Funded in part by Bristol City Council’s green investment programme, the Bristol Climate Action Investment, Bristol City Leap is set to begin renewable energy upgrades at three council-owned buildings: Belbrook Children’s Respite Unit, Ridingleaze House and Symes House. The improvements are designed to enhance energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions and lower energy bills.

Following the successful launch of the Bristol Climate Action Investment in 2025, the council raised £2 million thanks to wide support from residents and businesses keen to invest in a greener future for the city.

The work will be carried out by Bristol City Leap, powered by Ameresco UK, who will replace existing fossil-fuelled heating systems with new air source heat pumps at all three sites. At Belbrook Children’s Respite Unit, a children’s short break service that supports disabled children and their families, the works will provide a broader package of improvements, including a new rooftop array of solar panels, upgraded LED lighting and additional loft insulation alongside the heating upgrade. The measures will reduce bills and carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency, keeping warmth in to create a more comfortable environment for service users and staff.

At Ridingleaze House and Symes House, both used by Bristol City Council’s Children and Young People Services, the works will replace ageing fossil-fuel boiler systems with low-carbon air source heat pumps and associated upgrades to the pipes, radiators and controls.

The three sites were prioritised because they are among the top 30 carbon emitters in Bristol City Council’s corporate estate and were identified as suitable for decarbonisation through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS). The project is being supported by Bristol City Council’s Decarbonisation Fund and the Government’s PSDS funding.

Together, the upgrades are expected to save an estimated 28 tonnes of CO2e each year, roughly the same as taking around 19 average petrol cars off the road for a year, while cutting energy use by 154,008kWh, enough to power around 57 typical UK homes for a year.

Reducing reliance on fossil fuels and improving energy resilience through upgrading ageing energy infrastructure is increasingly important to ensure that key public buildings can continue to operate reliably, efficiently and cost-effectively in the years ahead. By upgrading ageing heating systems and improving overall building performance, the council can reduce its exposure to volatile energy costs, lower reliance on fossil fuels and help make council buildings better equipped to support essential services. These improvements are particularly valuable in buildings that serve children, families and communities, where dependable, well-performing infrastructure is critical.

Justin Jacober, Managing Director at Ameresco UK:

“This project is a strong example of how Bristol City Leap is helping Bristol City Council take practical action to decarbonise important public buildings. By replacing gas heating with air source heat pumps and introducing additional energy-saving measures such as solar PV, LED lighting and loft insulation at Belbrook Children’s Respite Unit, we are helping to reduce emissions, modernise ageing infrastructure and support more efficient buildings for the people who use them every day.”

“We’re proud to be working in partnership to deliver improvements that support both environmental goals and public services, particularly at sites that play such an important role in supporting children, families and communities across Bristol.”

Councillor Abi Finch, Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee at Bristol City Council:

“We’re pleased to announce that works to install energy efficiency improvements are soon underway. These upgrades are another important step in Bristol’s journey towards a cleaner, net-zero future. By improving buildings such as Belbrook Children’s Respite Unit, Ridingleaze House and Symes House, we are investing in infrastructure that supports vital council services while helping to reduce emissions from our estate.”

“The two investment windows we opened last year through the Bristol Climate Action Investment were a huge success, raising £2 million and hitting our investment target early, following strong demand by investors and funding from two major private investors, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Unity Trust Bank. This shows great support for climate action through the council’s local green investment.”

“Bristol City Council remains committed in its efforts to help to decarbonise the city delivering practical change in the buildings our staff, residents, children and families rely on. Through the Bristol Climate Action Investment we engaged the people and communities of Bristol to invest at a local level, while continuing to play our part in achieving progress towards the city’s climate goals”

The works form part of a wider decarbonisation initiative focused on Bristol City Council’s corporate estate. The programme is intended not only to lower operational emissions but also to improve building performance and support long-term sustainability across the council’s estate.

The post Bristol City Leap to Upgrade Key Public Buildings, Boosting Energy Efficiency and Resilience appeared first on Bristol City Leap.

Who are you, what are you studying, and how did you find the internship?

My name is Sisir, and I study Biomedical Science at the University of Warwick. I am about to enter my third year.

I found the Bristol City Leap (BCL) internship on LinkedIn while looking for an opportunity to experience a different industry. I knew very little about the energy sector, but that was part of the appeal. I wanted to find out whether I could take the analytical skills I had developed through my degree and apply them somewhere completely unfamiliar.

The placement was originally planned for six weeks and was later extended to eight. By that point, there were pieces of work I wanted to see through properly, and I was enjoying the opportunity to keep contributing to the team.

What were you originally hired to do?

I joined BCL to support the Bright Green Homes scheme, mainly by helping the team identify and reach households that might be eligible for funded home energy improvements.

The starting point was a very broad housing dataset covering property type, tenure, Energy Performance Certificate ratings and location. The difficult part was not finding possible directions in the data. It was narrowing them down to a few ideas that might actually be useful. I developed a method for identifying concentrations of potentially eligible homes and comparing them with streets where residents had already received retrofit improvements. From this, I produced maps, a ranked list of areas and recommendations that the team could use to focus its outreach.

