Regent Point M&E refurbishments
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Summary
Supporting the NHS to meet decarbonisation targets
Regent Point in Gosforth, Newcastle, provides a base for various staff at The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals (NUTH) NHS Foundation Trust.
It is home to up to 689 members of staff including the human resources, procurement, research, community and occupational health teams, as well as the "Benefits Everyone" staff social club.
The Robertson Engineering Services team competed a contract to upgrade key infrastructure at Regent Point as part of NUTH’s sustainability initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and improve energy efficiency.
123
Solar PV panels
5
Air source heat pumps
2,500
LED lights
Installing sustainable services to reduce emissions
The works involved:
- 2,500 LED light installed s in place of less efficient fluorescent tubes
- 5 air-source heat pumps (AHSPs) to provide all space heating and domestic hot water for the building
- 123 solar photovoltaic (PV) panels installed on the roof to generate low carbon electricity
- Building management system (BMS) upgrades to allow better control of heating
The project is anticipated to save 120 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year and is the first building in NUTH’s estate to fully transition away from fossil fuels.
Night shift to minimise disruption
As the building was fully operational during the project, Robertson Engineering Services carried out the lighting replacement on night shift. To ensure that desk spaces were usable for the NHS at the start of their day, we carefully co-ordinated the works with just-in-time deliveries and broke the systems down using the original control circuits.
Logistical planning for complex crane operations
The location of the building created significant logistical challenges, with crane lifts only possible at weekends to safely deliver the ASHP units and PV panels. A specialist crane was required, with operations further restricted by wind conditions and the risk of over-sail.
To complete the installation, the ASHP units were mounted on a custom-built louvred frame, with the building’s top-floor steelwork modified to carry the additional weight. The PV panels were fitted after extending the perimeter rail system around the roof, ensuring both safe installation and long-term maintenance access.
Reconfiguring services and integrating power over weekend shifts
With boilers and calorifiers on the ground floor, the team reversed the existing pipework system, increasing pipe sizes on the upper floors within existing, hard-to-access risers. All changeovers were completed over a number of weekends, with services restored for Monday operations.
To integrate the new PV, a ‘Deep Sea Generator’ was added to ensure a failsafe interface between the LV system, standby generator and PV. This integration was delivered during a 24‑hour shutdown of the building that was coordinated with our customer.
Domestic water chlorination was phased to avoid disruption, and commissioning carefully aligned the upgraded BMS with the ASHPs to bring the low‑carbon systems online smoothly.
Funded through PSDS
The £1.2 million project at Regent Point was funded in part by a successful bid from the NHS to the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme Phase 3b.
