Case Study: Tackling Energy Waste at Trafford General Hospital with Smart Air Conditioning Control

  • Monday, January 26, 2026
  • Posted By The Growth Company

Introduction

Trafford General Hospital, part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) is known as the birthplace of the NHS, after it was officially opened by Aneurin Bevan as the first NHS hospital in 1948. Today, Trafford General Hospital provides a range of health services, including an urgent care centre, acute medical unit, surgical care, stroke and rehabilitation services, and the Manchester Orthopaedic Centre.

Challenge

MFT was facing a common but costly challenge: energy waste from air conditioning units that were not connected into the hospital’s Building Management System (BMS). Without central control or full visibility of all 140+ air conditioning units across the site, users could alter settings and leave units running 24/7 when not required. This resulted in unnecessary energy use, higher emissions, and increased operational costs.

As MFT works towards its target of achieving net zero by 2038, in line with that of Greater Manchester, the Trust wanted a practical and scalable solution to gain visibility, control, and efficiency over these isolated systems.

Solution

With access to hundreds of innovative energy-saving solutions and grant-funding from Innovate UK, the Energy Innovation Agency (Agency) took the MFT challenge to market through the innovator cohort in our scale-up service, and were quickly able to identify a solution; introducing MFT to Verv Energy, a company specialising in smart energy management through use of high-resolution predictive maintenance technology which detects anomalies in how air conditioning units perform.

In March 2025, part-funded through the Agency's Energy Accelerator for Non-Domestic Buildings programme, Verv installed 12 Smart AC Isolators across Trafford General Hospital. These devices provided real-time monitoring and control of air conditioning units, offering detailed insights into energy consumption, usage patterns, and potential inefficiencies.

Powered by advanced data analytics and AI, the solution enabled the hospital to identify and eliminate wasted energy, optimise operational schedules, and gain early warnings of equipment issues through predictive maintenance capabilities.

Results

Within weeks of implementation MFT began to see tangible benefits. In one key area - the Finance and Procurement office - the monitoring data revealed that AC units were operating all weekend, despite the office being unoccupied. Adjusting the settings to switch units off on Friday afternoons will deliver an estimated annual saving of £10,000, exceeding the cost of the project and achieving a payback period of less than one year. An energy saving of more that 7000kWh was also achieved, in 2025.

Broader Benefits

Beyond direct savings, the project gave MFT confidence in their system performance and a new level of visibility over energy use that was previously unavailable. This project demonstrated how targeted innovation can deliver broad impacts:

  • Energy & Cost Savings: Immediate reduction in unnecessary AC use and lower operating costs

  • Operational Insight: Real-time visibility into equipment health and performance

  • Carbon Reduction: Direct contribution toward MFT’s net zero target

  • Behavioural Change: Greater awareness among staff about energy usage and opportunities to reduce waste

  • Scalability: MFT now plans to extend the solution to other sites across the Trust

Agency Role

Through our Validation and Scale-Up Service, the Agency has access to an extensive network of low-carbon energy solutions suitable for commercial and residential buildings, to tackle a variety of energy challenges.

  • Low-carbon electric heating

  • Renewable energy and energy storage

  • Smart energy software

  • Building fabric solutions (retrofit products)

  • Low-carbon transport

We specialise in identifying and understanding an organisation’s ‘challenges and needs’, then matching with the right solution provider/s. Our role is to bring innovators and buyers together, ensure clear alignment of goals, support smooth project delivery, deliver meaningful outcomes, and create shared learning throughout.

Next Steps

MFT is exploring a wider rollout of Verv Smart Isolators across its estate and potential upgrades, such as Wi-Fi-enabled models and remote-control capabilities.

For the Agency and Verv Energy, the success at Trafford General Hospital stands as a strong example of how local collaboration can deliver immediate savings, long-term sustainability gains, and momentum toward Greater Manchester’s net zero ambitions.

Project Summary

  • Buyer: Trafford General Hospital (Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust)

  • Innovator: Verv Energy

  • Project went live: March 2025

  • Outcome: £10,000 annual savings, sub-one-year payback; 7000+kWh of energy saved (between March and December)

  • Funding: This project was part-funded through the Innovation Accelerator Programme led by Innovate UK on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)

Verv has transformed how Trafford General Hospital manages its decentralised AC assets providing us with visibility into energy consumption and efficiency of assets we were previously blind to.

Callum Donnelly Energy Manager, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust

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