I also designed Bright Green Homes flyers and contributed to a Meta advert. The materials changed substantially, including the layout, colour scheme, messaging and call to action. The aim was to make the next step as clear as possible while recognising that residents may naturally have questions about eligibility, disruption and how a fully funded offer works.

BCL’s Customer Operations Manager managed this work and kept bringing me back to the resident experience. Her questions made me think beyond whether a flyer was accurate or visually tidy and ask whether somebody seeing the programme for the first time would feel reassured enough to respond. That changed how I approached both the analysis and the communications.

What other projects did you work on?

My role became broader quite quickly. Much of the internship involved getting oriented, asking questions and then trying to produce something that another person could genuinely use.

I worked with BCL’s Social Value Coordinator on a social value proposal linked to a local hospital. I looked at the green spaces already available around the buildings and explored how clean air and opportunities for exercise could support the proposal. This was one of the places where my Biomedical Science background connected directly with the work, because it encouraged me to think about the environment from the perspective of patients, visitors and staff.

Before the internship, “social value” was a phrase I only partly understood. Working on the proposal made it more concrete. I began to see that an environmental project can be judged not only by what it installs or saves, but also by whether it makes a place healthier, more accessible or more useful to the people around it.

I also supported early-stage work exploring solar PV and battery storage for blocks of flats and other complex housing types. I helped draft an initial project document and analysed housing data on walk-up blocks to identify areas that might justify further investigation. I found this stage of project development interesting because the answer was rarely obvious. The work was about reducing a large field of possibilities into a more credible starting point, while recognising that technical, financial and delivery questions would still need to be worked through.

For the local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure, I combined GIS mapping, data analysis and research to support the identification of priority areas for public charging infrastructure.

Elsewhere, I built Power BI and Smartsheet dashboards, updated Bristol City Leap Community Energy Fund materials, worked on resident communications and supported internal digital tools. The variety was one of the strengths of the internship. I could be working through an Excel dataset one day and trying to make sense of a new mapping or dashboard tool the next.

Most of the software I used, including GIS, Power BI, Smartsheet and Power Apps, was new to me. Learning through live work helped me understand why outputs need to be practical and useful, not just technically complete. By the end of the placement, I was less worried by the feeling of not knowing where to start. I had become more confident that I could ask the right questions, learn what I needed and improve the work as I went.

What did you learn about Bristol City Leap?

Before the internship, I associated decarbonisation mainly with technology and funding. I left with a more complicated picture. Technology matters, but so do trust, communication, project development and the practical details of delivery.

Bright Green Homes was the clearest example. I initially assumed that fully funded improvements would naturally attract overwhelming interest. In practice, residents may still be uncertain about whether they are eligible, what the work will involve and whether the offer can be trusted. That showed me that a worthwhile programme does not communicate itself. The route from first hearing about it to deciding to participate has to feel clear and manageable.

I also learnt that projects contributing to the same decarbonisation goal can require very different ways of thinking. Targeting a household grant, developing an idea for apartment blocks and planning public charging infrastructure involve different people, data and constraints. There is no single formula that can simply be applied to every project.

The most useful lesson was that analysis only matters when it connects to a real decision. A map can look polished, and a dashboard can contain the right figures, but neither is useful unless someone understands what to do with it. That is something I will carry back into my degree and future work.

What was the working environment like?

The team was supportive from the beginning, but what I appreciated most was that support did not mean being given every answer. I was trusted to try things for myself, make changes and return with something that could be discussed and improved.

BCL’s Social Value Coordinator was my main point of contact and gave me the confidence to explore work beyond my original brief while remaining someone I could approach when I needed direction. BCL’s Customer Operations Manager taught me to view the Bright Green Homes scheme through the resident journey and to think seriously about clarity and trust. One of BCL’s Project Manager encouraged me to look beyond the immediate task and connect individual pieces of work with the wider purpose of a project. BCL’s Senior Communications Coordinator sharpened my attention to branding and detail, particularly the difference between information being technically correct and being effective for its intended audience.

One of my favourite examples of the team culture was delivering Bright Green Homes flyers door to door with BCL’s Social Value Coordinator. It was not something she needed to do herself, but she was willing to get involved. As the placement progressed, moments like that made me feel less like an intern observing from the edge and more like part of the work.

What advice would you give another student?

Do not think of yourself as “just the intern”, but do not feel that you need to prove yourself by pretending to know everything either. Ask questions, learn who can help with different problems and be willing to show unfinished work early enough for feedback to improve it.

I would also ask what a piece of work will be used for, not only how to complete it. Understanding the person or decision at the other end of a spreadsheet, map or flyer makes it much easier to produce something useful. Being unfamiliar with an industry does not mean your perspective has no value, but it does mean you need to listen carefully and stay open to having your assumptions corrected.

Any final thoughts?

