Hospital Energy Project media briefing

Here is the media message distributed by the OUH NHS Foundation Trust today. Please see our later post for comments.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has today announced details of The Hospital Energy Project, an 18-month £14.8 million project to upgrade the heating and hot water systems that supply the John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals.

The project, called The Hospital Energy Project, is critical to ensure that energy systems at both hospitals are flexible enough to meet future growing demands for heating and hot water as hospital patient numbers increase, while facilities expand and improve. When fully completed, the new system will deliver a 45% reduction in annual energy costs and a 38% reduction in annual carbon emissions.

 

The new energy systems will offer both hospitals better resilience and less reliance on the national power grid in the high demand months of winter, as well as reduce carbon emissions from both sites with the ability to meet future environmental compliances. The Energy project will reduce future disruption to patient care and services.

Contractors, Vital Energi, who are extremely experienced at the installation of these types of systems including district heating through The Energy Link. Please do email any questions on this aspect of the installation or regarding the project, please email hospitalenergyproject@ouh.nhs.uk

Members of the public can also see details of the Hospitals Energy Project on our website www.ouh.nhs.uk or drop by one of the displays at either the JR or Churchill Hospitals until October 2016. For updates, please follow us on twitter @ouh_estates #ouhenergy

Headington Singers concert

The Headington Singers’ December concert is taking place on Friday 4 December when they’ll be performing the exuberant  Vivaldi Gloria in a concert of superb baroque music. This includes a Vivaldi bassoon concerto (La Notte) and a glorious setting of the Miserere by Francesco Scarlatti. This work is rarely performed but is surely due for ‘rediscovery’. They will be accompanied by the Headington Singers Orchestra with Sally Mears conducting as usual.

The concert starts at 7.30pm at All Saint’s Church, Lime Walk, tickets on the door £12 (£10 concessions and children 12 and under free). They will be serving drinks in the interval so we can meet and mingle.

Farmers’ Market seeks a new premises licence for sale of alcohol

Application 15/05349/PREM

Application for a New Premises Licence: Headington Farmer’s Market applying for the following licensable activities:Sale of Alcohol – On and off Sales: Saturday 10.00 hours to 14.30 hours.

First 20 metres of New High Street from its junction with London Road

Headington Committee for Development Action

Representations to: The Licensing Authority, Oxford City Council St Aldates Chambers, 109 St Aldates, Oxford, OX1 1DS, or by email to: licensing@oxford.gov.uk by 22/12/15

Rough sleepers – how to get help for them

Following a resident request for information, here is how to get help for rough sleepers.

Oxford City Council commissions St Mungo’s Broadway to deliver an assertive outreach and reconnection service to those rough sleeping in the city of Oxford. This service is called Oxford Street Population Outreach Team (Oxford SPOT) and the team works 7 days per week, helping people rough sleeping in the city to access appropriate accommodation and support.

Please contact Oxford SPOT directly, rather than through the Council or your councillors, as this is the fastest way for a rough sleeper to get in touch with organisations that can help.

Oxford SPOT can be contacted via phone on 01865 304 611 or via e-mail at

outreach.oxford@mungosbroadway.org.uk

Oxford SPOT will try to locate the person in order to offer assistance to access suitable accommodation and support. The team will also be able to advise of other services in the city that can offer help and assistance such as food and clothes, or sign-post to local organisations in the city that can help with employment, training and employment.

For more information about rough sleeping and the work that is done to tackle this in the city, please see the Frequently Asked Questions document here

Severe Weather Emergency Protocol

Oxford City Council has a protocol in place with local homelessness agencies to ensure that there is provision of extra bed spaces for rough sleepers during the cold winter months. The Severe Weather Emergency Protocol (SWEP) sets out a joint effort between Oxford City Council and homelessness agencies in Oxford city to take all possible steps to avoid deaths on the streets due to people sleeping rough during severe winter weather conditions.

SWEP is usually triggered when the night time temperature is forecast by the Met Office to drop to zero or below for three consecutive nights. The protocol is implemented on the first night of such a forecast.

In order to access this emergency provision, a person should satisfy the below criteria:

  • Be at risk if they continue to sleep rough during the course of the severe weather
  • Have nowhere to sleep indoors during the course of the severe weather
  • Agree to the assistance offered

The provision offered is very basic, generally consisting of a roll mat and a sleeping bag, but does mean that someone who might otherwise sleep rough on the streets of Oxford, is offered space indoors and out of the cold.

O’Hanlon House, one of the homeless hostels in the city, co-ordinates the provision and will allocate spaces in the other homeless hostels if O’Hanlon House reach its capacity.

When provision is open, rough sleepers and support agencies acting on their behalf should contact O’Hanlon House directly, before 4pm, on 01865 304 600 to make arrangements for access.

Twenty questions for the energy pipe press launch tomorrow

Here is our latest list of questions sent in by residents

Timescale

  1. What are the working hours? Will it include weekend working? On what dates will be the work be in my area?
  2. If work starts at either end simultaneously, will Old Rd and London Rd be affected at the same time? Will whole roads be closed either end?

How does it work?

