Swindon Village Hall

Aug 11, 2021 | Case Studies, Community Organisations

Swindon Village Hall is a community-led venture that provides a community nursery through the day, a community pub in the evenings, whilst hosting a full schedule of community activities including children’s, sports, crafts and amateur dramatics clubs.

As with many community halls, the venue walks a tightrope between income and expenditure, so energy efficiency was high on the priority list for the Committee to reduce costs. An initial installation of 14 solar panels in 2019 lead to a further application for funding to make improvements inside the building.  This included state-of-the-art Nest heating controls, LED lighting and an ambient cellar cooler to save over £3,000 a year in energy costs, boosting their green credentials and improving the comfort and experience for all visitors.

Savings Summary

£8,598 in grant funding awarded, towards £26,244 of improvements

£3,290 estimated annual savings

saving 16.6 tonnes of CO2 per year

Swindon Village Hall

Jun 15, 2020 | Case Studies, Community Organisations

A volunteer-run community venue prides itself on its green credentials, Swindon Village Hall is a multi-purpose building boasting a new solar PV array, LED lighting, heating and cellar cooling.
Swindon Village Hall solar panels

Village Hall is a community-led venture that provides a community nursery through the day and opens as a community pub in the evenings while maintaining a full weekly schedule of community activities. There are children’s clubs, sports and fitness clubs, craft groups and amateur dramatics groups that call the building home.

As with many community halls, the venue walks a tightrope between income and expenditure, so energy efficiency was high on the priority list for the Committee to reduce costs. An initial installation of 14 solar panels producing a 4.2kWp attracted a Target 2020 grant to cover 35% of the £6.7k cost. The Committee had caught the bug though, and applied for a second round of funding to improve a range of energy efficiency measures inside the building, including state-of-the-art Nest heating controls to match the heating to the activities; £5.5k worth of LED lighting and an ambient cellar cooler to save over £500 a year in energy costs.

Through the grant programme and advice offered by Target 2020, the village hall introduced on-site generation, intelligent heating use, efficient lighting and improved cooling facilities for less than £9,000 – further boosting their green credentials and improving the comfort and experience of the site for all visitors in the process.

Savings Summary

£4,843 in grant funding awarded, towards £13,835 of improvements

£2,084 estimated annual savings

saving 9.3 tonnes of CO2 per year