades, with GB Energy acting as conduit.
- Explicitly include hybrid systems within those schemes.
- Correct the cost imbalance between gas and electricity to make heat pumps more financially attractive.
- Tackle the skills shortage through targeted training, ensuring installers and designers can deliver at scale.
