RAF museum among those set for green facelift

One of Britain’s most iconic aviation hangars is going green, as part of a £630 million government push to slash energy bills across public buildings.

The Royal Air Force Museum Midlands will get £1 million to fit heat pumps and solar panels to a 1938 Type-C aircraft hangar – transforming it into a low-carbon Learning Centre and exhibition gallery. The revamped site is expected to welcome around 500,000 visitors a year.

Karen Whitting, Director of Content and Programmes at the RAF Museum, said: “This will enable us to introduce new, low/no-carbon technologies to a historic 1938 Type-C aircraft hangar as part of our Inspiring Everyone: RAF Museum Midlands Development Programme.”

She added: “The re-developed hangar will be used as a Learning Centre and exhibition gallery which will welcome and inspire around 500,000 visitors a year and make a major contribution to the RAF Museum’s Strategy including our commitment to achieving Carbon Net Zero.”

The RAF museum upgrade is one of dozens of projects backed by the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, which is delivering grants for heat pumps, insulation, solar panels and double glazing to public institutions from schools to care homes.

More than £630 million has been allocated this round, with an estimated £650 million in taxpayer savings expected each year over the next 12 years.

Minister for Energy Consumers Miatta Fahnbulleh said: “This investment will see local communities benefit from our sprint to clean power, with warm public buildings run more affordably.”

The Liverpool City Region will receive over £30 million for upgrades to leisure centres, libraries and care homes. Northumbria NHS Trust gets £14 million to swap out fossil fuel heating at two of its sites.

The University of York has been handed £35 million to tap geothermal energy under campus buildings, while the National Portrait Gallery gets £5 million for heat pumps to help protect its archives.

A further £102 million from the Green Heat Network Fund will support low-carbon heat networks, including a scheme that could warm the Houses of Parliament using waste heat from the River Thames.