I arrived at Bristol City Leap expecting to analyse housing data for one programme. Eight weeks later, I had contributed to work across retrofit, renewable energy, electric vehicle infrastructure, social value and digital tools. I did not leave as an expert in all of those areas, and that is not really what the internship was about.

The internship did not give me a definite answer about what I want to do after university. It gave me something more realistic and, for now, more useful: confidence that I can enter an unfamiliar industry, admit what I do not know, learn quickly and still contribute something worthwhile.

The post My Internship at Bristol City Leap appeared first on Bristol City Leap.

Recorded at Futurebuild 2026, this panel discussion explores the progress made so far, the role of retrofit in the region’s transition to net zero, and the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for Bristol and the wider South West.

Chair:
Cllr Martin Fodor, Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee, Bristol City Council

Speakers:
Hannah Spungin, Director, Bristol City Leap
Craig Madders, Managing Director, Value Optimised Retrofit (VOR)
Matt Jones, Project Coordinator (Energy), Bristol City Council

The post Retrofit in Bristol and the West: Panel Discussion | 13 May 2026 appeared first on Bristol City Leap.

The latest round of funding will support a diverse range of organisations across the city to progress projects that reduce energy use, improve building efficiency and support Bristol’s transition to a cleaner, greener future.

Successful applicants in this round include the Wellspring Settlement, Siri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara Bristol, Watershed Arts and New Stockwood Community Association.

The projects supported through this round include:

• Conducting thermal imaging to identify remaining heat loss, assess previous upgrades and inform the next steps towards a sustainable heating system and wider decarbonisation plan.
• Commissioning a heating engineer, following a Centre for Sustainable Energy community building audit, to assess heat pump suitability and explore options for solar battery storage to maximise existing solar generation.
• Engaging a congregation on reducing energy use in line with Sikh environmental values, while assessing the roof’s suitability for insulation, solar panels and battery storage.
• Developing a long-term plan to transform Watershed into a climate-resilient, low-carbon venue through retrofit and decarbonisation measures, including heat pumps, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, and fabric upgrades. The project aims to reduce emissions by 87 tonnes and progress towards detailed designs, planning and a robust business case.
• Surveying key building elements, including windows, doors, walls and heating systems, to identify opportunities for improved energy efficiency and comfort, alongside assessing the roof for solar installation.
• Installing a 700kW solar PV system on an industrial unit roof at Lodge Causeway, with potential for battery storage and a local energy supply model.

The Community Energy Fund was established through contributions of £750,000 each from Ameresco and Vattenfall Heat UK. It plays an important role in supporting community organisations across Bristol to deliver local energy projects, reduce fossil fuel use, improve energy efficiency and explore opportunities to connect to the Bristol heat network.

Sixth Round of Funding Now Open

Following the conclusion of the fifth funding round, Bristol City Leap is pleased to confirm that the sixth round of the Community Energy Fund is now officially open.

Community groups, charities, faith organisations and other eligible organisations across Bristol are encouraged to apply for support to help progress their decarbonisation plans.

Applicants can apply for grants and zero-interest loans to support a wide range of community-led energy projects, from early-stage feasibility work through to more developed schemes that are ready to move towards delivery.

Organisations will have until 23 September 2026 to submit their applications. The decision panel will meet the following month, giving applicants time to develop strong proposals that align with the fund’s aims of reducing carbon emissions, supporting local communities and enabling practical energy improvements across the city.

Greater Flexibility for Zero-Interest Loans

As part of the sixth round, Bristol City Leap has also introduced an important update to the zero-interest loan element of the fund.

Previously, organisations applying for loans of up to £50,000 could only use up to 20% of the loan amount for capital costs. In a move designed to accelerate project delivery, successful applicants can now apply for up to £100,000 and use the full loan amount to cover capital costs, providing greater flexibility to bring projects forward.

This means organisations can use loan funding to support more practical, on-the-ground improvements, such as installing low-carbon technologies, improving building fabric, or delivering other measures that directly support decarbonisation.

By making the loan element more flexible, the fund can better support organisations that have already identified what needs to be done and are looking for the financial support to help turn those plans into action.

Microgrants of up to £1,000 also remain available for organisations at the very beginning of their project journey. These are not restricted to specific funding rounds and can be applied for and approved at any time. Our grants and microgrants are ideal for supporting project development, while our loans can support delivery during the implementation phase.

For more information about the Bristol City Leap Community Energy Fund, including eligibility criteria and details on how to apply, please visit: https://www.bristolcityleap.co.uk/community/community-energy-fund/

About the Bristol City Leap Community Energy Fund

The £1.5 million Bristol City Leap Community Energy Fund supports and enables community-led energy projects across Bristol through a combination of grants, microgrants and zero-interest loans

The fund was established through contributions of £750,000 each from Ameresco and Vattenfall Heat UK and is designed to support the development and delivery of local energy initiatives that help reduce carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency and support Bristol’s wider decarbonisation ambitions.

The post Sixth Round of Bristol City Leap Community Energy Fund Opens Following Further Funding Awards appeared first on Bristol City Leap.