Member Article

Demand on the rise as health sector bids to cut costs and emissions

A Midlands-based industrial boiler company is celebrating a strong start to 2014 after securing a number of orders from a health care sector struggling with high energy bills.

Around 80 per cent of recent projects at NHS hospitals across the UK have ordered boiler systems from Oldbury-based Wellman Group, including new high profile builds at Alder Hey in Liverpool, Musgrove Park in Taunton and Torbay Hospital, in Devon.

The company, which has been at the forefront of steam boiler technology for more than 150 years, is reporting an unprecedented demand for its efficient ranges as NHS Trusts battle with high energy costs and carbon emission targets.

Doug Howarth, National Sales Manager at Wellman Thermal Services, part of the Group which also includes process engineering and furnaces divisions, said the NHS currently spends £600 million a year on energy.

“We have supplied a variety of high efficiency boilers, including models from our Wellman Ygnette and Wellman Sygnette range to a variety of NHS Trust projects. We estimate we have supplied more than 80 per cent of recent hospital projects across the UK.

“Hospitals are under pressure to cut energy costs but they also have to meet stringent emission targets as part of a wider NHS plan to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare in the UK.

“Our NHS customers are required to embed carbon reduction into the day to day running of their facilities, and so are investing significant funds into plant replacement. This investment is also being ploughed into the introduction of new technology, and so we have also seen a corresponding rise in demand for our energy efficiency upgrades and our economiser range which has been the focus of much of our recent research & development programme.”

Jonathan Hawkins, Energy and Efficiency Manager at Wellman Thermal Services, added: “Perhaps more than any other market sector, the healthcare industry is the one which requires consistency and reliability - needing to keep patients warm and the water hot.”

The world renowned Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool is installing three Wellman boilers in a £237 million project to rebuild the hospital on a site near the existing hospitals.

And the company also supplied South Devon NHS Healthcare Trust with two of its large capacity trailerised hire boilers for Torbay Hospital’s sterilisation, heating and laundry requirements pending the arrival of new boilers also commissioned from Wellman by the Trust.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Wellman Group .