Heat pumps to replace hot water boilers at ACC Liverpool as waterfront arena and convention complex secures £1.4m of Government net zero funding. Tony McDonough reports

ACC Liverpool has secured £1.4m from the Government to help with its push to reach net zero carbon by 2030.

It will spend £1.4m from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, delivered by Salix Finance, to replace its hot water boilers with heat pumps. This will save an estimated 4,200 tonnes of carbon. 

Owned by Liverpool Council Council, which was awarded the funding, ACC Liverpool comprises the M&S Bank Arena, Exhibition Centre Liverpool and convention centre. In May it was the venue for the Eurovision Song Contest.

It is one of 180 public sector organisations awarded funds from the Government Phase 3b of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme for heat decarbonisation and energy efficient projects.

Eddie dos Santos, director of operations and venue management at ACC Liverpool, said: “Environment, sustainability and climate action are key focuses for our Social Value Impact Plan which we launched in 2021.

“We have already made significant progress across the campus with a number of initiatives. And we are striving to implement as many changes as we can to make events that we host as sustainable as possible for organisers and visitors.

“This project will enable us to make massive reductions in carbon emissions from the existing equipment and reduce our annual running costs.”

A number of measures have already been taken by The ACC Liverpool Group as part of its commitment towards sustainability in the events sector. These include signing the Net Zero Carbon Events pledge and setting its own target of net zero by 2030.

It achieved the Green Meetings Silver award provided by Green Tourism following an assessment that examined all areas of the business involved with delivering conferences and exhibitions.

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ACC Liverpool became the first large-scale conference venue in the UK to join isla – an independent industry body created to support the events sector’s transition to a net-zero future.

The organisation – which recently installed LED lights across the campus – aims to maintain zero to landfill status, support the development of “super low carbon events” and reduce single-use plastics.