Leisure centres are almost perfect candidates for solar PV. They have large, flat roofs, and high electricity consumption that runs all day. Leisure centres contain pools, showers, changing rooms, gyms, and sports halls that need lighting, heating, ventilation, and water treatment continuously.
The generation profile of a solar system and the consumption profile of a leisure centre align about as well as they can, as leisure centres are open during daylight hours and don’t close on weekends.
So why are so many still running entirely off energy from the grid?
The answer is a problem that has nothing to do with solar PV, and everything to do with who owns what. Most public leisure centres in England are owned by councils and operated by leisure trusts or management companies under long-term contracts. This means the council owns the roof, but the operator pays the electricity bill. When the council invests in solar, the savings go to the operator, so the council that put the money in, sees no direct financial return. That misalignment means many leisure centre solar projects don’t get off the ground.
This Leisure Centre found a way around it.
The project
The Council who owns the leisure centre is investing £15 million in a full refurbishment of it. The works include a new learner pool, redesigned reception, upgraded plant, refurbished sports hall and studios, new gym equipment, and a new café. Solar panels on the new pool roof and air source heat pumps for heating are part of the specification.
Carbon3 installed 45.43kWp of solar PV as part of that programme. The system will save £11,000 a year in energy costs and eliminate a meaningful quantity of carbon from the centre’s annual footprint.
The refurbishment gave everyone a push to move towards renewables. A roof being replaced anyway removes the cost and disruption argument. New building systems being commissioned create a clean integration opportunity for solar. The Council, investing £15m in a facility it owns, had both the scale and the motivation to treat solar as part of the project.
Why a refurbishment is the right moment
Solar can be installed on a leisure centre without closing it. Carbon3 has done it on operating sites, as the panels go on the roof while the building runs underneath.
But a refurbishment changes the calculation significantly. When the roof is already being replaced, the incremental cost of installing solar at the same time is far lower than coming back later. Scaffolding is already up, and access is already arranged. Adding solar at that point is a good decision. Waiting to install means a future project with full mobilisation costs, potential disruption to an operating centre, and the risk that the moment never quite arrives because there is always something more urgent competing for the budget.
The new pool roof at our client’s leisure centre is a case in point. A new roof designed and built to carry solar panels from the outset is a different proposition from retrofitting panels onto a roof not necessarily designed for the load. Carbon3 worked within the refurbishment programme to install a system that fits the building it was planned for.
The ownership problem and how to solve it
The split between owner and operator is real, but it is not the end of the conversation. Community energy is one of the more practical routes around it. Take a look at other funding options.
Under a community energy model, a locally owned co-operative raises the capital to fund the solar installation. The leisure centre operator pays for the electricity the panels generate at a rate cheaper than the grid. The income from those payments covers investor returns and, where there is surplus, funds local community projects. The council doesn’t need to find capital, and the operator gets cheaper electricity immediately.
Carbon3 has delivered this model with another client across nine schools in the capital, where community investors funded the installations and the schools buy the solar electricity they generate. The mechanics work in a leisure centre context too.
What leisure centres look like as a sector
The numbers are significant at scale. There are around 4,000 public leisure centres in England. Most are in council-owned buildings with large roof areas, high electricity consumption, and operators under financial pressure from rising energy costs and constrained local authority funding. The combination of need, roof space, and consumption profile makes leisure centres one of the most viable sectors for solar in the country.
Considering decarbonising your leisure centres? Contact us today for a no obligation feasibility study.
