A relatively new hospital, Crawley Hospital has been added to over the years with several phased developments, but suffers from the poorer construction standards that dogged the UK public sector construction in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The tower construction is space locked; interior corridors with no natural light were poorly lit and gloomy; the outside is difficult to maintain without expensive scaffolding; and the higher stories are exposed to the full force of strong winds and rain.

Staff, patients and visitors had complained that the weather-facing top storey windows leaked cold air, and even rain. Despite valiant attempts at maintenance and temporary solutions, the Trust was not able to fund replacement windows until Cynergin personnel suggested an innovative approach: a 10 year Energy Services Performance Contract under the Government's PPP/PFI programme, to unlock savings though energy and operational efficiencies. Honeywell Control Systems Limited were appointed main contractors, supported by Cynergin’s key personnel who co-developed the project and oversaw its delivery throughout.

The concept was simple: find opportunities to effect improvements and efficiencies in the building infrastructure so that savings could be made in the energy and operations budgets. These savings would then be capitalised to provide for the installation of all the new efficient plant and new windows. The windows, while highly desirable, would not have paid for themselves in energy savings over the 10 year horizon, determined as the optimum time-frame for this project

In addition to replacing the upper four storey windows, with draught proofed industrial quality double-glazing, the Honeywell project included a number of well proven energy and efficiency initiatives:

• Extensive new energy efficient lighting which features reduced maintenance, improved brightness and colour, and longer life;
• De-steaming of most of the site. New boiler plant was installed as many steam systems are expensive to maintain, incompatible with many CHP plant, and often suffer from heat and condensate loss;
• New BMS & control system and a complete refurbishment of the ward zone controls which had been inoperable for many years
• Water conservation measures to ensure that precious water and revenue are saved by minimising wastage.

Finance Director, Kate Stepney said, " This project is designed to save the Trust over a third of a million pounds over the next ten years. Honeywell guarantees and maintains all the equipment, and there is a no quibble guarantee of the savings. This project is all about solving our problems without using our capital or having to sacrifice quality of patient care, or the clinical services that we deliver."