In the first event of the Club’s new Season, Geoff Morris, Director of Special Projects and Community Engagement at the University of St Andrews, gave Members and their Guests a guided tour of the Eden Campus site at Guardbridge.
The completely automated Energy Centre on the campus, which won the Sustainable Development Award at the 2016 Scottish Green Energy Awards, is central to the university’s strategic drive to become the UK’s first energy carbon neutral university and pumps hot water four miles to St Andrews to heat 41 University buildings including 2,600 student rooms.
The water is at 95 Celsius when it leaves and arrives at 94C. The university aims to have more of the heat used via improved heat exchangers as well as increase the number of buildings heated.
This facility alone has already reduced the university’s carbon footprint by 20%.
The Energy Centre is the first phase of a plan for the site which aims to create 500 new jobs as part of the Tay Cities Deal. The funding could unlock up to £75m of other inward investment within the first five years from a mixture of industry and private sector investors and would see the redevelopment of an extra 5,500 square metres of derelict buildings, allowing space for start-ups and other external companies to base themselves.
More than 400 University staff will relocate from St Andrews to Eden Campus this year.
For more and the latest information about this project, go to the University’s news page.
NEXT EVENT: The Club’s next event is October 8: University of St Andrews Enterprise Week 2018 – Keynote Event
