Imperial Sports Ground is a charity that provides leisure and recreational facilities for communities in South Bristol. They provide all adults and children with the opportunity to participate in sport and stay active.
Imperial Sports Ground has had a turbulent history, with the main centre closing for 3 years following a major fire in May 2018. The centre was rebuilt and reopened in August 2020 with new facilities and a new name. The rebuild was an opportunity to modernise, with LED lighting installed throughout the main building, more efficient heating and a 50kWp community-owned solar array meeting a large proportion of their electricity use.
As well as energy costs being on the rise, general manager Matthew Sach said “anything we could do to reduce carbon emissions would have a huge impact.” For him, the next step was to upgrade the inefficient floodlights on the sport pitches and the customer car park. In the winter, there’s a need for over 70 floodlights to be turned on in the evening, five days a week, using a lot of electricity. Some of these had started to fail, with like-for-like replacements difficult to find and expensive to install.
Imperial Sports Ground were awarded a £15,000 Green Business Grant to replace the inefficient sodium and medal-halide floodlights with LED units. This is estimated to result in:
71% reduction in electricity used by external lighting 
Over £4,300 annual saving on energy bills 
13.9 tCO2e annual reduction in carbon emissions 
As well as investing in the pitches, Imperial Sports Ground are upgrading their lighting in the changing rooms and security lights on the building. “We have so far completed around 90% of the external lighting so are making great progress.”
Having identified areas where they can save carbon and reduce energy bills, Matthew urges other businesses to do the same. “Get a carbon survey done and see where your opportunities are… if everyone does their part the overall gains are massive”.
CO2e savings calculated using BEIS Conversion Factors 2017. Energy costs calculated from BEIS Energy and Emissions Projections 2018, using 2020 retail prices.
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