What is the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund?

As approximately 30% of the UK’s greenhouse emissions stem from the operations of buildings, the industry’s reliance on fossil fuel heating systems is one of the major obstacles to achieving the 2050 Net Zero target.

To help tackle this issue, the Public Sector Low Carbon Skills Fund (LCSF) supports a range of public sector organisations to transition towards sustainable practices, with a focus on reducing energy consumption, creating and refining heat decarbonisation plans, and overall implementing decarbonisation measures.

Having a comprehensive heat decarbonisation plan in place actively empowers organisations to implement low-carbon initiatives, facilitating the development of project proposals to access future grant funding.

Phase 5 Low Carbon Skills Fund

Ran by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero Zero (DESNZ), and delivered by Salix, Phase 5 will see up to £16m of funding available.

The application window will open on Wednesday 17 April 2024 and close on 1 May 2024. Those who are awarded the fund must complete their project by Monday 31 March 2025.

Phase 5 Low Carbon Skills Fund- what’s new?

 

• Application assessment process

A key change to the Phase 5, compared to previous phases, is the transition away from a first-come-first-served basis to a randomised order for assessment. This change follows feedback received by Salix to enhance the user experience, ensuring fairness in evaluation procedures.

• Application form

Applicants will now have to complete an Application Form via the application portal, which comprises a scoring framework for select question. This is to ensure a consistent evaluation of applications in accordance with the scheme criteria.

• End-of-life requirement

For certain funded activities, Phase 5 will prioritise buildings with heating systems that are nearing the end of their functional life, directing more funding to projects that urgently need their heating systems replaced.

Feasibility-stage and design-stage projects must have a building that includes at least one heating system that is either older than 10 years or has reached the end of its expected lifespan to be eligible. However, organisations can still include buildings with newer heating systems for activities in the strategy stage.

• Application limit

Due to the historically high demand for the LCSF, organisations are limited to a maximum of one application.

• Tenancy arrangements

Applicants must either own or hold a long-term lease of the structure they are applying for. When leasing, it is essential that the lease duration allows for the full implementation of the decarbonisation measures and that the organisation remain occupants of the building to reap the full benefits.

• Expanded eligible initiatives

Where Phase 4 limited funding to one of three options (developing or upgrading a heat decarbonisation plan; creating designs for standalone project based on existing heat decarbonisation plans; or a combination of the two), Phase 5 expands the eligible activities and provides applicants with a broader range of options to pursue their decarbonisation goals. This was incorporated after the scheme took on board feedback from previous phases, resulting in more funding options and simplifying the process to apply for specific activities.

To help applicants better understand the new available activities for funding, Salix has released an in-depth guidance document. The document helps illustrate the new ‘three-staged approach to planning’ through the strategy, feasibility and design stages. This has been introduced to aid applicants in identifying how different activities contribute to a comprehensive decarbonisation plan.

Applicants have the flexibility to choose from various combinations of activities to apply for, but they must align and explain their project within the stages outlined in the guidance. Additionally, the application questions have been revised to mirror these adjustments.

Grant value brackets

The available funding has been divided in the same manner as in Phase 4:

• 34% for projects up to £100,000
• 38% for projects between £100,001-£500,000
• 28% for projects between £500,001-£1,000,00

How Eddisons can help

With our track record of securing millions through various government funding schemes, our building and project consultants are best positioned to gain the most resources for your organisation.

Understanding your specific markets and identifying the best sustainable solutions is a core part of our strategy, regardless of your sector or objectives.

Our education specialists and decarbonisation team are both on hand to provide bespoke advice whatever your situation – for more information visit our dedicated education website, Eddisons Education.

Eddisons has confirmed the pre-sale of an 18,000 sq ft unit on the second phase of Enterprise Park, Yaxley, to a light industrial manufacturer who will be relocating to the brand new business unit later this year.

Enterprise Park is a 12-acre commercial development fronting on to Broadway in Yaxley, just south of Peterborough – adjacent to the established Eagle Business Park – and where the local offices of Eddisons and Savills act as joint agents.

This latest pre-sale deal will see the new owner occupier in an 8 metre eaves height warehouse, plus offices, within high quality newly constructed premises on a self-contained site, following a handover from the developer which is scheduled for June.

The second phase of Enterprise Park offers design & build freehold and leasehold options which have proved popular with a mix of light industrial, trade counter, showroom, leisure and retail occupiers.

Eddisons confirms that over 110,000 sq ft has already been built on the site with further development set to start shortly.

Confirming the latest pre-let deal, Gavin Hynes, Director, Eddisons, said, “Enterprise Park builds on the success of Eagle Business Park which pioneered this modern chapter of commercial development in Yaxley.

“Over the past 15 years, a new commercial district has been created there and ongoing developments, such as Enterprise Park, help boost the profile of Peterborough as a vibrant, industrial location attracting both indigenous businesses and those from further afield.”

