West Lothian College

All hands to the heat pumps

West Lothian College’s ambitious institution-wide Net Zero Plan commits the College to reach Net Zero by 2040 and, as the leading further education institution for the region and wider Central Belt, to help educate the workforce of the future with the skills needed to address the climate emergency.

The Scottish college sector is, however, experiencing significant financial hardship as college budgets have already been cut by 8.5% in real terms and continue to be reduced. This therefore presents a challenge to any institution looking to undertake new works to decarbonise their estates or to provide the training facilities needed to teach green skills.

Against this difficult background, West Lothian College has successfully leveraged external funding to undertake two major decarbonisation projects of their existing estate, by installing air source heat pumps and other energy conservation measures and to develop a new ECOHOUSE training facility.

Top 3 Learnings

1. Since the launch of the ECOHOUSE in 2023, we have built a rapport with industry partners, which has progressed into working relationships with the college and students, increasing awareness of our net zero targets.
2. This project shares the knowledge of decarbonisation, not just with students, but also organisations and businesses out with the education sector.
3. Receiving this money has led to further funding from external companies i.e. Mitsubishi. This has led to the enhancement of resources within the ECOHOUSE- including two air source heat pumps.