The CHallenge

Bouygues E&S and the Royal Free London are capitalising on this opportunity to highlight the benefits of using hydrogen-powered tower lights to reduce carbon emissions across the Healthcare sector.

Rather than running on small diesel generators, these hydrogen-powered lights offer a sustainable temporary lighting solution to areas where the Hospital would have struggled to light due to cabling infrastructure issues. This solution helps our client the RFL to achieve their pledge to create a greener NHS by reducing their fuel consumption and improving local air quality. In addition to supporting sustainable solutions, BYES are also committed to supporting the local community and their environment by eliminating the risk of fuel and noise pollution.

Solution

After trialling the Hydrogen-powered tower lights at Barnet Hospital, it is clear the environmental and social benefits outweigh the slight monthly increase to run them, which will eventually balance out as Hydrogen costs drop and diesel prices surge. Hydrogen powered lights are not only carbon free, very quiet and a cleaner source of energy, but also offer no risk of fuel spillage. ​

Operationally, the battery life and lighting sufficiency of the hydrogen-powered lights were excellent and rated 9/10 by the site team and 10/10 for overnight use battery life. The elimination of the risk of fuel spillage facilitates better resource-efficiency by reducing the amount of operational checks and the supplier service engineer only has to replace the hydrogen tank when required. ​

The built environment is one of the biggest contributors to the worlds CO2 emissions. Therefore, changing our behaviours and delivering sustainable solutions to diesel and petrol power is paramount in the fight against climate change. Bouygues E&S is aligned with the RFL in becoming early adopters of new innovation and technology to help the NHS achieve net zero by 2040. ​

CLIENT BENEFITS

• Lighting in hard to reach areas​
• Reduce CO2 emissions on site by removing diesel generator​
• Reduction of noise pollution - Ideal for night work in residential areas and enclosed spaces​
• Safe to use in enclosed areas​
• Special low-impact lighting similar to lunar light

"Innovative solutions such as this from our PFI partners are much welcomed. Bouygues E&S understand fully the need to be a greener and cost effective NHS and the provision of this successful and innovative trial has demonstrated this. We look forward to expanding this trial further in the very near future."

Brian Pratt, Director of Capitol Projects NHS.

“This has been a great opportunity to assist in contributing to carbon offsetting in a healthcare setting and demonstrates closely working with our partners to help deliver this.”

Neil Woodburn, Metier Healthcare Director.

“It’s exciting to see that through the Bouygues group, Bouygues E&S can propose solutions to help our clients work towards net zero carbon.”

Simon Hayman, Regional Director BYES.

the challenge
It is estimated that the total annual cost of hospital food waste in the NHS is around £230million, which equates to around 39% of its total food budget. One of the biggest reasons for food waste is the lack of quality data available, which would assist in providing key insights for more informed decision-making.

The Trust is concerned that reducing food production could lead to wards not having enough food to serve patients, and as a result, there is a tendency to over produce. However, the Trust recognises the need for a more sustainable approach and is committed to making the necessary changes in line with their new sustainability strategy.

Finding the answers
Bouygues E&S has been working in partnership with the Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust to locate their pain points and how to solve them.

Through our Matching Up programme, we identified the opportunity to trial certain innovative solutions which can support NHS England resource efficiency, including food waste prevention.

£230 million = estimated annual cost of hospital FOOD waste ACROSS THE NHS = 39% of the NHS’ total food budget

What is matching up?
‘Matching Up’ is Bouygues Construction’s international co-innovation programme, which provides start-ups with the chance to jointly design and develop innovation that will shape the construction industry and the services of tomorrow.

We created Matching Up to support and accelerate open-innovation projects between start-ups, scaleups, SMEs and our employees.

Targeting our operational needs, we select projects to identify and develop long-term partnerships with innovation players.

sOLUTION
Leanpath was selected to run a food waste measurement pilot at ward level in Guy’s Hospital. This met the Trust’s sustainability KPI of understanding food waste at ward level during 2021.

The trial began shortly after the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust Sustainability event in June 2021, and subsequently lasted 6 months in order to gain a comprehensive data set and as a result, be able to implement appropriate interventions to reduce food waste.

