JGC assessed the college's overall energy potential by evaluating opportunities to install solar PV and other on-site generation. Our work comprised several key elements: a carbon baseline study, fabric improvement measures and opportunities for energy infrastructure upgrades. The baseline assessment used historic energy use data and thermal modelling to determine and categorise the college's energy use and associated carbon emissions. From this, and in close collaboration with 5th Studio, various fabric improvement measures were tested to provide a data-driven approach to the proposals. These were then developed into refurbishment strategies that aligned with the college's ongoing maintenance and refurbishment programme. We assessed the current energy and heating infrastructure, identified which plant was at or near the end of its life, and explored how it could be replaced with heat pump technology as part of a phased delivery programme.

Through JGC’s work on the college's new courts project, we identified a key opportunity to link both workstreams, new and old elements of the college, through a single energy centre. The centralised energy centre would be developed to deliver heating and hot water to the entire Girton College, freeing up valuable space within the new courts project for additional academic or social accommodation, rapidly servicing failing plant in the leading college and providing renewable technology without detracting from the historic character of the buildings and their setting. This approach has been welcomed by local heritage and planning and will be delivered in the coming years.