To discuss details of remaining availability across Enterprise Park, Yaxley, please contact Gavin Hynes at Eddisons in Peterborough, 01733 897722, [email protected] or Ed Gee at Savills, 01733 344414, [email protected].

Eddisons has confirmed that the sale of the first two plots of land at the new Enterprise West Lindsey business park development in Saxilby, Lincolnshire has concluded, with sales of further plots scheduled to complete in the coming weeks.

Enterprise West Lindsey is described by the agent as a ‘next generation business park’. Located on a strategic 20-acre site adjacent to the A57, west of Lincoln, it’s a joint venture by Eddisons’ clients, Castle Group and Stirlin.

Plots range in size from 1 acre to 2.5 acres and the first two plots sold are 3.81 and 2.1 acres. In total, there are seven plots of land being marketed by Eddisons, currently.

Eddisons advises that Enterprise West Lindsey has outline consent for a number of industrial and office commercial uses, with a view to the quality of property offer attracting a calibre of occupier seeking a headquarters-level style of building.

Commenting on the conclusion of the first plot sale, William Wall, Director, Eddisons Lincoln, incorporating Banks Long & Co, said, “The JV partners’ commitment to Enterprise West Lindsey sees a level of multi-million investment in infrastructure raise the profile the developable plots in appealing to land & property investors who share the developer’s and contractor’s vision for the overall development.

“We have no doubt that once underway and beyond, to full occupation, Enterprise West Lindsey will serve the immediate area and the wider district well in attracting new businesses and employment opportunities.”

For information about the remaining plots for sale at Enterprise West Lindsey, contact Cameron McRae at the Lincoln office of Eddisons, tel 01522 544515, [email protected].

Ben Green, Director, who leads Eddisons’ agency team in Cambridge sees developers and landlords looking beyond the city’s conventional boundaries in positioning commercial properties for R&D & laboratory use.

The laboratory shortage in Cambridge is widely acknowledged by agents and occupiers alike. The city’s capacity is stretching to its boundaries when it comes scope for development sites.

The latest, high profile proposals to hit the local headlines are plans submitted to redevelop & re-purpose leisure & retail settings at the Grafton Centre & the Beehive Centre for office, laboratory & R&D and alternative employment uses to those offered currently in those locations.

 

While the Cambridge cluster will always carry a cachet and attract high calibre recruits, many property professionals are making the case for alternative or complementary locations where top quality commercial space is developed.

Cambridge city’s transport ills and lack of affordable housing are well documented. And many would argue that these factors make other locations outside the city an attractive and accessible offer to commercial occupiers looking to co-locate, or even complement, existing commercial sites they occupy in the city’s conventional business parks or the southern fringe commercial clusters.

One such South Cambridgeshire location is in the village of Harston where Harston Mill is an established business location. It is 5 miles from Cambridge and 2 miles from Junction 11 on the M11, the Cambridge South Junction from where there is direct and dedicated road access to the Addenbrooke’s & Royal Papworth hospitals and clinical research sites.

 

Also on the southern fringe is Bourn – a village famed for the fertility research work conducted by the Bourn Clinic. Here you can be looking at very competitive rents and flexible lease terms on lab & office accommodation at £23.50 psf. Plus, ample parking – something highly prized by commuters.

Just 20 minutes’ drive from Cambridge is Newmarket which offers a solid, complementary location to the more conventional South Cambridge science campuses given the town’s dual carriage road links via both the A11 & A14.

We are currently marketing, on behalf of the developer, Vector – 685 sq m to 20,057 sq m of new build laboratory, medical, life science and office facilities for a psf rent that is 50 per cent less than a Cambridge equivalent.

The Cambridge effect does spin out to such complementary, satellite locations; Cambridge will always be a prime target for commercial occupiers.

But there’s a premium to pay and with a current squeeze on sites in the development pipeline, accessible, alternative locations are coming through as part of the area’s commercial property offer.

Ben Green is a director based in our Cambridge office, specialising in commercial agency. To speak further with Ben, email him at [email protected] or on 01223 448791.

The RICS has recently published its latest quarterly UK Commercial Property Monitor (Q4 2023), whose headline result reads, ‘Occupier and investor demand still subdued although forward looking sentiment improves marginally’.

In responding to the Monitor, Gavin Hynes, Director, Peterborough, reported that his agency team’s experience of the market in the final quarter of last year is broadly in line with that of the UK-wide and regional trends outlined in the RICS monitor.

Commenting on the RICS data, he said, “Our experience in the East Midlands and Eastern region reflects that of the national picture. And it’s hard to disagree with the RICS’ summary of sectors either.

“Investment is, indeed, ‘downbeat’ – barring industrial and the gap between prime and secondary office is still marked. Interestingly, pockets of retail are holding their own in affluent hot-spot towns which for us, regionally, include Bury St Edmunds, Stamford and Lincoln.

“International and domestic political uncertainties did affect the 2023 market and many surveyors are looking only to the second half of this year for a gradual improvement – something on which Eddisons’ Tim Bradford, of our Lincoln office, is quoted in this latest RICS Monitor.”