Vale of White Horse completes heat pump and solar upgrade at Abingdon leisure centre

Vale of White Horse District Council has completed a decarbonisation project at White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre in Abingdon, replacing gas boilers with air source heat pumps and installing 600 solar panels on the roof, Salix announced on 26 October.

The work was funded through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which Salix Finance manages as delivery body for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The council said it had been awarded £5,992,916 under the scheme to upgrade heating at both the Abingdon centre and Wantage Leisure Centre, with further money from its Community Infrastructure Levy programme and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Ashe Construction Ltd delivered the project, supported by consultants Pellings LLP, according to Salix. Construction at Abingdon started in February 2025.

Councillor Andrew Crawford, Cabinet Member for Finance and Property at Vale of White Horse District Council, said: "the use of renewable energy at the leisure centres will make them cheaper to run and less vulnerable to sudden rises in energy costs, making them much more economically viable in the long term."

Output and emissions

Salix said the Abingdon solar panels had generated more than 175,000 kWh of electricity since they were connected in December 2025, which it equated to about 70 average homes' annual use, citing Ovo Energy figures.

With work at Wantage finished in summer 2026 and Abingdon now complete, the council estimates its overall carbon emissions will fall by more than 25%, Salix said. The council has a target of net zero in its own operations by 2030.

At the time of the grant award, the council said it expected the two projects to cut energy use at the sites by more than 3,935,000 kWh, equivalent to the average use of 264 houses. It later said the Wantage measures alone could save around 800,000 kWh a year.

Ian Rodger, director of public sector decarbonisation at Salix, said: "By reducing energy use and emissions, they can enjoy lower operating costs while continuing to deliver the social, health and wellbeing benefits that leisure centres provide every day."

Timetable

When work began at Abingdon, with contractors due to start dismantling the old gas boilers from 10 February 2025, the council said it expected the transformation to be complete by March 2026. In June 2026 the council described the Abingdon work as close to completion, and Salix announced it as finished on 26 October 2026.

At Wantage, the council said contractors would start on 10 March 2025 and expected to finish before the end of 2025. Salix said that work finished in summer 2026.

The council said 106 solar panels were installed at Wantage under the government scheme, and that it was adding a further 33 using Section 106 developer funds, taking the total to 139. Its next planned phase at Wantage is a full refurbishment of the changing facilities and gym.

Background

The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme provides grants to public sector bodies for heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures, and supports the government's aim of cutting emissions from public sector buildings by 75% by 2037 against a 2017 baseline, according to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The council's first such project was at Faringdon Leisure Centre, funded by a £361,746 scheme grant awarded in 2021. That scheme installed air source heat pumps and 200 roof solar panels, which the council said made Faringdon the first of its operated facilities to have the technology, with expected savings of around 500,000 kWh a year.

Site	Roof solar panels
White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre, Abingdon	600
Faringdon Leisure Centre	200
Wantage Leisure Centre	139

Councillor Dr Robert Clegg, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, Climate Action and Nature Recovery, said the Abingdon and Wantage work would cut the council's emissions by more than a quarter, building on the Faringdon project.

The council said the Abingdon and Wantage work forms part of a wider programme to decarbonise its buildings ahead of its 2030 net zero target for its own operations.