WHY FOOD WASTE PREVENTION AND WHY LEANPATH?
With 17 years of global deployments across every foodservice segment, helping some of the world’s largest and smallest foodservice organisations achieve ambitious food waste prevention goals, Leanpath was the partner of choice for their expertise in deploying food waste prevention programs.

The Leanpath food waste prevention platform is a hardware and software package that allows kitchens to track, analyse and understand their food waste stream. These technology tools actually drive behaviour change, the only way to ensure lasting food waste prevention. Insights gleaned from your food waste tracking, along with Leanpath’s expert training and coaching, allow foodservice staff to make important and informed operational changes that prevent food waste from happening to begin with.

The Trial
To carry out the trial, observations were made by the Leanpath team during a typical lunchtime service at the trust. The food was followed from its initial destination in the Chiller Room, up to the Dorcas Ward regeneration kitchen for service on ward, then for patient tray collection and subsequent disposal in the food waste collection area.

Based on these observations, plus a sample 2-week menu provided for analysis, three types of food waste were then tracked, in two separate locations at the hospital.

The Results
The trial allowed the Guy’s Hospital team to discover their food waste trends and have since installed Leanpath on site permanently.

Leanpath Customer Success has been working with the Guy’s Hospital Team to monitor levels of food being tracked, to ensure compliance with any other KPIs which are set.

This monitoring takes place in the form of bi-monthly web-based meetings during which progress is monitored and waste data analysed and discussed. 
 

Client Feedback on Leanpath
“The Leanpath trial has provided some great data on our food wastage at ward level. With the accurate figures provided by the system, we can start to drive changes to better manage and reduce food waste. One notable feature is the daily reporting that highlights any issues; this enables managers to respond and implement changes at the production level"

Client Feedback on MATCHINg UP
“Being part of Bouygues Energies & Services’ pilot scheme will benefit us further specifically in terms of obtaining data on waste prevented from the baseline food waste. Furthermore, availability of information on cost and CO2 savings can be cascaded within the Trust to raise awareness on our commitment to sustainable food production and use.”

THE CHALLENGE
The majority of Bouygues E&S’ carbon footprint is accounted for by fleet travel and in turn, one of the ways we are reducing our carbon output is through the implementation of alternative fuel vehicles such as electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid vehicles. However, EV vans are not suitable for all purposes, as current range limitations restrict their practical use to activities with low daily mileage. This is where non-conventional modes of travel such as electric cargo bikes can make a difference, as they are often a faster and more versatile mode of transport that emit zero tailpipe emissions and have lower running costs.

SOLUTION
Bouygues E&S partnered with eBike specialists, Fully Charged, and purchased five of their electric cargo bikes in three different models to pilot at contracts across London. E-cargo bikes are best suited to urban environments and where journey times can be similar or even shorter than for vans. Fundamentally, they are carbon free and can assist in improving air quality, particularly in inner cities where this is a significant issue.

Bouygues E&S is supporting North Middlesex University Hospital (NMUH), one of our FM contracts in the Healthcare sector, protect the health and wellbeing of local people through the deployment of sustainable transport. Air pollution in the London borough of Enfield on average is greater than the maximum limit established for one year by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Therefore, Bouygues E&S is helping the client (NMUH) reduce their CO2 emissions by installing EV charging points across their site, and trialling the Flatbed XL White Bosch Cargo bike, has deployed this in replacement of their 3.5T diesel flatback for its grounds and gardens.

The technology is not that dissimilar to EV vans, just that the standard means of propulsion is pedal power, but a battery is available to boost performance and take some of the effort out of each journey.
 

Pilot: North Middlesex University Hospital
Model: Flatbed XL White Bosch Cargo Line Rohloff (L 294cm x W 70cm x H 110cm).

Purpose: To reduce our carbon footprint when transporting rubbish collected from the external litter bins across the estate and reduce the time it takes to complete grounds maintenance works in a congested area.

"Once the engineers got to grips with riding the bike empty, due to its physical length, they have been utilising it for all their grounds maintenance work. Fundamentally, these bikes provide a good sustainable transportation solution for our grounds team." -

Robert Dashwood, General Manager for Bouygues E&S