Our customer, East Riding of Yorkshire Council is the local authority governing the East Riding of Yorkshire, a ceremonial county in England. It provides a wide range of services, including housing, education, transport, waste management, and social care.
As the urgency to decarbonise intensifies across the UK, local authorities are stepping up with bold, practical solutions to reduce emissions and improve energy efficiency. One such leader is East Riding of Yorkshire Council, a forward-thinking authority delivering a wide range of services – from housing and education to waste management and social care – across a diverse and expansive region.
Driving Public Sector Sustainability: An interview with East Riding of Yorkshire Council
We spoke to Robin Barmby, Principal Asset Officer, known for leading innovative energy projects in the region, and Stephen Fisher, Principal Asset Officer about energy and operational efficiency at the council.
TEAM: What specific energy efficiency measures have you implemented to reduce operational costs and carbon emissions?
Robin Barmby: We’ve had the most success with our solar panel rollouts. In 2012, a government initiative called the Feed-in Tariff, supported our financial case for solar PV. Our initial work involved around £2 million worth of rooftop solar, and we supported several schools with similar installations. Some of our most rewarding projects have involved revisiting sites that were omitted from this initial programme due to various constraints to find innovative ways of installing panels, even on roofs that initially seemed structurally unsuitable.
As part of the rollouts, we launched our first small-scale solar farm connected to a caravan park, one of our largest electricity consumers. With about 750 caravans onsite, its energy usage spikes dramatically in summer and during daylight hours. That made it a perfect fit for solar generation, which naturally peaks during those same periods.
In recent years, we’ve shifted our focus to solar car ports. Three years ago, we delivered the authority area’s first installation at Driffield Leisure Centre, complete with integrated EV charging. Building on that success, we’ve now targeted around 500kW of carport solar capacity at high-consumption sites such as leisure centres. This new approach allows us to make better use of available space while prioritising areas with high energy demand.
Stephen Fisher: We’ve also made the decision to put PV on council owned housing as standard as part of our annual roofing programme. Adding PV, alongside insulation improvements is the most cost effective way to drive EPC improvements as we look to get all houses to an EPC C.
TEAM: Have you introduced training or internal initiatives to elevate the energy efficiency projects?
Stephen: Our team’s primary focus, as the corporate landlord, has been on project-driven initiatives rather than direct behaviour change. That said, we do have a Climate Change team dedicated to raising awareness and promoting good environmental behaviours across the organisation. One effective area we’ve explored is through strategic training with facilities managers, particularly on optimising Building Management Systems (BMS) to reduce energy usage. For example, adjusting operational hours of plant equipment, especially in leisure centres, which are high consumption sites, has yielded significant energy savings.
As landlords, our strategy tends to centre on the buildings themselves rather than the occupants’ individual actions. We aim to design environments that make it easy to do the right thing, such as installing motion-sensor lighting to avoid relying on manual behaviour. While more behavioural “soft measures” like encouraging people to switch off monitors at the end of the day fall outside our remit, we recognise their value and leave that to other internal teams to focus on staff engagement.
TEAM: What role has technology played in helping you identify and deliver energy savings?
Robin: Technology has played a vital role, especially in the identification process, which is the foundation of good energy management.
One of our first steps was using benchmarking to analyse building performance across our estate. By combining energy consumption data with the known floor area, we created a ranking system for over 150 sites, offices, care homes, libraries, leisure centres, depots, and more. This helped us identify the worst-performing buildings compared to national standards.
Once those key sites were flagged, we used submetering and Building Management System (BMS) data, such as half-hourly readings, to pinpoint the exact zones or equipment within those buildings driving poor performance. That level of granularity allowed us to target our interventions accurately and measure and monitor any improvements.
In terms of delivering savings, we’ve deployed a range of technologies, including LED lighting upgrades, pool covers to retain heat and Variable Speed Drives (VSDs) on motors.
Using a data-led approach has allowed us to identify performance gaps and track progress, making the entire process far more efficient and impactful than traditional energy audits alone.
TEAM: Can you give examples of innovative solutions that had the greatest impact on energy efficiency?
Robin: One highly effective but often overlooked technology is the Variable Speed Drive (VSD), also known as an inverter. They’re connected to motors like pumps or fans, and they allow precise control of motor speed based on actual demand.
By reducing motor speed by just 10% can cut electricity consumption by nearly 27%. Drop the speed by 21%, and you could more than halve the energy use. That makes VSDs incredibly powerful, especially for large systems like swimming pool pumps or large air handling units.
We’ve installed VSDs across leisure centres and programmed them with simple time clocks to reduce motor speeds during off-peak hours, like overnight, without any drop in performance. On one site, we saw an 8 kW reduction instantly after installation. The payback was just a few months, with savings of thousands of pounds annually.
It’s not flashy tech, but the impact is dramatic. And it proves that good quality energy efficiency isn’t always about cutting-edge innovation; sometimes, it’s about approaching technologies from first principles and seeing what improvements can be made
TEAM: What’s the most significant cost savings or carbon reduction you’ve achieved so far?
Stephen: Our solar projects have had the most significant impact due to their scale.
A close second in terms of energy cost savings would be our LED street lighting upgrades, especially where percentage dimming has been implemented. While this falls under a different team’s remit it’s worth highlighting. These systems allow lighting levels to adjust based on the time of day, which not only improves efficiency but also contributes to long-term savings across the estate. The council is studying more environmentally friendly ways of lighting main roads through ADEPT Live Labs 2 funding.
TEAM: Do you have any funding schemes that help with your energy efficiency projects?
Robin: We actively apply for and secure our own funding to deliver energy efficiency initiatives. The vast majority of our projects are self-managed from application through delivery, using our internal engineering department.
Over the past 12 months alone, we’ve secured approximately £6.5 million in funding, enabling us to deliver nearly £17 million worth of project work. This includes funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS), the Mayoral Fund, the Swimming Pool Support Fund via Sport England and Warm Homes funding.
Historically, we’ve benefited from European funding as well, which helped deliver our caravan park solar farm and roof top mounted PV and EV infrastructure.
TEAM: What advice would you offer other councils starting out on their energy efficiency or carbon reduction journey?
Robin: Start with reducing demand, then focus on efficiency, and finally look at renewables. It’s important to get the basics right before moving on to more visible projects like solar panels. So, this would be my hierarchy:
- Reduce demand – Start by minimising the energy your building needs. This includes measures like improving insulation, upgrading glazing, and improving airtightness. It’s often called “fabric first”.
- Maximise efficiency – Once demand is reduced, supply what’s needed in the most efficient way possible—using energy-efficient lighting, heating, hot water systems, ventilation systems and controls.
- Use renewables – Only after demand and efficiency are optimised should renewables be introduced. Jumping straight to solar panels or heat pumps may overlook bigger savings upstream.
Stephen: I’d propose a fourth step that should actually come first: data analysis and benchmarking.
Local councils often have access to substantial energy usage data through existing software and systems. Analysing that data is essential to understand performance across the estate and identify the worst-performing buildings. This kind of insight forms the foundation for any informed energy strategy and helps prioritise where interventions will have the greatest impact.
Where funding is limited, benchmarking is essential for maximising value for money.
Looking ahead
East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s energy journey is a powerful example of what’s possible when data, innovation, and strategic thinking come together. By focusing on demand reduction, efficiency, and smart deployment of renewables, the council delivered measurable carbon and cost savings. Their success underscores the importance of long-term vision, internal capability, and the courage to revisit and rethink legacy projects.
As more local authorities look to accelerate their net zero ambitions, East Riding’s story offers both inspiration and a practical roadmap for meaningful impact.