A York sports centre could cut its energy bills by £50,000 after installing solar panels.
They’ve been added to the roof of the Energise Leisure Centre, Acomb.
Escalating energy prices over recent years have significantly increased the costs of keeping the swimming pool open at the centre.
GLL is the charitable social enterprise that operates four Better leisure centres across the city, including Energise.
It secured £117,000 from Sport England as part of the Government’s Swimming Pool Support Fund to improve energy efficiency at the centre.
Paul Bickle, York partnership manager at GLL,said: “The installation of solar panels reinforces our commitment to supporting renewable energy, while allowing us to make vital savings on energy costs.
“These savings will be reinvested so that we can continue our ongoing programme of improvements to enhance the customer experience, offer the best possible leisure facilities and better serve the community of York.
“We will continue to work with local stakeholders to seek further funding for solar panels and other decarbonisation processes at Energise and across the York partnership.”
GLL has also been granted planning approval to install a data centre at York Stadium and Leisure Centre.
In this groundbreaking project with Deep Green Energy, heat emitted as a by-product of the data centre’s operations will be directed back into the building to serve the heating needs of the leisure centre.
And the investment follows a recent collaboration between GLL and the City of York Council as part of its ‘York Green Streets’ initiative with the creation of a new micro-wood at Burnholme Sports Centre.
Trees were planted with the help of local volunteers and school children, a project which was funded by the UK Government to mark the coronation of King Charles III.