  1. Can they explain the technology? How much carbon reduction do they intend to achieve?at what cost? and cost/ ton? What is the benchmark above which it becomes unaffordable? if the planners are considering all aspects of carbon reduction then consideration should also be given to the manufacture of the steel tubing, (China?) fittings, and insulation plus the cost of storage and transport to site, storage, reloading onto vehicles to the various sections of the site during the installation. The fuel used in excavation vehicles, back filling and testing plus the non green effect of the traffic congestion that will occur throughout Headington throughout the contract period.
  2. How large will the trench be and what about all the other cables, drains, sewage. Size of pipes too
  3. Is it steam or water? If it leaks under high pressure, would this damage road and paths?

Extent of the disruption

  1. How will noise and dust be controlled?
  2. Will pedestrian access along streets be affected?
  3. How will highways and footpaths be kept clean?
  4. Can we see the detailed construction plan?
  5. Can we have our pavements and footpaths resurfaced following the work? What quid pro quo can we obtain for all the disturbance?
  6. Protection of trees? In Stapleton Road for example the line is very close to the kerb so difficult to see how trees can be protected?
  7. What are the arrangements for emergency vehicles?
  8. Will refuse collections operate as normal?

Parking

  1. What arrangements for parking for contractors’ vehicles?
  2. What alternative car parking arrangements will be made for residents who may be unable to park near their house/in their drives while the work is in their street?

Communications strategy

16 Why hold a press launch – there could only be 4 or 5 press outfits interested, and why not have arranged to meet community groups already?

17 Have commercial and institutional organisations been informed? e.g. Taxi companies, delivery vehicles to/from main shops e.g. Blanchfords,  Online grocery providers, Mace on  ORC, Brookes, particularly re arrival at start of Semester 2 (NB  at Ward Focus  it transpired that Manager of Stagecoach  was not aware )

18 Have the emergency services even been informed?

Consultation with residents

19 Can we have a liaison group comprising residents reps, councillors and the contractors to meet regularly throughout the project do deal with residents issues and various construction contingences? This worked well during the Brookes JHB project.

Enforcement

20 Who will enforce the agreed working arrangements? What are the statutory controls – as opposed to the contractual conditions?

Hospital energy project

The Oxford University Hospitals’ NHS Foundation Trust is holding a press conference regarding the energy project next Monday 30 November. (involving underground pipes between the hospitals)

Councillors will be in attendance. If you have any questions you would like us to ask on your behalf please let us know by Sunday night 29 November. It’s possible that all questions cannot be answered on the spot but we are compiling a list of questions that we can give to the Comms Team for their response either at that meeting or shortly afterwards

If the Trust is agreeable we should like to organise a residents’ meeting shortly afterwards – probably at All Saints Church House on Wed 9 Dec at 19:00 to be confirmed by streetletter

Ward Focus meeting notes

Here are some notes from Tuesday’s public meeting.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

  • Running a campaign for residents to offer to rent out a room to NHS staff after Christmas. Staff accommodation is now full and people are desperate for keyworker accommodation
  • Churchill masterplan under way – draft expected in March
  • Buses – working with councils on changing the signals and marshalling Churchill Drive to manage traffic better into and out of the JR and Churchill sites
  • While changes are made to access to the JR, emergency vehicles will need to access the site from a temporary entrance, this could be Sandfield Rd, Osler Rd, or Saxon Way
  • New JR entrance has an M&S
  • There will be a presentation about a new 57 bed Ronald McDonald children’s hotel at JR 16/1, want to involve residents in early planning consultations
  • Estates is auditing paths, cycle track etc so a list of defects can be compiled and addressed
  • Transport is a major issue, want to reintroduce parking enforcement

Stagecoach

  • Afternoons are a problem for keeping buses to time due to congestion – on Tuesdays and Thursday it can take an hour for a bus to get into and out of a hospital site
  • County cuts – no Stagecoach buses in Headington are affected
  • Passenger numbers growing by 6-7% on the no. 10 route
  • Subsidy/contract for some routes e.g. 900 expires 2017
  • Sunday 30 Jan onwards, Stagecoach has responded to our request to re-route the three earliest no. 10 buses out of Osler Rd and via Headley Way to the JR
  • Will run route 700 on a Saturday to Parkway. Will consider running the 700 on Sundays later
  • Information – electronic displays – county want to cut these. It’s possible that bus companies may look at helping to fund these in future
  • Buses have decreased in length from 12m to 10.8m and are more frequent to satisfy passenger need
  • Considering making Route 10s double deck
  • Will consider design as pole gets in the way of people trying to access disabled seating on some buses

Fire and Rescue Service

  • There are 28 firefighters and 14 call out fire fighters at the Slade
  • The website is 365 Alive because their 10 year vision was to save 365 extra lives and they’ve beaten their target in just over eight years
  • Have delivered 802,000 safety messages in that time, and saved £166m
  • Free risk assessments and fire detectors are available to those who are vulnerable in some way – mental health, mobility issues, frail elderly
  • Able to give advice on carbon monoxide

Energy pipe project – see next post

Bumper Ward Focus Meeting next Tuesday

Three informed speakers at next Tuesday’s meeting:

Sheila Aldred on forthcoming developments on hospital land

Martin Sutton about Stagecoach bus services

Guy Dunkley from the Fire Service

Put the date in your diary!

Date: Tuesday 24th November

Time: 6:00 – 7:30 pm

Place: All Saints Church House, New High Street, OX3 7AL

All this and Open Session for your comments too! Free of charge. All welcome!